Misr Language School closed its doors last Sunday in mourning for its founder and principal Magda Moussa, who passed away a day earlier at the age of 66 after a bitter fight against lung cancer. Ms Moussa devoted her life to the cause of advancing private education in Egypt, and especially to merging handicapped children in mainstream schools.
Special children
In the 1970s Moussa spearheaded the call to merge handicapped children into the community, encouraging them and their families to discover and develop their skills, in an attempt to make them productive adults who would not be a burden on society. She was the first to call for establishing classes for handicapped children in ordinary schools, a move she helped materialise in the 1990s when she established and became principal of Misr Language School in Cairo. She played a pivotal role in getting Egypt to be the first Arab country to sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New York in March 2007.
Ms Moussa launched the program of “The Best Friend” through which normal children interact on a peer level with disabled ones.
In 1994 Ms Moussa joined the Special Olympics movement as a national director and was elected president of the programme in 1998. During her tenure she worked determinedly to transform the programme into one of the leading programmes in the region. The motto of the contestants was: “Let’s win. But if we can’t, let’s have the honour of at least having tried”. They won 45 medals in the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai, and 12 medals in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
Appreciated
Ms Moussa was an activist all her life. She sat on the education committee affiliated to the specialised national councils, was a member of the supreme council of social affairs, a member in the Egyptian Red Crescent Committee, president of the Egyptian Special Olympics, and a member of the special needs committee of the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood. She was awarded the State Appreciation Prize for her pioneering role with the handicapped, and was invited to the Hall of Fame in the United States for an appreciation certificate in educational and social services. She was granted audience by Queen Elizabeth II, and was invited to dinner at the White House by former US president and Mrs George W. Bush held in honour of those who, in their own countries, were active in making the special olympics a success.
Moussa is survived by her husband Ismail Othman, Special Olympics chairman in Egypt, and two children.