#1. From English Clubs to Greening Cities: How this 18-Year-Old aims to Transform Algeria through Community Development

In our first episode, 18-year-old Algerian changemaker, Ramy Zoghbi joins AmickyCarol to share how he's transforming his community through innovative educational and environmental initiatives despite cultural resistance and limited resources.

• Founder of ReoEnglishClub, a free online platform teaching practical English skills to Algerians
• Created Green Commu, a mobile app connecting apartment dwellers with gardeners to create green spaces in urban areas
• Winner of a national SDG competition presenting a sustainable cities project
• Exchange alumni with the US Department of State through the Youth Leadership Program with Algeria
• Community leader in Google Developer Groups focused on integrating technology into environmental solutions
• Co-creator of We Power DZ, a STEM education program for young Algerians
• Currently pursuing a computer science degree to further technological solutions for community problems
• Facing and overcoming community resistance to new ideas and international exchange programs
• Motivated by seeing his community's perception of his work and becoming an example for others

"Don't wait for people in power to create change. If you want to do something to improve your community, there is no better time than now. If we don't do these things ourselves, no one else will have the courage to do it for us."

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to World Changers HQ
• 1:27 Ramy's Impressive Accomplishments
• 2:35 English Club: Breaking Community Norms
• 3:53 Green Commu: Making Algerian Cities Sustainable
• 7:39 Local Context & Needs in Algeria
• 10:14 Innovating Against Educational Norms
• 15:02 Challenges Starting a Business
• 16:44 Navigating Challenges and Finding Motivation
• 18:19 Experiences Studying & Living in the US
• 22:45 Advice for Young Change-Makers
• 24:24 Ramy's Future Plans and Goals
• 26:05 What brings you joy?

Transcript

AmickyCarol: 0:02

Hey everyone, welcome to our podcast World Changers HQ, where we go behind the scenes to look at what ordinary people are doing in extraordinary ways and around the world. Today I've got with me a young man from Algeria called Ramy. Ramy is so well accomplished. He's only 18 years old, but I'll let him introduce himself and tell you a little bit about what he's doing. Welcome, Ramy.

Ramy Zoghbi: 0:29

Thank you, Carol.

AmickyCarol: 0:31

So tell us a bit about yourself and what initially sparked your passion for making a difference in Algeria.

Ramy Zoghbi: 0:37

Of course. Hello everybody. My name is Ramy Zorbi. I am an 18-year-old Algerian, fresh high school graduate. I'm the founder of Rio English Club, which is an online platform for teaching English for free in my community. I am also a winner of a national competition, of a national SDG competition, presenting an SDG 11 project. I'm also a volunteer with the Algerian Red Crescent, as well as a paramedic rescue. I'm also an exchange alumni with the US Department of State because I participated in the youth leadership program with Algeria with the Northern Nevada International Center in Reno, Nevada. I think that's it.

AmickyCarol: 1:14

You say that's it, but you're so well accomplished for a young man. You know who's just 18. Now tell me why English? Why are you teaching people in your community English? Now, if you haven't been to Algeria, I mean, I can tell you why because there's so few English speakers and it's been really challenging for us the past few days. Thankfully, I speak some French, but no word of Arabic, so having people like you who speak English would be a godsend for people who can't even speak a word of French or Arabic. So tell me, well, why did you start that?

Ramy Zoghbi: 1:48

Okay. So one of the things that I appreciated the most last summer was that I went to the United States in an exchange program, a leadership exchange program, and I think very well that if anyone here in Algeria wants to discover the word or improve their skills, engage with other people from all around the world, there is no better language than English. So if you tell me whether Arabic or French, I don't think these are the languages that you can use on an international basis. But when it comes to English, everybody in the world is learning English and speaking English too. So if you want to engage with any opportunity that comes into your way, whether that's a scholarship, a competition, a program, English is a must. So I found that I need to teach people from my community English.

AmickyCarol: 2:33

Thank you. That's so forward thinking, actually, and I really love that. It's fantastic, well done. Let's come back to something that you said about sustainable cities. So you won a competition. Tell me what sparked your passion for that and what led to it, of course.

Ramy Zoghbi: 2:50

So I would have to talk about the sustainable development goals in general. So the sustainable development goals are 17 goals that the United Nations have set to promote for a better future for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren. So I've participated in this competition with the global organization called ISEC and I would say that my motivation for a better and sustainable Algerian city and African city. I would tell you about the project itself for a minute, so that I can at least describe why this concerns me, of course. So our project is called Green Commu, which means Green Community Urban, in which we are targeting the city of Algeria so that we can make it a lot greener and more of a sustainable city.

