3. “Badawi. A novel.” By Mohed Altrad.


"Bandawi"  was written by Syrian oil chemist and internationally renowned businessman Mohed Altrad and has autobiographical details. I read it with pleasure and I found it very moving. It describes the struggle of a little Bedouin from the Syrian desert, who lost his mother early and never accepted the love of his grandmother, father and other relatives, to come out victorious in life. From his early childhood he realized that the only way to succeed was school. Despite the lack of understanding and the disagreements of his relative, who were targeting him as a shepherd, the young Bedouin went to the local elementary school and later to a high school in Raka, where he took the final exams and thus obtained a scholarship to study Oil Chemistry in France… So school and hard work helped the little Bedouin rise socially. His militancy and willingness to win were wonderful and worthy of an example of admiration and imitation.


But the whole novel is not just about describing the school as a machine of knowledge and, consequently, of social growth. The story also includes a more romantic and sad part, that of Mayouf's acquaintance with Fadia, a neighbor of his when he was a student at Raka’s High School. Mayouf tried to be her love, and he succeeded. From her part, the kind-hearted Fadia was the only person to accept and love him unconditionally, as a poor Bedouin. She supported him mentally during his high school years and vowed that she would wait for him to return after his studies in France.


But after finishing his studies at Montpellier and going to work in Dubai, Mayouf felt completely changed, wishing to break off any relationship with his sad past and unfortunately with dubious feelings for Fadia, who had never forgotten him. So he preferred to leave her alone, sending her one last letter, in which he wished he was happy there and then if she ever loved him because she deserved it ... The book ends with Fadia being left alone in her life and passing her nights looking at a star in the sky, mentally identifying it with the child Mayouf once promised her they would have together.


The story does not describe what Bedouin Mayouf finally did. But it is well known that the author himself is now a wealthy businessman, whom I had the pleasure of meeting and having conversations with, last year in Athens.


And here is me with the very polite writer and hero of his book, the little "Badawi", who is now a Petroleum Chemist and Businessman in the Arabic Peninsula. I was very happy to meet him last year.



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