Transcription of the interview.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO - It's Morning Edition on KRPS. I'm Fred Fletcher – Fierro. Joining me this morning is Warda Morsy a senior at Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School in Joplin. Last winter, I spoke with her about her project she was working on teaching young Afghani refugees who'd recently immigrated to the US and live in Southwest Missouri. She was tutoring them to speak Arabic, she's working on a new project and she's going to share that with us this morning. Good morning, Warda. How are you?
WARDA MORSY - Good morning. I'm good. How are you?
FRED - I'm good. Nice to hear from you. So tell us about this exciting new project that you're working on. Who is it through and how does it help people?
WARDA - Yeah. So I am going to be doing a fundraiser for the Madgi Yacoub Heart Foundation. So before I talk about the fundraiser, I'd just like to preface what the foundation is. Sir, Madgi Yacoub is a very famous worldwide pediatric cardiovascular surgeon and he has a Heart Foundation and a Medical Center in Aswan, Egypt, where he treats less fortunate children who need surgery to save their lives. He's able to do this through the donations of thousands of people, and so now they're currently building a new hospital in Cairo to help even more kids. And so I am doing a fundraiser this upcoming Thursday at the 3rd Thursday event in Joplin, MO, to hopefully help raise funds for this this hospital.
FRED - And are you going to have a booth or are you going to be in the crowd? How are you going to be selling the chocolates?
WARDA - Yeah. So I'm going to be having a booth. It's going to be around 2nd and Main Street. We're going to be selling the viral chocolate bars which have been breaking the Internet recently. So yeah, you stop by, we'll give you some chocolates. They're flying off the shelves fast because they're very hard to come by around here. The chocolates were actually very graciously donated by the Kebab Shack, a restaurant in Springfield, MO. And they're like I said, like one of the very few people, one of the very few stores that sell these chocolates around here.
FRED - And how does this connect get your future right now. So we're looking towards the future. Of course. Your BA. Yeah, maybe a Masters. How does this connect with you? What you want to do a post graduation?
WARDA - I mean, I've always seen him as a role model because I actually, I'm also interested in being a pediatric cardiologist in the future. So I've always taken him as like a good person to look up to and I hope to be just like him in the future, even though I know that's going to be very difficult because he's an incredible person. But I hope that I at least come close to doing the great things.
FRED - It's a very particular genre of health. So that's great that, you know, you can look up at somebody and say this is the kind of career, especially to go into kind of a nonprofit type of it, where you're helping the less fortunate, in particular kids and especially in. And in another country, how did you learn about this foundation?
WARDA - I'm actually half Egyptian. I liveD in Egypt for a few years. I reviewed articles about him all the time and watched him on the news and I was always fascinated by his work and this summer, this past summer I actually was hoping that I'd be able to go in person and volunteer, but that did not end up working out. So I still wanted to help out in some way. Because I'm really fascinated by the great work that the foundation does. So I ended up reaching out a little while ago and I was like, how can I help? And so that's how this fundraiser idea came to.
FRED - Yeah, that's very endeavorous of you to try help this hospital specifically in Egypt and try to connect with your culture and exactly what you want to do for a living and a career. So what does the future look look for you? Where are we going to have you or speak with you in the next year or two? Where do you think you're going to be?
WARDA - I am not sure yet, but Soon I will hopefully find out and hopefully I will be on track to becoming a Doctor.
FRED - We’re early into the senior year at Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School. Do you have any senioritis? Are you looking a little bit towards the end of the year? What's that like as a senior?
WARDA - No senioritis yet. Thankfully, I'm still still have some enthusiasm at the moment. Lots going on. I have many extracurricular activities, but I'm just trying to like soak in the last year and just make some make some great memories with my friends and family.
FRED - So once again, tell us where you're going to be on Thursday. The foundation that you're working with and how people can help.
WARDA - Yeah. So on Thursday, we'll be at the 3rd Thursday event on Main Street. It'll be starting at 5:30 PM. We'll be having a booth and which I'll be selling the Dubai chocolate bars. We'll be selling 4 flavor total. The proceeds of everything that we make from these chocolate bars will go straight to helping build the new hospital. But it's hopefully to come in the next year and a half so that they Are like admitting new patients.
FRED - I've been speaking with Warda Morsey. She's a senior at Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School in Joplin. I want to thank you for your time and for speaking with me and good luck on Thursday.
WARDA - Thank you so much for your time. Thank you.
FRED - It's Morning Edition on KRPS I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro.
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