Ramy Zoghbi: 3:36

Why is that? Because we as Algerians, especially the people living in Algeria, every day wake up to find that the sky is gray, so the color of the sky is gray. Imagine waking up to something like this in your community. Other than that, you live in like an apartment of, let's say, nine floors, and when you get out of the apartment there is no park to go to, there is nowhere else where you can at least sit and smell, like the flowers around you or something. I would say that there is some green spaces, but the green spaces are neglected, so there is a neglecting potential of the people when it comes to green places or green spaces in general. So I would not accept for me or the people living with me, so my community, to stay on this circumstance for the rest of their lives. Yeah, I don't expect people to wake up on a gray sky or a gray life and make good things yeah, I mean it's extraordinary that you talk about that.

AmickyCarol: 4:32

What do you think causes the sky to be great?

Ramy Zoghbi: 4:35

um, exactly so. There is something called gas emission. There is a lot of co2 in the atmosphere and if there is no plants or no green spaces to absorb the CO2 and make it into O2, which is the oxygen, the sky will always turn to the color, the gray color Also. Other than that, what causes gas emission in general is also the neglect and petition of the people, because, as I told you, for example, waking up in a neighborhood where there is nine floors apartments and when it comes to going to a park in that area, you find only like grass, so there's no trees, no plants in general. I think that's also one of the causes of gas emission too and what are you doing about it?

AmickyCarol: 5:20

what exactly does the project do?

Ramy Zoghbi: 5:22

So Green Commute is a mobile application in which nurseries and single gardeners promote their offers. So, for example, there is a gardener that can help people in an apartment to create a green balcony. Let's say that's one of the best examples that we gave in our project. So, for example, if I have an apartment in any floor, like the ninth floor, and I want to make it greener, I want to help in promoting this style of life, I would install Green Commute in my phone and search for the perfect match as a nursery or a gardener that can do the best for my balcony to make it greener and to promote this kind of life, this kind of style.

AmickyCarol: 6:04

That's a fantastic idea. Of course, I also love the fact that you're thinking about your children and grandchildren, even though you're only 18. You know, it's just wonderful, because I always say to people we don't inherit this earth from anyone. Instead, we leave it for those who are coming after us, and that's just such a fantastic attitude to have. Okay, so, moving on, we've gone through some of your specific achievements and you've been doing some truly extraordinary things. Can you tell me you know really why the Algerian context is unique, how you tailor your approach to address the local needs and challenges you know to make a positive impact. So, particularly with the green commune, what is unique about it?

Ramy Zoghbi: 6:50

Of course, I would add something to the previous thing concerning earth and our nature, in which is a coat. That's one of the people that I worked with when I was in the north nevada international center have said to me, which is dr karina black once was promoting not using plastic bottles okay water plastic bottles, and one of the things that she said that day was don't you guys want to leave this beautiful place for our children and our grandchildren?

Ramy Zoghbi: 7:17

and this is one of the things that I aspire from this coat in general. Yeah, okay. So, moving to the second question, I would say what makes my projects or my involvement in community special is that it's one of a kind and it is an initiative that I've done myself um yeah, exactly so.

Ramy Zoghbi: 7:36

For example, having an idea of making an application, a mobile application, to promote such thing at a younger age is such a huge thing to process at a younger age too, especially when surrounded with people that most likely will criticize what you do. So, actually bringing something like this into life in such environments or community and not focus on other stuff, or at least when having a lot of things to do for example, I had to graduate from high school, I had to start my college, I had to start my college life. I had to do a lot of other stuff too for my personal life. I would say that what made this so special was that, um, it is an initiative. It is one of a kind that I would say that especially Green Commu and Rio English Club uh, there is an initiative. It is one of a kind that I would say that especially green commute and rio english club uh, there is.

Ramy Zoghbi: 8:22

There has been no one in my community that introduced the idea of creating club in general. So I was raised in a small city called okay, in borjpo, which is the eastern side of alger. It is a small city, so introducing the people there into the idea of having something called a club was actually the hardest part of it, the hardest part of all. The project itself called the Rio English Club. So I remember very well when I started Rio English Club, not all the people tolerated the idea, because it goes against a lot of I would say a lot of what the community have been living with. So having something like this, especially, as I said, at a younger age and by myself, and making it into life and making it successful, is one thing that I consider as special.

AmickyCarol: 9:12

It really is. So when you say it goes against what they're used to or the norm, in what way does it go against it, and is it an online club or a physical club?

