Me, myself and mine
When I was young, I had experiences the memory of which I wanted to stay with me forever. I knew the only way to do this was to keep a diary, but I was too often too busy, whether with my homework or playing with friends. Consequently, I have lost many a precious moment -- things I still wish I could have carried with me now -- to show to my children or to reminisce about when life has changed and things are no longer the same as they once were.
It seems I'm not the only one. Child psychologist Soheir El-Masry not only felt the same sense of loss but developed ME, an interactive diary intended to counter it -- to preserve those invaluable, irredeemable moments. The concept works through developing a reflective relationship between the 8-14-year-old child and her surroundings through language, by providing her with a quick and a convenient way of recording lived experience, preserving it in an attractive and durable format for her grandchildren. Engaging enough for any child to be immersed in for the longest period, ME is made up of a dialogue in which the book asks the writer a question, providing her with the space in which to answer it.
Though designed as a right-to-left Arabic book, ME is written in both Arabic and English: "the use of two languages is intended to allow the book to reach the largest number of children." In so doing the book also encourages the child to develop her skills in her weaker language. The questions, which appear in balloons, deal with every aspect of life, from family to feelings, behaviour and the reasons behind it, concerns as well as hopes for the future.
As a collective programme, ME has been implemented in some public libraries and schools. Hend Osama, 12, who participated in one such workshop at Maadi Public Library, testifies to enjoying it tremendously: "I used to check the information in the library books so as to find the answer to some of the questions in the book." What was frustrating, rather, was not having the book with her, thus making it difficult to return to it when she wanted to.
Another girl, Ahlam Hassan, had a similar experience: "I attended the Book ME workshop at Khaled Ibn Al-Walid Library and it was really fun." She particularly benefited from the book being bilingual: "I read the book in Arabic but we used to write down the English translation too which helped a lot with my language skills."
Working with the young on a ME workshop adds to the experience of the supervisor as well. According to Shaymaa Salama, one of the supervisors of the Khaled Ibn Al-Walid programme in Imbaba, it was both enjoyable and beneficial. Salama -- a graduate of the Kindergarten College, Cairo University -- thought ME provided the kind of model her studies recommended. "El-Masry explained to us as how to share a child's memories with her, day after day, stressing the importance of the events they go through before they materialise as writing in the book." Salama adds that the books used in the workshop were a present from the workshop; once workshop fees were introduced, however, no one applied. "It was a big loss for the children."
The biggest problem facing supervisors, however, was how to keep telling the children that the point of the exercise and the aim of the book -- "to know yourself and how you become who you are" -- could not be revealed until the end of the workshop. According to El-Masry, this was particularly effective in helping children distinguish between wishful thinking and other forms of fantasy and the reality of their lives. It invests their thinking with a true and practical sense of value.
In the workshops, according to Salama, the young did appreciate keeping a memory book, which gave them a sense of value. As they used the book and came to know it, they realised it could be a friend and they liked it. The children's conviction is that you only have to truly wish for something in order for it to happen.
El-Masry also aims to teach children about ethical problems and how to solve them, in the conviction that parents no longer perform a necessary part of their role -- directing their children. "Start with what you love less and delay gratification to the end," she says. That is the kind of value parents should be cheating.
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