Khaberni - Lujain al-Faraya, daughter of Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya, revealed that her father worked in electrical installation and repair and as an ice cream seller during his childhood in the village of Al-Jadida in Karak Governorate, Khaberni south of Jordan, before becoming an officer in the army and minister.
The following is what Lujain Mazen al-Faraya wrote:
Last night, I showed my father a video that was published as part of the “Walk a Step If” trend, in which simple life situations and events are mentioned, where children advance steps, Khaberni and parents stay where they are because, for example, they didn't celebrate birthdays in their childhood as their children do now, and didn't sleep on beds during their childhood, and did not experience what their children do today.
One of the questions raised, Khaberni in the clip I showed was “take a step forward if you had to work in your childhood to help your parents”; then only the father stepped forward, making the children break down crying, realizing the difficulty of their father’s childhood...
I felt my father was moved by the clip, and I asked him if he indeed had to work in his childhood to help my grandfather, may God have mercy on him; he recounted memories of working in electricity, installation, and repair in the village, and that he cannot forget what he described as “the biggest moments of his failure” when his father bought him a “thermos” to sell ice creams in the village, and how eager he was for success and to start making achievements in this small project.
As a child, Mazen would take the copper spoon, fill it with whatever ice creams he had, and sell the ice creams for a few coins. Everything was successful, and everything seemed to Mazen as he had planned, until he finished selling the contents of the thermos, and proudly threw the spoon inside the thermos, only for the glass, which kept the ice creams cold by encasing them, to break; which that child didn’t even know was fragile glass. With the glass shattered, a child's dream was shattered, thinking briefly that this project would generate extra income for the small home he lived in, Khaberni with his family.
My father didn’t talk much about his feelings, Khaberni but I understood him. I know the meaning of ambition, dream, and hope in the smallest and simplest things, and how much I hate the feeling of failure and breakage.
Apart from everything... about how the child Mazen didn’t break, about how Mazen, as a child and a man, broke the rock, about what Mazen is today as a father, a human being, and a man... Sometimes we forget that our parents were once children, with dreams, hopes, and expectations, some of which were disappointed and some of which might have been realized in a different form or painted with a different ending.
Sometimes we forget - or maybe I forget - that my mother is still that girl who had many dreams about what her life could be, then spent her youth caring for me and my siblings, and worked long in education, and I never saw her have a break between school and home, walking distances to shop for what we need, Khaberni at the end of each month then returning home exhausted and tired but driven by the motivation to make this family successful. Maybe I forget that my father also remains that young man who lived with football as a major part of his life like today’s youth, and without informed knowledge, but I am sure he dreamed of stardom in it... then he spent his life between deserts, moving from one battalion to another, serving the homeland and people... He would be gone for a week, and we saw him only for 48 hours... and he gave up a big part, Khaberni of his dreams on this journey, or altered his dreams to fit with these family and their future.
I know well that they are completely satisfied now, thank God... and that they never pride themselves above the decree of God. We are in the best of conditions.
I hope, Khaberni that they feel proud, of what they have provided and achieved, on a personal level, that ambitious, intelligent, sincerely beloved teacher, and that wonderful, intelligent leader whom I look up to every day.
And I hope they feel proud, of what they have given to children who grew up grateful, Khaberni appreciative for living in an environment that made them what they are today.
Khaberni Thank you, Mom, thank you, Dad. I love you very much.