Ramy Zoghbi: 9:22

okay, okay, so, um, I will. It is an online club, but I decided to do it as an online club just for one only reason. I will tell you a little bit of how my community sees the future of their children, or the life. How do they expect the life their children to be? So we have elementary school, middle school and high school, right? What our parents mostly expect us to do is pass elementary school, pass middle school, work very hard on high school, graduate high school, and they go to med school or law school or do anything in college. That will, what they say, guarantee us something afterwards.

Ramy Zoghbi: 10:00

And we have English at high school and middle school, but does it teach us or them English? No, it doesn't. That's an honest truth. What we learn as English in middle school and high school isn't the English that we are going to be using daily or the kind of English that we can benefit from. So our parents expect us to pass the English exam of high school that we are going to be using daily or the kind of English that we can benefit from. So our parents expect us to pass the English exam of high school, get a high result, high remark on it, and then nothing, so only college or what comes after high school. So that's what the educational system at least sounds like over here. I would say that. So you get like grammar and vocabulary lessons, but still you don't get any communication lessons. So we don't have any speaking part, or there is speaking part, but it has never been implemented in school. So exactly so I thought of it.

Ramy Zoghbi: 10:54

I sat down and thought of it. I had the privilege as a young child. When I was young, I used to watch a lot of English content, so I think that's why I learned English by myself. I also used to speak with a lot of foreigners in English. So I think I had the privilege in that point.

Ramy Zoghbi: 11:13

But other people know, especially in my community. And then when I had the chance to go to the United States, people all over my community thought that this is an achievement because maybe no, especially in my community. And then when I had the chance to go to the United States, people all over my community thought that this is an achievement because maybe no one in my community have never done something like this before, especially since it's a leadership program. It's a fully funded program, so I had nothing from my part paid. So all of the people in my community started asking me about what can they do to either improve their english skills or any communication skills, or start engaging in this kind of programs. So I sat down and started preparing for something like this.

Ramy Zoghbi: 11:50

Okay, first of all I thought of it to start as a physical club, as you mentioned, but then I didn't want this to be as an illegal act for me right so I um consulted some people in my city on whether something like this can be done or not, so they actually introduced me to the truth, which is there is nothing labeled as a club in the algerian laws yeah okay, so there is only non-profit organizations.

Ramy Zoghbi: 12:19

But if you want to start a non-profit organization it would take a lot of process and I didn't want to do something like this because it would delay what I want to do to my community. I'm still in the process of making the non-profit, but for now I'm focusing only to teach that English, or at least to engage people into learning english virtually through re english club, through the mobile app called discord, so we would gather at a server and start call and then start communicating with each other oh wow, that sounds really interesting and exciting.

AmickyCarol: 12:55

And do people pay for this service or is it completely? It's completely free interesting exactly, wow, okay, so that's like you volunteering your time to do that okay, it's not only me that's volunteering, because I believe in the power of teamwork.

Ramy Zoghbi: 13:10

Yeah, yeah and um. So, for example, at the end of august we had already 51 members engaging in our community, in our club. So thinking of it as 51 people and mostly I will have to know exactly what these people, these people's weaknesses and strengths, is quite hard for me. So I would set a board of at least three volunteering teachers or any english speakers that wants to volunteer their time into making this change into our community, so it wouldn't always be me in the meeting but other people that have the same goal.

AmickyCarol: 13:46

Yeah, of course, yeah, and mission you know to achieve the same thing. Exactly? Are they all everyone's Algerian? Yeah, so it's for Algerians, by Algerians. Sure Okay, when did you guys start? So I started after I came from the United States, so it's for Algerians, by Algerians. Sure Okay, when did you guys start?

Ramy Zoghbi: 14:00

So I started after I came from the United States, so it was the 1st of August.

AmickyCarol: 14:05

Okay, so in less than a year you've already grown to 51. Okay, that's interesting. And can you just tell us what kind of obstacles that you faced in the process? I mean, apart from you know the hurdle of trying to figure out how to navigate setting up a legal structure, and you know not wanting to be delayed by going for the non-profit one. So you've found a way, but what other than that?

Ramy Zoghbi: 14:31

Okay. So, yeah, other than that, as I said, working on something like this by myself was such a hard thing to at least process it in my mind. Yes, so it would take at least like four hours of my daily time. Um, so that's why I came into the idea of setting up a board of people that want to make a change, and that would most likely help me in my mission and fulfill our goal in general at the end of the day.

