The club's operating budget is half a million Yemeni riyals annually, and the club's support is provided in partnership with other parties.
We are ready to establish partnerships with all institutions and organizations concerned with youth care and that touch upon the programs of Rawabi Al Khair Club.
University girls participated in volunteer work through the "Injaz Volunteer Forum" following the events of 2015.
The interview was conducted by: Hassan Mohammed Al-Bayti
Many high school graduates have always found the path to university a maze, not knowing what challenges and changes they will face in their academic life. Some seek advice from an expert, while others jump into the wave without caring about the consequences if they stumble in their university studies. Between this and that, a third category of students remains fully aware of what they will face, so they have sought help from training courses provided by associations and institutions under several frameworks, including: “qualification and training” and “student clubs.” The latter have recently emerged, but it is a step that deserves attention, as the most prominent of them were the “Volunteers Club” and the “Rawabi Al-Khair Creative Club.” Both clubs are among the most famous clubs in eastern Yemen, and they are an offshoot of institutions bearing the same name as the clubs. The spotlight was on... Akabars As for Rawabi Al Khair Creative Club, it is defined by the institution from which it emerged as “a scientific and creative club that embraces an elite group of high school students, offering them developmental, administrative, media, and skill-based courses. It builds their personalities scientifically and skill-wise, transforms them into leaders in their specialties, connects them to everything new in science, creativity, and development, implements numerous technical, creative, and entertainment programs, and instills in them a culture of volunteer work, a love of reading and studying, and mastery of the foundations of scientific research.”
The club includes two teams: the Leaders and Innovators Building Team, and the Injaz Volunteer Team. For more information about this club and its latest developments, the platform had Akabars It is an honor to meet the club's supervisor, Dr. Abdullah Obaid Bahfi, Executive Director of the Rawabi Al Khair Development Foundation, headquartered in Hadhramaut Governorate, eastern Yemen.
Our guest is a well-known educator in Yemeni circles, having taught at Yemen's most prestigious high school, Al-Mukalla Model High School, and having served as executive director since 2010 for one of the most powerful development institutions operating in partnership with renowned international organizations such as UNICEF.
Dr. Bahfi was born in Wadi Al-Ain, Hadhramaut Governorate, in 1973. He obtained a PhD in grammar and morphology from the University of Nilein, Sudan, in 2017.
He taught Arabic language courses at the primary, secondary, and university levels in eight educational institutions. He was an active member of the General Assembly of the Coordination Council of Civil Society Organizations in Hadhramaut Coast between 2010 and 2018, and was a member of the Global Academy for Human Rebalancing in London in 2014.
Our guest enjoys reading, composing poetry, and writing stories and articles, as is clearly evident from his career as editor-in-chief of the Asdaa Al Khair newspaper, which is part of the foundation he runs.
Among the most prominent shields and certificates of honor he received were from the British organization Oxfam, along with the Governor of Hadhramaut and the Hadhramaut Civil Society Organizations Coordination Council in 2012, for his organization's role in the success of the program to develop the skills of young men and women, both professionally and vocationally, and to integrate them into the labor market.
Here we have addressed the question of what constitutes verification of the extent to which achievements have been made. Dr. Bahfi explained that this is achieved through two methods: the first is by visiting students on scholarships abroad who are members of the club, where we listen to the extent to which they have benefited from the club's programs in their university life and their interests. We also host them as an elite group in a meeting with new members so that ideas become clear and the young people meet, where they offer more ideas than those older than them might. He gave us an example of students who praised the club and promoted it in their speeches to others.
Akabars: How much budget is spent on the club annually, how many programs, and how long is the training?
Dr. BahfiIf we look at the budget, it is small in quantity, but it is large in partnership. We do not keep the club under the control of Rawabi Al-Khair, but we try to find volunteers to support the club from all sides. This started with the biggest supporter of the club from the personalities, the engineer Hani Bajaaleh - may God have mercy on him, who had great qualities with the youth. We also have partners such as the Hadramout Foundation for Invention, and other volunteer trainers. However, in terms of the annual expenses of the club, it reaches half a million Yemeni riyals annually.
