Hayam Ahmed Mohammed Supreme Council of Antiquities The British museum International Curatorial Training Programme June 15-July

أهلا وسهلاً بكم في مصر مرحباً Welcome In Egypt स्वात Merhaba 欢迎 Bem-vindo Dear All أهلا وسهلاً بكم في مصر مرحباً Welcome In Egypt स्वात Merhaba 欢迎 Bem-vindo

A dream come true A dream come true I have never considered my self a lucky person, though I accomplished some good things in my life but I always needed to do great effort to do it. This was assured to me at 24th of February 2009, The day I supposed to do an interview to the B.M curatorial training but a few days before I had a very bad injury at my left leg and I wasn’t sure if I will be able to go to the interview but finally I made it, and I, against all my expectations, succeeded. This made me think may be I’m a lucky person after all, but I didn’t realize how lucky I am except after attending this training because my gains of attending it professionally and personally were more than one can count, but I will try to give you glimpse of it.

Professionally: -Trained on most aspects of curatorial work and dealings with artifacts; -the latest methods of exhibiting it -storing it -restoring and conserving it -transferring it with both large and limited budget

- watching new ways of using the museum’s collections in educating, and entertaining people by creating events, activities, festivals that attracts the people, specially children, to the museum. -Knowing how to communicate with important institutions such as the British library, Griffith institution, and Rayland library which will be of a great help in my academic research. -create a network of relationships with specialists from many countries.

- Having the chance to visit some historical buildings in London and to see how it was conserved,preserved and refurbished which given me some ideas that can be applied in historical buildings in Islamic Cairo. - the visits I had to many museums in London and Manchester had given me some ideas for my PHD thesis. - I also had ideas for some joint researches with the other participants and I hope that we will start it soon. - Because of what I learned in the ICTP I was chosen to work at Cairo orientation center which was established at one of the historical buildings in old Cairo to guide tourists in the old city by providing them maps, information and pictures of the city and it will start working soon.

Personally: - Making new friends from all over the world and Interacting with people from different nationalities. -Gain knowledge about the various civilizations of theworld. -Gain knowledge about the various civilizations of the world. -Stressing on some values such as the importance of team work, the good use of resources and time.

-Although I wished many times to be as developed as you but this didn’t never stopped me of being so proud that I am Egyptian because one look to the crowds around the pharonic antiques at all the U.K museums gives me the right to be. -Gain more self- confidence. -improving my English. -Having a lots of fun

Suggestions : - Give participants a chance to attend one or two of the meetings which discusses the museum's or department's problems to see how this problems being solved and how the decisions is made. - Give participants a chance to attend one or two of the meetings which discusses the museum's or department's problems to see how this problems being solved and how the decisions is made. - Having coordination between the programme of the B.M and the programme at the partner museum to avoid the repetition in the lectures. - Making participants more involved in the activities of the museum according to their professional interests. - Having more optional activities.

Thanks for your attention