Dhow symbol which was incorporated into the Union Jack
to form Aden Colony flag.

Canadian time

AC alumnus Abdul Rahman
Bagunaid is back to Holland after a temporary stay in Aden. Bagunaid runs away from the Winters of Holland in the Winter months. He is now retired from Radio Nederland and from his singing career. He speaks Arabic, Dutch and English. He is an occasional contributor in the Aden newspapers.

اسمه الحسين بن عبد الله بن الحسن بن
 سينا أبو علي الملقب بالشيخ الرئيس
 وهو عالم موسوعي في علوم الطب
والرياضيات والطبيعيات والفلك
والموسيقي والفلسفة والمنطق ، كما كان
 شاعرا. وكان يتقن اللغتين العربية
والفارسية كما كان أسلوبه من أجمل
 الأساليب العلمية الأدبية.
ولد ابن سينا بقرية خلرمثين من ضواحي
مدينة بخاري وتوفي عن
عمر لم يزد عن ثمانية وخمسين عاما.
وحين بلغ العاشرة من عمره كان
قد حفظ القرآن الكريم، ودرس الكثير
من أدب العرب وتعلم ابن سينا وهو في
صباه الحساب الهندي والفقه كما
درس المنطق ورياضيات وإقليدس
 وفلك المجسطي وشرع في دراسة الطب

AC Alumni News...

Dr.Shihab with ex president of sudan Swar al-dhab who received Dubai Quran prize.‏

Wagdi Yousuf Al Saidi
Aden College 1962-1966

Alumunus Wajdi Yousuf Hassan Al Saidi sent us a few memorable photos of Alumni in Aden College and a photo of his father the late Yousuf Hassan Al Saidi. His father was a Principal of a school in Tawahi(Steamer Point) and later a teacher in Aden Intermediate School (Al Rizmait) and Aden College.
His camera also recorded some shots of Aden College inhouse Athletics. These can be seen in Photo Album under Sport Teams.

Avicenna and in his hands some of the surgery instruments which he used.

Dr. Shihab Ghanem an Aden College alumnus was a guest speaker at a symposium which was held in Sana’a Yemen.
The symposium discussed poetry of Yemeni poets.
Read more about the symposium on the right hand of the this web
page.

Avicenna was a Muslim and Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time. He was also an astronomer, chemist, geologist, logician, paleontologist, mathematician, physicist, poet, psychologist, scientist and teacher. His designes  of surgical equipment in the 10th century are still in use today. Surgeons in Andalusia, Spain look at the surgical instruments and medical text books of Avicenna as one of the great achievements which contributed to the advancement of science in Europe at the time.

Avicenna’s reputation is held high in Andalusia where a statue was erected in his honour in Cordoba.  His portraits decorate the walls of many Faculties of Medicine and hospitals in the Middle East and Europe in appreciation of his scientific achievements.

About our Teachers...

AC Alumni Reunions

Alumnus Ashraf Othman Girgrah
is returning back to Canada after a lengthy stay of 7 years in Vera Almeria, Spain. He plans to settle in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

A couple of weeks ago I met with another of my Aden College class
colleague Anis Mazhar. The last time that I met him was we think in late 1958. His father was the famous physician Dr.Mazhar in the 50s and 60s. The three Mazhar brothers Akhtar, Anis and Mahmood all studied in Aden College and left for further education overseas. Like most other AC alumni they too did well. Akhtar went into Mechanical Engineering and worked for Shell, Anis became a Chartered Accountant and Mahmood a General Practitioner. Akhtar and Anis live in the UK while Mahmood lives in Canada. Anis and I met in London's Kingsbury borough and then had lunch together in the local Nando's Restaurant. We talked for a couple of hours reminiscing about our time in Aden and what we have been doing since we left Aden College. 

Jamal Abdul Hamid
aAlumnus 1950-1960

Alumnus Jamal Abdul Hamid sent us a summary of his impressions about AC staff, Part II

Mr Robinson:
Vice Principal & Principal.
Played a round of golf before starting college in the morning. Soft spoken but fairly firm and expected one to be polite and well behaved in class.

Mr Hunt:
Drove a Ford Prefect number plate
3.142=Pi. Dedicated teacher. Was a good athlete and runner of the mile.

