New Boy at St. Paul's

Like any other new boy at St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., dark-eyed, curly-haired Abdallah Lakfal, going on 14, bounced with excitement last week as the school year got under way. A sixth-former helped him settle in his dorm, showed him the chapel and local stores, escorted him to the gym, where he drew athletic equipment. Then "Abdie" took a series of physical examinations, visited the library, met his teachers and headmaster, the Rev. Matthew Warren, received his first homework assignment. But for the little boy from Casablanca it also meant something special: the start of at least a year's stay in the U.S.

It began last winter when Diplomat Julius Holmes stopped in Morocco on a special assignment in Africa. As onetime U.S. representative in Tangier, Holmes had a special affection for Morocco; as an alumnus of St. Paul's, he felt a sentimental tie to his old school. So he decided to bring the two together. U.S. Information Service Officer Arthur A. Bardos handled the technical details, asked the Moulay Hassan school faculty to suggest a student for a St. Paul's scholarship. The faculty unanimously chose Abdallah.

Hi for Salaam. At 13, Abdie faced a perplexing problem. Living with his widowed mother in neat poverty in the New Medina (a Moslem quarter) of Casablanca, he was told "if you leave, you'll break your mother's heart." But if he stayed in Morocco, where only a fraction of the children get past elementary school, he might end up like his father who was an office messenger until he died. So Abdie found a solution: he persuaded his older brother to let one of his own children live with his mother while he is away.

But it was not all that easy. Although USIS officials had pronounced him fluent in English, Abdie would have a long way to go to hold his own with U.S. prep schoolers. He was put through every textbook in the USIS language center, and when he was officially awarded the scholarship in April, he began taking special lessons with the wife of Consul General Henry H. Ford. Consul Robert Sherwood took him home to play with his two boys, aged 7 and 11. Soon Abdie replaced salaam with "hi."

Stateroom & Sundaes. Other problems existed besides language. His entire wardrobe consisted of one jacket, one pair of slacks, one pair of shoes, two pairs of blue jeans. But by the St. Paul's catalogue, he needed a much fuller list of clothes, including winter boots and coats. Charles Stafford, a tavern owner from Laconia, N.H. visiting Morocco on a trade mission, met the boy, decided to help. He went home and raised $500 from his state's Rotary Clubs. Adeline Martin, a clerical worker at the Nouasseur air-base near Casablanca, sold the Volkswagen she had won in a raffle, donated a third of her take to outfit the boy. Finally, the American Export Lines booked Abdie in the owner's stateroom aboard the S.S. Examiner. The trip was set.

Until the very last minute, his newly won friends worked furiously to fill up the gaps in Abdie's American background. He was taught about George Washington's cherry tree, taken to the Air Force snack bar and instructed in ice-cream sundaes. There was an eleventh-hour panic when it was discovered that he knew nothing about Paul Revere. But he worked hard and remembered it all. Said Bardos: "He has a mind like a sponge."

At St. Paul's last week, Abdie made friends quickly. He will study general science, French, English, Latin and algebra. But what he likes best is to read, and St. Paul's library stacks made his eyes pop. Ambitious and happy, Abdallah now wants to become Moroccan Ambassador to Washington "because," he quips, "I'm weak in mathematics."

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