Al-Marsad Newspaper: The Advisor to the Minister of Energy, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna, told during an interview with the “Meeting from Zero” program the story of his harsh childhood, which he lived after the death of his father, as he walked to school barefoot amid calls forbidding the wearing of “shoes.”
Al-Muhanna said: When my father died, I was 5 years old. My older sister “Dalal” and my brother “Abdullah” were at home. He was studying “intermediate” in Riyadh, but he interrupted his studies and changed to the Elementary Teachers Institute to work and be around us and take care of us financially.
Elementary school and walking barefoot
He added: I did not enter school until I was 5 or 6 years old, the school was a kilo and a half away from us, we go to it every day, and things started to improve somewhat, and we were walking barefoot at that time, and the first thing that came from the slippers was “Al-Zanuba” and it was a very big change. Even someone who says he is a cleric forbade her because she was a stranger to us.
He continued: There were many things that were forbidden, such as the watch, and the stranger had exceptions, as the driver was allowed to carry them, but cars at that time were transport vehicles, and private cars did not come to us until late.
Textbooks from Egypt and the Levant
And he added: I entered primary school and we started a new life, and textbooks used to come to us written in Egypt or in the Levant, and they contained things that we did not know, including “Do not throw the banana peel.” We do not eat bananas until we throw away the peel, and “In the fall the leaves fall.” We have trees, we had palm trees, and the palm does not shed its leaves, and also the nutcracker they represent, and we do not know the nuts or their crack, but with time we learned little by little.
And he continued: The funny thing during school days is that my brother was the principal of the school, and he was strict about student life with me like the rest of the students, such as do not be late, attend the queue, and do homework.
Voice of the Arabs and British Broadcasting
And he added: But I benefited from my brother other things that are more important, which is that his house had meetings with teachers and others and intellectuals, and there were beautiful discussions, and we had the only radio in the village, we used to hear the Voice of the Arabs, the British radio, and the songs of Umm Kulthum, which my brother was interested in and wrote them letter by letter characters.
Moving to Riyadh
He said: I loved reading, and we had a distinguished library that was not censored, and it contained books of all kinds, including stories or analyzes, and I used to read continuously, and I moved to Riyadh for a secondary study because I wanted to study my knowledge, and I encountered problems during the study.
And he continued: I used to live with my uncle and his wife, and they cared about me like their son, and I used to walk two or a half kilometers to get to school, and the school was difficult, as the number of students reached 40 or more, and we were used to the number of 14 students, and the teachers were different because they had simple communication with students.
Cultural difference among students
And he continued: There was also a cultural difference between the students of Riyadh and students from neighboring villages like me, so they knew everything about sandwiches “cheese and jam” and talked about clubs and football, and these are things that we did not know.
