The Goal Is Good

In the harsh heat of Cairo International Airport last year, a Chinese-American traveler idly watched a scrawny Egyptian newsboy. The boy got nowhere with his tabloid sheet. But when Richard C. Kao of Los Angeles saw the boy snatch a piece of bread from a restaurant table, Kao decided that he wanted a newspaper. He offered a -L-5 note, his smallest bill. The boy quickly fetched the change. Counting it, Kao discovered that he had got his paper free. It was simple enough, the boy explained. The slender man "with the kind face" had only a -L-5 note; he must be broke. The paper was free.

By last week, bright, shiny-eyed Abdel Rasik Hefny, 15, had seen his thoughtful gesture blossom amazingly. An orphan, and sole support of a younger brother, Abdel was earning 75-c- a day on good days. He is now a delighted student at one of suburban Cairo's finest private schools; he is aiming for a Swiss university and perhaps medical school. He is well on the way to realizing a dream that seemed fantastic last year: "To become an educated man and help my people."

By no means rich, polite Bachelor Richard Kao, 30, is a sort of industrial scholar. He has a Ph.D. in economics (University of Illinois) and another under way in mathematics at U.C.L.A. An alumnus of Santa Monica's famed nonprofit Rand Corp., he now works for a similar "think palace," the Planning Research Corp. in Los Angeles. To a man of Kao's training, Newsboy Abdel's quick mind was obvious. "His goal is good," mused Kao. "He wants to be an educated man."

When Kao got back home last year, he wrote Abdel advising him to find a school and get to work at his studies. Abdel picked out the Protestant-supported American Mission School for Boys, and Kao arranged to get him admitted this fall. Kao flew back to Cairo this summer, laid out Abdel's four-year curriculum. It was stiff: four years of English and French, two of German, four years of science (including theoretical physics), four years of math (including calculus). "I did not lead the boy to think that everything was now taken care of," says Kao in his careful tones. "His report cards are mailed to me. He has what I guess you would call a fellowship. It will be renewed each year, so long as he earns it."

The cost to Kao is about $700 a year. "This is really very little," he says. "In fact, it cost me nothing. I teach a course at U.C.L.A. one night a week, and my income from that is enough to cover the boy's education." Kao finds it strange that this should interest anyone. "Really, I do not understand why anyone should question why someone helps someone else. If you are capable, you help. That's all."

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