Mr Hashim Abdulla:
Teacher of Arabic and Islamic Literature. A quiet and excellent teacher. Any noise from the students was immediately stopped by a sharp “sakta ya walad”

Mr Hussain Al Hibshi:
PE and Arabic composition teacher. Athletic and acrobatic. Occasionally pulled student’s hair when there was any misbehaviour or when wrong answers were given to his questions.

Mr Porteous:
Principal (1956). He was a prisoner of war and expected discipline If he saw dirty shoes he would ask the student to go and clean them.

Mr Abdulla Muheirez:
Taught Maths & Islamic History. Sympathetic and good-natured teacher.

Mr Hall:
Taught English. Ensured that his students were capable of tackling exam questions.

Miss Duffy:
Taught English. Seemingly aloof and remote, she was a good teacher.

Mr Narayan:
Vice Principal. Had a habit of rubbing his hands while lecturing.

يوم رفع علم عدن للمرة الأولى
أمام منزل المغفور لة عثمان
حسين  الأدهل
ويظهر في الصورة المرحوم
 زين باهارون رئيس وزراء عدن
السابق . كما يظهر أيضاً الفنان
ياسبن فارع وحسن خدابخش
ومجموعة من المناصرين من
عدن

Alumnus Hisham Bashraheel, Editor in Chief and Publisher of Al Ayyam daily newspaper left Aden for medical treatment.
We wish him well and speedy
recovery.

AC Alumni News...

Al-Owais foundation honours
Poet Shihab Ghanem
in Sanaa and Taiz, Yemen.

Click here to read more.

Dr. Adel Aulaqi sent us a photo from the 60s which shows some of  Aden politician and doctors who served the colony in BP Refinery hospital in Little Aden
Al Bureika. He said that Dr.Cen Jones was responsible for many a medical scholarship for AC alumni, certainly including his.
He died on October 27th in
2006. He very kindly gave me the picture and did identify Mrs Besse. I just managed to look up my notes of my meeting with him in London, some three years before he died.
The photo is posted on the right hand side of this page.

Abdulla Taher Ali, an AC alumnus from the 60s was in Malaysia recently on a family and business visits. He is currently living in Melbourne, Australia after his retirement from his job at RasGas in the State of Qatar. Abdulla holds an MBA from Henley Management College, majoring in Organizational Behavior (Arab Culture). Lectured in Malaysia for a while. After leaving RasGas he is now a  Managing Director of  a Company based  in Australia, with overseas interests. Travels frequently on business assignments, focusing on his experience and knowledge in the Far East and the Gulf.

CEMA: Canadian Ethnic Media Association announced the award winners of its 32nd annual awards for 2010 as part of "Ethnicity, Governance and Social Justice: Linking Canada to the World". Dr. Qais Ghanem was one of the recipients for his Ottawa radio show. Dr. Ghanem is the creator and host of Dialogue with Diversity Radio Show which broadcasts from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
The recent award is the 3rd which he won since 2009. The awards are:
Winner of the 2009 and 2010 CEMA Award for Radio;
Winner of the 2010 OCISO Media Leadership Award; and
Winner of the 2010 United Way Community Builder Award.
Read more here.

A new audio Yemeni music CD in the series of Celestial Harmonies was produced by David Parsons of the USA  with the help of co- producer Dr. Nizar Ghanem. The CD is a compilation of music of Yemeni singers. There are 7 recordings in the CD.

To find more about the CD consult http://www.4shared-china.com/all-images/UE7X45fE/___.html

Aden   College    Alumni     News

Farook Hamza Aman published a recent article in Ottawa, Canada, entitled, The battle of Tripoli spilling blood in Yemen.

A copy of the article can be found in the following file.

A Cultural Seminar on the occasion of UAE’s 39th National Day was held by Dubai KMCC (Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre) On Friday, 26th Nov 2010, 7.30 pm at Dubai Landmark Auditorium, Dubai. The topic was “Gulf : Experiences which went un-exchanged”. Among the guest speakers was Dr. Shihab Ghanem.
Read more here.

ABU DHABI – Kalima, the translation project of the
Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage
(ADACH), published the Arabic translation of a collection of poems written by the famous Indian poetess Kamala Suraiyya. The translation was in a book by Dr. Shihab Ghanem.

The book, entitled "The Suraiyya Resonance", contains a full collection of her poetry which had been originally published in Malayalam under the title “Ya Allah” (O God)