In 1999 I went to Mecca as a pilgrim, the pilgrimage had been a magnificent experience although exhausting, in the months which had followed it I had rested, seldom leaving home, but it wasn't like me to stay idle for too long and I started looking for something useful to do.

The answer came from my youngest sister who advised me to start learning English, a language I hadn't learned when younger. Nevertheless, some questions needed to be sorted out. First of all I looked for a language centre I could easily have access to considering the fact I was, and still I'm, in a wheel chair…there was the British Centre with a slope, especially made for this purpose, at one of its gates!.

I went there to have a look and I wasn't disappointed, all I needed was within my reach: the classrooms, the library (which became one of my favourite places with all its books) later on a "learning zone" was created with plenty of multimedia material such as videos, computers, on-line English learning…

It's been six years now and I'm still student there, I have made a lot of progress considering the fact I started from nought! But it's the job of the British Council to teach English, isn't it? And, truly, they master it.

Anyway, what the British Council is for me is more than a language centre is a place I'm fond of, a place where I've made friends, a place where whenever I go to I  know that a warm smile would welcome me.