After I was a toddler rising up in Egypt, I used to face in entrance of a whiteboard in my room, pretending to be an inspiring trainer — a dreamer sharing information, kindness, and hope. Life had totally different plans; I turned a software program engineer. However that dream of sharing one thing by no means actually left me.
Years later, Cisco’s Time2Give initiative — a profit that provides staff 80 hours a 12 months of paid time to provide again to causes they care about — made my dream of instructing potential in a manner that isn’t sure by borders or continents.
As an expat dwelling in Kraków, Poland, I’m typically requested how I navigate cultural variations and whether or not I discover it tough to attach with folks. My reply tends to shock folks: I’ve by no means actually felt there have been main variations.
Which may sound naïve or unusual at first — however it genuinely displays how I see the world. I don’t say this to disregard the fact of cultural nuance. Slightly, I’ve all the time considered humanity as entire. Whether or not in Egypt — the place I grew up — or in Poland, the place I’ve constructed a brand new chapter of my life, I’ve discovered a shared ardour for music and love for magnificence, heard related struggles, and tales that echo that all of us face the identical ethical dilemmas even when the tales are informed in several languages.
This particular worldview has formed not simply my capacity to adapt, but in addition my need to provide — to contribute meaningfully, and to stay with curiosity and compassion. That is what Time2Give means to me: connecting with out hesitation and embracing the idea that humanity ought to all the time come first.
In November 2024, I flew to Cairo, Egypt, after receiving affirmation from my supervisor that I may use my Time2Give days there. The very subsequent morning, I wakened early to fulfill the bus from a neighborhood nonprofit centered on schooling and social assist. We set off from New Cairo towards El-Duweiqa, a group within the hills of Muqattam.
El-Duweiqa is a deeply underserved neighborhood that tragically got here into the general public eye after a devastating rockslide in September 2008. The catastrophe displaced hundreds of households, lots of whom had been later relocated to housing tasks — however poverty, neglect, and lack of alternative continued to form every day life there for a few of them, particularly for youngsters.
I spent the day with a group the place issues we regularly take without any consideration — like constant entry to schooling — had been seen as privileges. My function was easy but highly effective: to supply love, consideration, and share technical information. The youngsters had little or no, but carried boundless pleasure, curiosity, and starvation for studying. Their self-discipline in school and their sharp minds made it apparent — they had been prepared for extra, if solely given the possibility.
We shared smiles, performed video games, and easily related. I additionally spoke with the nonprofit employees about their ongoing tech challenges and the way we may enhance security and connectivity of their studying areas.
After I returned to Poland, my second residence for the previous three years, one thing sudden occurred. Maciej Kordas, a tremendous chief in software program engineering, heard a few of my tales at Cisco Dwell — Cisco’s world tech convention — and invited me to take part in an open day for a neighborhood highschool by which his daughter attends. It wasn’t a charity occasion, however a knowledge-sharing session with youngsters — exhibiting them what a profession in IT may seem like. The scholars visited our Cisco Kraków workplace, as a part of a daily initiative by Linked Poland.
Whereas I spoke about expertise, I additionally shared one thing extra private: the significance of various views in tech, and the way younger ladies can carve their very own paths in a area that’s nonetheless predominantly male.
I’ve spoken at Cisco Dwell and different main occasions however standing in entrance of teenagers was one thing else fully. Youngsters don’t sugarcoat something. In case you’re boring — they’ll let you realize. In case you’re inspiring — you’ll see it gentle up their faces. They taught me one thing profound: that authenticity issues greater than experience, and that to attach with them, you should be extra actual than the digital noise they stay in.
In each El-Duweiqa and Kraków, I used to be reminded of the little woman I as soon as was — standing in entrance of a whiteboard, dreaming of sometime giving again. Time2Give didn’t simply fulfill that childhood dream — it humbled me. Each time I present as much as train, I go away having discovered one thing deeper: about humanity, honesty, respect, the braveness to talk up about critical points, and the readability that comes from seeing your home in a a lot larger world.
It’s a liberating feeling — to provide with out anticipating, to attach throughout borders and generations.
In case you’re looking for objective, I urge you to search for these alternatives. That’s why I like working at Cisco. With Time2Give, we’re inspired to make an influence — given 80 paid hours a 12 months, on prime of trip time, to assist our communities, share our skills, and pursue our objective. These alternatives allow us to change the world, however in addition they change us.
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