Ramy Zoghbi: 14:59

Also, I would say that a virtual club is not better than a physical club. Still, it is a communication place where we communicate with each other, but you can't actually see whether this person is talking or not. So it wouldn't be the same as a physical one. And let's say, for example, I want to ask questions, so when I ask it and there is 12 people in the meet, who do I expect to answer first? Who do I let answer first? If I don't organize something like this, let's say, eight of them would answer at the same time and it would get complicated for me to answer back. So I would say, of course not. Setting a physical club was one of the hardest thing to actually go through. A physical club was one of the hardest thing to actually go through Also setting up a board and starting working as a team, not only by myself was also something that I faced.

AmickyCarol: 15:46

Oh wow, that's really interesting. I mean, what keeps you motivated and inspired, especially on challenging days?

Ramy Zoghbi: 15:54

Of course, what keeps me motivated is how the people are starting to benefit from this, and how the people are starting to benefit from this, and how the people are starting to change their minds and their perspective and their point of view, and at least how my message is being received from other people. And, of course, I would say, what also keeps me motivated is what people are speaking about me in my community. I became an example there Exactly so my English teachers, or any of my teachers, would say anything about me, would tell them stories about me, would tell all of the people that are studying in my previous high schools about what I've accomplished, about my goal. So that's something that keeps me alive and keeps me always doing the things that I love and helping people benefit from their environment and promote a perfect or a better style of living.

AmickyCarol: 16:45

That's really beautiful. I bet your parents must be very proud, yeah for sure.

Ramy Zoghbi: 16:49

This is also a point. So my parents are very, very proud of me, I would say, especially my father, my mother too too, of course. But they did not expect to raise a child to, at the end, try to change the world around him wow so when I'm doing such things, as you saw, before we started the recording, my father was calling me to check up on me because I told him that I'm gonna be in a podcast with money for you, which is like something that also inspired from so yeah, I'm so excited for you and for what you're doing.

AmickyCarol: 17:22

It's really amazing. I want to come back and ask you to say a few things you know to young Algerians and young Africans who might be listening to you. But before we do that, I hope you don't mind my asking, but I wanted to explore something with you. See, for most people just looking from the outside, we have this impression that potentially Algerians, like many people from Islamic majority countries, may not be favorably disposed towards the USA. So to hear that you were excited about going to the US I mean, was that a challenge in any way for you or for some people at all?

Ramy Zoghbi: 18:02

It was a kind of a challenge, but not for me. So, as you said, coming from a place where the majority of it are Muslims, I would give the example of one of the people that I went with to the US, who is called Omeyma. Omeyma is one of the YLPA participants. The YLPA stands for the Youth Leadership Program with Algeria. Omeyma comes also from a small city in the eastern side of Algeria too, so when Omeyma went with me to this exchange program and leadership program, the US Embassy Algeria posted about her in social media.

Ramy Zoghbi: 18:35

Okay, yeah so a post of appreciation on things that she has done in the US and in Algeria too. By the way, me and Umaima and one other participant called Esam, we started a program called we Power DZ. So we Power, we Power is the program. Dz means Algeria, which is Zaire. Zaire is Algeria in Arabic. So we said we Power DZ was a STEM-related program in which we taught people about STEM. Stem is science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Yeah, so we taught them. We would bring mentors and people who are experienced in these fields and teach younger Algerians about these so that they can, at the end, have an idea on what they want to do in college.

Ramy Zoghbi: 19:20

So, omeyma, when the us embassy posted about her in their social media accounts, people from her city started sharing the post and most of them were making fun of her. Most of them were insulting her for taking such a step on her life or for traveling alone. Although we were not traveling alone. We had one male mentor and two female mentors, so I would never consider that a solo travel. Also, people do not understand the idea of a leadership program.

Ramy Zoghbi: 19:51

When we went there, we had two weeks of extensive and extremely hard leadership courses in the University of Nevada, reno, so I would never consider that as a touristic travel or something like this. So when we were there, we were actually improving ourselves so that when we come back, we will improve our communities. And that's one thing that people did not talk about from her city, so they were only focusing about the side that she went into another country by her own. What do they mean by her own is without her parents and or her siblings. But they did not look at it from the positive side, which is improving herself so that when she comes back she will improve her environment too yeah, how is she coping with that?

Ramy Zoghbi: 20:34

I'm sure that's another I mean, that was kind of a very hard thing to process since she was only 17, but I don't think a strong women like her can be defeated by only what the community will say. Because if you say, in this circumstance, which is only listening to what people from our community say and following their norms, we will actually never, never, never take any step forward. Because I believe in also the power of critical thinking, because if we all had the same thoughts and the same idea and the same point of view, at the end of the day we will always stay where we are. So I believe in what she's doing is extremely powerful and I am proud of her and proud of everybody that was on my team too.

