Autobiography

Learning to Swim Against the Current

About Myself

I was born on a stormy February night in 2013 in Mansoura, a busy city on the banks of the Nile, and my mother still jokes that I arrived as noisily as the thunder outside. I am the middle child of three. My older sister, Nour, is the serious one who organises everybody, while my little brother, Adam, is a whirlwind of questions. My father is an engineer and my mother teaches chemistry, so our dinner table has always been part restaurant, part laboratory. When I was eight, we moved to Cairo for my father's work, and I had to leave behind the only school and the only friends I had ever known.

Key Aspects of My Life

The person who has shaped me most is my grandfather, Hassan. Every summer, he took me to his small farm outside Mansoura, where he taught me to plant tomatoes, mend a fence and — most importantly — listen before I speak. The object I treasure most is his old brass compass, which he gave me on my tenth birthday. “So you never lose your way,” he said, pressing it into my hand. If I am honest, the thing I fear most is disappointing the people who believe in me. When I am not worrying, I am usually drawing comic strips or swimming, which is strange, because water once terrified me.

The Moment That Changed Me

That fear ended on a grey morning when I was ten. My school in Cairo held a swimming gala, and I had secretly signed up to impress my classmates, even though I could barely float. As I stood at the edge of the pool, my legs trembled and my heart hammered against my ribs. The whistle blew. I jumped, swallowed what felt like half the pool and, for one terrifying second, sank. Then I remembered my grandfather's calm voice: “Slowly, Youssef. One stroke at a time.” I kicked. I reached. I breathed. I finished last, a whole length behind everyone else, but the entire stand rose to its feet and cheered. Climbing out, dripping and shaking, I realised something that has stayed with me ever since: courage is not the absence of fear; it is moving forward while you are still afraid.

Who I Am and Who I Hope to Become

Looking back, I can see both my strengths and my weaknesses clearly. I am determined and loyal; once I start something, I refuse to give up on it or on the people involved. However, I can be impatient, especially when a drawing does not turn out the way I imagined, and I have torn up more than one comic in frustration. My lifelong dream is to become an architect who designs safe swimming pools and green parks for children in crowded cities, so that no child grows up as afraid of the water as I once was. My story is only just beginning, but I already know which way my compass is pointing.