Sandbox

Meet a Sandbox Member: Mariam Georges

January 5th, 2010 by Sara Usinger

Mariam M. Georges is Egyptian and was born and raised in Cairo. She is currently studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. She will be doing her masters in MSE next year with a concentration in Nanotechnology.
Mariam on facebook

Tell us the story of your latest project/occupation!

My latest project is my senior design project, which is still work in progress, it involves extracting energy from plants. I have recently started a social project with a friend of mine, also Egyptian, our initial goal is to enhance the provision of microfinance in Egypt. We are starting with small projects, trying to export handmade products made of recycled materials to the US and using the revenue to help sustain micro-entreprises. Right now, we have not started any exports, we are still working on the logistics of the project.

Tell us about the biggest successes and failures in your life. What worked, what didn’t, and what did you learn?

I consider myself very lucky to have the chance of studying abroad in a multinational environment, to be exposed to completely different cultures and ideas on a daily basis. I believe that if my senior design project works out, it might be one of the greatest successes I’ve had in life, the same applies to the microfinance project which has just started in the past week. Any failure I’ve had so far involved not being able to achieve a goal I had in mind. However, I try to turn every failure into something useful, even if it ends up being just being the learning experience itself. I learned to be patient, because one might be capable of doing everything, but never everything at the same time, one step at a time. I have also learned to ask and learn from other people’s experiences, to be constantly learning and accepting new ideas.

What do you want to achieve in the next week, the next year, the next 10 years?

I would like to take more serious steps in the microfinance project within the next week, to enjoy my family and friends since I am in Cairo right now and will be heading back to Philadelphia in less than two weeks. For next year, I hope to be successful in my studies, to get a job that I will really enjoy, and to sustain any side projects I am involved in. In the next 10 years, I would love to help develop Egypt and see it change, to see everyone having access to education, a healthy environment, to help sustain micro-enterprises and improve the average living standards in my country.

What was your most inspring moment during the last two weeks?

I had two very inspiring moments during the past two weeks, the first was actually in a Sandbox dinner, when I heard Nettra Pan’s ideas about Cambodia and how she hopes to see it in the future. I realized that all over the globe, young people have very similar goals in developing their countries. I felt that we could learn so much from each others’ experiences and carry out a lot of parallel projects. My second moment was yesterday when I visited an old school in Cairo, considered to be one of the best schools in Egypt. However, I was shocked to see the lack of resources, the lack of openness and international awareness. I was inspired, and felt an urge to change this, hopefully soon. All it takes is a motivated group of young people who share similar ideas, who are enthusiastic, and believe in change.

How could other Sandboxers and the outside world support you and why would that be exciting for them ?

Any sandboxers interested in microfinance, helping less fortunate people get a chance to live a better life would be more than welcome to share their ideas. Also, if anyone is interested in helping to develop the new project, they are more than welcome to do so.  It would be great if any Sandboxer would be willing to help in the process of bringing the handmade Egyptian products to the US. I believe Egypt is a very interesting and unique country in every way, trying to help people here would definitely be a very different and eye opening experience. It will be challenging, but definitely worth it!

Mariam’s favourites:

Movie- The Kite Runner
Place on Earth- Egypt
Food- Icecream
Quote- “Work hard, play often and live in love”