How many brains does the silkworm have? “Eleven,” Siham Ebrahim replies with confidence.

siham ebrahim aka Umm Ra'afat

Siham shot into popularity across the Arab world by winning Dh250,000 in the Arabic version of the game show, Who wants to be a Millionaire, on the pan-Arab satellite channel MBC.

Umm Ra’afat, as the 52-year-old Palestinian mother of 12 is popularly known, is a treasure trove of general information and has an elephantine memory. In fact she makes a living from her participation in general knowledge-based game shows.

Reflecting the sentiments of many parents across the Arab region that the education system needs changes and upgrading, Siham said she still depends on what she herself studied, in teaching her children, though nearly 34 years have passed since she left school.

“Thank God, I still depend on the information stored in the back of my memory. Some times, “daily pressures of my life make me sometimes drift away from what I am reading.”

• 1,000 books in Siham’s home library
• 7,500 questions included in her first book
• 34 years have passed since Siham left school

Image Credit  – Abdul Rahman Gulf News