“I was born in Berber on 10/4/1930. After the Khalwa, I was admitted to the elementary school, the only one in the town and surrounding villages. After four years, I Joined the elementary school, which was one of two schools in the whole of the Northern Province. The competition was tough. My secondary education was at Wadi Seyedna secondary school. Wadi Seyedna and Hantoub were the only government schools in Sudan. We were given first-class education by well-qualified teachers. The library was full of excellent books and magazines. I read many of the classics in Arabic and English. These included books by Taha Hussein, EL Manfalouty, Zaky Mubarak, EL Mazny, Abu EL Farag EL Asfahany, Dickens, HG Wells, Sir Walter Scott; Alfred Tennyson; Shakespeare and others.

Two magazines, EL Risala and EL Thakafa, edited by Ahmed Hassan EL Zayat and Ahmed Amin, were of particular interest to me. I was particularly fond of EL Risala. It had some of the greatest writers in the Arab world: Taha Hussein, EL Mazny, Zaky Mubarak, Ali EL Tantawy, EL Nashashiby, Ahmed Zaky and many others. In addition to literary topics, EL Risala had a special section for science. Abdullah Ashry EL Siddig, a known Sudanese scientist who graduated from the American University of Beirut, was a contributor to EL Risala. Of particular interest to me was psychology. I developed an interest in the subject when I was 12 years of age. I joined a distance learning course in psychology in Cairo run by Dr Mohamed Fayik EL Gawhary of Sakakeeny Pasha Street. Ever since,