ABSTRACT
Ahmed Ali was once an illiterate Egyptian man who worked as an unskilled laborer. The son of a farmer, he had three brothers and two sisters, and dreamed as a little boy of going to school with his friends. But his family could not afford to send him even to primary school because they were very poor. He worked in his youth outside the home to help support his family. Ahmed married at age 21 after obtaining a semi-skilled job as a construction supervisor. His wife had dropped out of school at age 10 and was also from a poor family.
