Recent years have seen increasingly frequent incidents of extreme weather conditions afflicting huge amounts of damage – including human casualties – all over the world.  Cited by experts as being a consequence of global warming, the effects of wildfires, droughts, flooding and more, are particularly severe in areas that historically have not had to contend with them.

In March of this year, Egypt was hit by a devastating storm nicknamed locally as ‘the Dragon’.  The wind and rain combined, uprooting trees, destroying buildings and leading to two trains colliding near Misr Station.

As the rain poured down, flash flooding hit many areas, turning both wealthy and poor neighbourhoods into raging torrents of brown water.  All schools, universities and hospitals were closed, work in businesses and government offices suspended.  Flooding caused the countries’ train service to be cancelled nationwide, with blackouts occurring across Cairo and the rest of Egypt.

Witnessing the damage first-hand, was Dalia el Sadek, member of the VICTVS Global Network who has worked with us for nearly two years.  Dalia is an experienced exams professional with a passion for education and the type of quiet determination that can carry a person through adversity with minimal fuss.

On the day after the Dragon hit hardest, VICTVS was tasked with delivering a professional exam in Egypt.  With the infrastructure damage and the severely restricted options for travel, it seemed that this might be one of the extremely rare occasions in which we would not be able to complete our task and that we would need to re-schedule for another day.  Fortunately for us, the community that is our global network is not easily phased.

“I received a call the day before a scheduled exam to let me know that another exam manager was stranded in Maadi (a district of Greater Cairo) due to the flooding, and would not be able to deliver the exam herself. I was asked if I would be able to go instead?”

Considering her options and the obvious disruption around her, Dalia agreed to head out into the remnants of the storm to see how far she could go.  The first step was to retrieve the exam documents from the previous exam managers home.

“I should have checked with her what the situation was like before I set off.  The conditions were horrible, with water starting to fill up the streets – I was stuck for two hours on my way to her.  But I was committed, and I had told my Regional Manager that I would do this so, I will do it no matter what!”

After negotiating with her driver to navigate the flooded streets, Dalia eventually managed to reach her destination.

“When we eventually reached the house, the water was so high, I could not leave the car to even shake hands – she had to throw the package of papers through the window of the car!”

Exam documents retrieved and checked; the impact of the flooding was not over yet – it also affected several candidates on the day of the exam due to the extreme travel disruptions across the country.

“Two candidates arrived late after travelling for 14 hours overnight.  We made sure to give them an opportunity to have a rest, and to eat and drink something before taking their examinations.”

The determination, professionalism and courage that Dalia showed in heading out into a flood-stricken city just to ensure that a group of strangers who she had never met, had their chance to sit for career essential exams, is a real testament to her character and bravery.  Her commitment to VICTVS and readiness to support her teammates in the local area are the exact value that we look for in members of our global community and it is inspirational to see them displayed so vividly.

We are constantly recruiting new members to the VICTVS Global Network all over the world.  If you think that you would like to be a member of our team, then please visit our jobs page to see our current opportunities or send a copy of your CV / resume and a covering note to us at recruitment@victvsglobal.com.