My name is Muhammad Thalal, and I am currently a graduate student working on my Masters degree in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Multicultural Education in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, United States of America. This is my second year in College Station. I am also a practicing Muslim and proud of it. My father wanted me to be a Muslim priest and scholar, but then I ended up studying ESL and Multicultural Education in the United States. When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a police officer or an agricultural engineer.
Family Information
I was born in October of 1978 in Banda Aceh, Aceh Territory, in the northern part of Sumatra Island, Indonesia. My ethnic group is Acehnese, which is the largest group that inhabits the northern-most tip of Sumatra Island. We speak the Acehnese language as well as the Indonesian language. My city and many parts of the territory were destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami disaster on December 26, 2004 in which I lost my lovely grandmother and many other relatives. The tsunami killed almost 200,000 Acehnese. My territory has also been battered by 29 years of fighting between the Acehnese separatist guerillas and the Indonesian government army until the peace deal signed on August 15, 2005 in Helsinki, Finland.
My father is a retired politician and currently lives with my mother in the suburbs of Banda Aceh City. He served as a member of the Indonesian parliament from the United Development Party until 2004 when he lost in the election. My mother runs the family business and spends most of her time at home taking care of our family. I am the oldest son in the family. I have a sister and two brothers. My sister, Rita, is a lecturer at Syiah Kuala University in my hometown. She is now pursuing her Masters degree in agriculture in Gottingen, Germany. My brother, Mahirul, is still studying for his Masters degree in political science in Agra University, India. The youngest one in the family is Zia. He is still a student at an Islamic boarding school in Banda Aceh. The happiest time in my life was in June 2005 when I got married to a very beautiful woman, Cut Nita. She works as a TV reporter at the local TV station in Banda Aceh. In August 2006, I became a father when Raja, my baby boy, was born.
School Experiences
I am a graduate of MAPK School in Banda Aceh, class of 1996. MAPK is a boarding school located in the heart of Banda Aceh and funded by the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs. At this school, I studied classical Arabic and became fluent in it. After graduating from MAPK, I attended Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, under a full scholarship from the Egyptian government. I graduated in 2001, with a major in hadith, a part of Islamic theology. In late 2001, I enrolled in the Masters program at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta, and I graduated with a Masters degree in Islamic and Middle East Studies in 2004. In January 2006, after spending almost two years working as a teacher and communication officer, I got a Fulbright scholarship to pursue my Masters degree in education in the United States as part of the U.S. contribution in helping the development of a new education system in my homeland Aceh.
Social/Cultural Experiences
During my time in Egypt, I had many friends from other countries with various backgrounds, especially those who came from African countries that I had never heard of before such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Kongo, Cote d’Ivoire, and Kenya. They shared many stories about their lives and cultures. We lived together in the university dormitory for almost five years. I learned how to understand and respect others when we encountered cultural differences. In addition, I attended summer camps with other international students in Alexandria and Ismaelea in 1997 where my understanding towards other people’s cultures was increased. In 2000, I visited Saudi Arabia during the pilgrim season and helped some elders who came from Indonesia with their wheelchairs. When I went back home after my studies, I became involved in my community in Banda Aceh City as a preacher at some mosques during the Friday prayer. I consider this activity as my part in community education. I also became a temporary teacher at a college and school. After the earthquake and tsunami struck my country in December 2004, I joined a humanitarian organization to provide emergency aid for my people who were suffering from the huge impact of the disaster. One of the greatest impacts is the destruction of the educational sector with the loss of thousands of educators.

I was lucky to survive the earthquake and tsunami, but now I have a lot of work to do to rebuild the education in my country. It is easy and quick to rebuild a school to replace the damaged one, but to replace thousands of teachers who died in the tsunami is a long, arduous task. I need to learn a lot.