AmickyCarol: 21:16

That's fantastic and so mature for your age as well, but I completely agree with what you're saying People don't really understand the value of being exposed to other cultures. I've been to 85 countries I suppose Algeria will be my 86th actually and it's incredible just how humbled but inspired you are just by going to see other people changing the world. Okay, Thank you so much. I want to come back to what I said to ask you for any young Algerians listening who might be interested in following a similar path, or indeed any young African. What advice would you give to them?

Ramy Zoghbi: 21:54

Of course. So for all the Algerians and all the Africans out there listening to this podcast, I would say that improving our community or improving our environment, our countries, does not concern the people in power only. So what do I mean by that Is that something like this concerns everyone in the country and in the continent. So what I would say is that do not wait for people to come and change your life or change your community or change your environment. If you want to do something whether it's a change, anything that you are inspired to do, anything that you are, let's say, anything that you are motivated to do to start in your community, there is no better time, no better way than starting it now and in your city and in your country.

Ramy Zoghbi: 22:38

Do not wait for people that are in power to do all of these things by their own. If we do not do this stuff by our own, for our own, no one else will have the courage or no one else will interfere and do it for us. So I would say that just go for it. If you have any idea for any initiative in your community, any idea for any club, any competition you want to participate in, anything that can change your life and change the lives of the people around you. Just go for it. Do not listen to anyone's point of view or get defeated by the fact that people would go against whatever you want to do, and that's it that's fantastic, not just for young people.

AmickyCarol: 23:20

I think anyone listening to this really needs to take that. That's it. That's fantastic, not just for young people. I think anyone listening to this really needs to take that. That's very, very good advice. And, looking to the future, what are your long-term goals for your work and the impact that you hope to achieve in Algeria? I mean, I was astounded when you even started talking about the STEM club. So you're doing much more than you told us at the beginning. So, yeah, for the future, what are your goals really?

Ramy Zoghbi: 23:42

Okay, so I am pursuing a computer science degree, so one of the things that I didn't mention in my introduction and my presentation was that I am highly motivated in the idea of integrating technology into improving our lives and improving our environments. So one of the examples was Green Commute, which is integrating the mobile development, the mobile development field, into making a change in my community. Also, other than that, I am a community leader in the Google developer groups of Sidi Bel Abbas. Sidi Bel Abbas is a city in the western side of Algeria. Sidi Abbas has the higher school of computer science, in which I am a student. I'm first year student in. So what is my goal for Algeria and for Africa too, is to start implementing technology into making our lives better and into making our lives more sustainable than ever. And I guess, yeah, this is what I'm inspired into making.

AmickyCarol: 24:44

Honestly, I cannot wait to see what you do and how you do that. I'll be championing you. For sure I know Money For you will be supporting you. World Changers HQ Listen listeners. If you have any questions for Ramy or any comments, please do send them to us. We'll post all the links to you and yeah, they're really great. I want to finish by asking you, Ramy, what brings you joy?

Ramy Zoghbi: 25:12

What brings me joy is, as I said before, hearing what everyone is talking about me lately and how they are perceiving my achievements and how they are mostly appreciating what I'm doing for my community and for me is actually what brings me joy the most, especially looking at how my parents talk about me when it comes to with talking with their friends, or how my teachers also talk about me when they're teaching, and how all of my community out of a sudden not out of sudden after a lot of hard work started actually giving me or started at least looking at me as an example so that they can motivate other people to do what I've done to or better.

AmickyCarol: 25:54

That's so good. And if God were to call you home, you were to die. God forbid you know, today. What would you like written on your tombstone? You're a bit young for that, but you know.

Ramy Zoghbi: 26:07

Okay, so there is a quote that I go by in life in which I think every teenager, especially youth teenagers I'm speaking, algerian, african or any teenager out there in the world must at least follow this code, in which it goes like we don't get the life we want, we get the life we deserve. So I know that what you guys heard in this podcast, um, as achievements or as things that I've done, did not come true because I only wanted these things to to come into life. No, because I've worked hard for this stuff to be. Whether it's and what I mean by working hard is not only physically. The hard work was mostly mentally and emotionally. To process all of these things that I've done was actually such a long journey and a hard one. So, as I said, we don't get the life we want, we get the life we deserve. So you better make the life you deserve or you better make the life you want a life you deserve.

AmickyCarol: 27:05

Ramy, thank you so much for joining us. Of course, my pleasure and I can't wait to have you back again.

Ramy Zoghbi: 27:10

I will. I will be pleased to engage with you more and more.

AmickyCarol: 27:14

Fantastic, Of course. Thanks everyone and see you next time.