From classroom under a tree to world-class university in QF – The Peninsula

From classroom under a tree to world-class university in QF – The Peninsula

Doha: As a child, Hussein Bbaale was used to sit on the floor of a small mosque built of bricks and wood whose corners were arranged in the form of classrooms. Bbaale would attend “school” with his friends in the remote village of Namungoona in Uganda. Despite the unconventional school facility, these children, from humble backgrounds, had the unbreakable will to get an education.

Today, Bbaale has become a sheikh (a prominent Sharia scholar in his village) at a mosque. Although, he still sits on the floor of a mosque, but now it’s in the Education City Mosque that stands on a campus housing prestigious schools and world-class universities, including Qatar Foundation’s (QF’s) Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), from where he is set to graduate after completing his Master’s in Contemporary Islamic Studies.