12 Dec Omar Zouine: The shy student that founded one of LSBU’s most successful societies
Omar Zouine is the founder of one of the largest societies of London South Bank University; The Arab Society. After becoming a member myself, I was intrigued and wished to learn more about Omar, as well as what made him start the society. Omar is Moroccan, being of Moroccan descent, with both his parents and his whole family being from Morocco. Omar is 19 and is in his second year studying law, and despite ‘working harder than he’s ever worked’ somehow he still finds time to run a large society, plan activities and study the Fusha language (modern standardized Arabic) in his spare time.
Pictured above: Omar Zouine
He wants to learn Fusha, so that he can connect with more Arabs, as the Moroccan Arabic dialect of Darija is almost unintelligible to Arabs from other parts of the world, such as a Palestinian like myself. When Omar was in his first year, he was quite introverted and found it easiest to relate to and socialize with other Arabs, and because of this, he decided to build up the courage to start the Arab society, along with his friend Zak, to gather up a group of people who he could regularly hang out with, and share cultural days and activities.
Omar has always studied in the UK, specifically London. ‘I’ve always lived in London… surrounded by Brexit and crappy weather’. Omar has not started societies previously; instead, this is the start of a long future of society and activity planning. After his success with the Arab society, he is now beginning to plan new societies based around other things that interest him. Omar is from a Muslim background but is not religious anymore. Instead, he uses Islam as a moral guideline but instead has taken a liberal approach to spirituality and religion. Due to this, the Arab society is open to all religions and all nationalities, with some members being from all around the world, with members from countries as different as Russia and Spain.
In his spare time, Omar takes part in football, boxing, and is very active at the gym. Describing himself as a naturally active guy, he finds it hard to stay still for long amounts of time and has to move around almost constantly. ‘I can’t just stay still. My legs tie… I have to keep moving around doing things or go to the gym.’ His sports aren’t limited to his body, as he also loves to train his mind with chess and other strategy games.
Besides sports and working out, in his spare time Omar has a love for history. He reads about historical empires almost every day and has a fascination with the great wars. ‘I love history. Every day I read about empires; Mongols, early Islamic empires and of course the British empire. It’s not all happy reading, but I find it interesting.’
After speaking to Omar, I look forward to meeting him and writing more about his society and the activities he plans. We got along very well, and I was taken aback by his friendly attitude from the very start, and I can see a lot more interactions in the future.