The duration of the training depends on the period that students spend after graduating from high school, before entering university. It is usually nine to ten months. The training takes place every Saturday of each week, as the students have free time and are not bound by courses at private institutes. Saturday is an academy day from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, and this day usually includes two sessions.
Our programs are diverse, ranging from a diploma in human development skills to a diploma in education, as well as lectures on scientific, religious, and educational topics. The largest program is an introduction to scientific specializations, which is achieved by hosting relevant stakeholders, in addition to field trips and article writing.
AkabarsDo you visit high schools to introduce the club's activities and invite people to join?
Dr. BahfiInitially, the club's activities were limited to students at Al-Mukalla Model Secondary School. However, after 2011, we visited several secondary schools in Al-Mukalla, including Ibn Shihab Secondary School, Ibn Sina Secondary School, and Al-Shati Secondary School, all of which are boys' schools, as the club's activities are still restricted to boys. We also promote the club through the organization's icons on social media and on its official website.
With the emergence of other clubs, such as the Volunteers Club, it was necessary to identify the institution’s position in dealing with new developments, whether by integration or maintaining the independence of its work. Dr. Bahfi expressed their readiness to establish a partnership with all institutions and organizations concerned with youth care and that touch upon the programs of Rawabi Al Khair Club. There is no objection to diversity because it helps in accommodating more youth in light of the limited seats provided by the club, which are close to fifty, and that it should be spread across all the districts of Hadhramaut. Girls should also be given a major role in all programs and activities of institutions and clubs.
AkabarsWhat are the activities carried out by the Leadership and Innovators Building Team? Injaz Volunteer Team?
Dr. Bahfi: There were basically two teams, but in recent years it turned into two forums or clubs. The Injaz Volunteer Club includes female university students. The club’s role was linked to the period when university studies were suspended due to Al-Qaeda’s control over the city of Mukalla in 2015. This forced those students to sit with us in order to present ideas that serve volunteer work, which made us establish this team, and we gave them training in the field of human development. Through this team, which is composed of several different university specializations, we implemented many volunteer courses and programs, whether for orphans, or others. In the end, this team became independent with its formation from the Rawabi Al-Khair Development Foundation to become the “Injaz Volunteer Forum.”
As for the Leadership and Innovators Building Team, work on it continued until 2015, then it was halted due to my devotion to preparing my doctoral dissertation in the Republic of Sudan, and the lack of anyone to supervise the team during my absence during that period. Financial support played a role in the team's cessation of work, but we look forward to resuming the launch of this team with the next academic year.
Here, a question came to our mind about whether the institution had received any gesture from the government, whether represented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports or the Ministry of Education. Dr. Bahfi's response was to express regret for the lack of such cooperation, but the government's cooperation to ensure the success of the activities was limited to coordination with the principals of four secondary schools in the city of Mukalla. The university's gymnasium was used to implement the club's sporting activities.
At the end of the meeting, Dr. Bahfi addressed Akabars A closing word for high school graduates regarding determining their creative tendencies and scientific specializations.
I advise our graduates to first choose their major themselves, to know their strengths and weaknesses, and then choose their major. They should not wait for others to determine their major, lest they discover upon graduation that they have chosen a major they do not desire.
What helps him in this matter is to meet pioneers in the specialty he wants, ask them about it, and benefit from the output of young people who graduated from this specialty.
As for the other important aspect, which is the creativity and inclinations of young people, we have not yet invested in them, whether in school curricula, or the state with its educational institutions, or civil society organizations. I advise young people not to let their talents and creativity go to waste, and to try as much as possible to invest in them, because there are certain years that, if they pass, a young person will not be able to make up for the talents and creativity he missed, and he must knock on every door in order to develop and motivate these creativity.
At the end of the interview, the Akabars family thanked Dr. Abdullah Bahfi for his generous hospitality and open-mindedness in accepting to conduct a press interview with him. Dr. Bahfi also praised the network’s efforts in EHighlighting the club's charitable efforts, especially since one of its members is a member of the network's family. He conducted this press interview to convey the voice of the organization and the club to the relevant authorities so they can contribute to supporting youth care programs, especially for high school graduates.
