Every chapter of life can be rewritten, if the will to do so survives. Egypt’s Amal Ismail is a remarkable example of that truth.
She was born in a small Egyptian village. At an age when she should have had books and notebooks in hand, her school desk was taken away instead. Bidding farewell to her childhood dreams, she stepped into the hard realities of married life at a young age.
Marriage, family and raising four children — her life narrowed into the invisible boundaries of the kitchen, household duties and quiet sacrifice.
Yet the dream never fully died. At 38, she reawakened that dormant desire within her. After a break of many years, she picked up books again and passed her intermediate examination. But life blocked her path once more, as family responsibilities pulled her away from her studies again.
Then came even harder times. Cancer struck her body twice. But each time, she overcame the illness and returned — as if quietly telling life, “My journey isn’t over yet.”
Time passed. She turned 70. At an age when most people are winding down, her daughter and grandchildren reignited her dream. Inspired by them, she returned to education once more.
After completing her higher secondary education, she enrolled in the sociology department of the arts faculty at Mansoura University, completing her master’s degree there. Then began a long journey of research.
Finally, at 84 — an age at which many people’s hands tremble even holding a pen — she completed her long research pursuit and earned a doctorate with first-class honors.
She successfully earned her PhD after her thesis defense at the faculty of arts at Mansoura University in Egypt’s Nile Delta region. This is not just an academic achievement — it is an extraordinary human story of perseverance, courage and indomitable will.
The university’s panel of examiners, considering the scientific significance of her research, awarded her the doctorate with special distinction, and also recommended the paper for publication and exchange with various universities. Amal Ismail’s research was titled “Active Aging and Its Relationship With Certain Sociological Variables: Selected Case Studies From Mansoura University.”
The subject of her research reflected her own life. She conducted her study on 20 women from various villages in Egypt’s Dakahlia Governorate. Her goal was to raise social awareness about the lives of the elderly, their social challenges, and active aging.
Here lies life’s cruel irony: the very life that repeatedly tried to stop her is the one Amal Ismail kept opening new doors within, moving forward each time. When one path closed, she built another. She never treated defeat as an ending — only as a call to a new beginning.
This story is not merely a history of one woman’s personal success — it is a quiet yet powerful protest against the common societal belief that after a certain age, there is no more need for education, dreams or self-development.
Egypt’s own history of education bears witness to a similar struggle. Women’s literacy rates in the country were once significantly lower than men’s. But through long-term planning, social awareness and steady development of education policy, that gap in primary education has largely narrowed. Some disparity remains in higher education, though it too is gradually shrinking.
For women in Bangladesh, Amal Ismail’s life is a source of deep inspiration. Marriage is not the end of an education, motherhood is not the burial of a dream, and age can never be a barrier to acquiring knowledge. With willpower, perseverance and genuine family support, it is possible to begin a new journey from any point in life.
Amal Ismail has proven that the calendar of dreams carries no number for age. As long as a person keeps learning, they keep living anew.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report