People and places
An unlikely partnership
Leila (left) and Amar
Q&A with Amar Latif and Leila
Q: How did you both land up presenting at an international schools conference? Amar: It all started in my dad’s kebab shop 10 years ago … well actually it started in 1966 when my father heard about this country called England and decided to drive all the way from Pakistan to France. At first, he failed to get into the UK – but he was advised to look more British by putting a newspaper under his arm and donning a bowler hat. He did that and it worked! So fast forward to his kebab shop some 30 years later when my dad proudly told a visiting teacher from a school in Hong Kong all about his blind son’s company, Traveleyes.
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Leila: I was born in a refugee camp called Tindouf, after my family fled from Western Sahara. This camp was the world to me. Life was hard but people were simple, supportive and full of energy. The harsh conditions taught us how to appreciate everything we had. The strong community gave us a sense of security, never to think as an individual but to think as a community. However, the quality of education was poor. I appreciated the efforts of the volunteer teachers, but at 11 years old I decided to leave the camp to attend an Algerian boarding school in the hope of a better education. That’s where I experienced how it truly feels to be a refugee. Some teachers didn’t like me, but not because I was a bad student. They believed that we were draining the resources and opportunities from their country. But that didn’t stop me. On the contrary, I made a promise to myself to work hard to change that. All that paid off when I was selected to study at United World College (UWC) Maastricht, in the Netherlands. It was a dream that became reality!
Autumn |
Spring
At the March 2019 ECIS MLIE (Multilingual Learning in International Education) conference in London, Amar Latif, founder of ‘Traveleyes’, and Leila, UWC Maastricht IB Diploma student, delivered jointly the conference opening keynote. This article takes the form of an interview with Amar and Leila, led by Susan Stewart, ECIS MLIE Chair.
| 2019
