From Sana’a to Cairo: the Mission of DukeEngage Continues.
The following article was written by Duke Professor Mbaye Lo -- both our Arabic teacher and DukeEngage adviser in Cairo. He asked me to post his article as to maximize readership. Enjoy!
It has been two weeks since our landing in Cairo, and eleven months since DukeEngage’s departure from Sana’a, Yemen. Although this change of location symbolizes the challenges of maintaining continuity in an unpredictable Middle East, the mission of DukeEngage - that "students apply what they have learned in the classroom to address societal issues at home or abroad" - has remained consistent.
Yemen was a pilot program, an exploratory mission and a great learning experience for DukeEngagers. The very fact of having freshmen and sophomore students engaging with Yemeni civil society organizations through exposure, discussion, participation in developing programs and setting agenda was an indication of how Duke is attempting to revolutionize the concept of higher education and adjust the mission of its undergraduates. 
Nevertheless, it is also true to say that the shift to Cairo represents both continuity and changes in temporal and spatial fashions. For in a more thorough analysis one finds striking similarities between Yemen and Egypt. Both are the birthplaces of great civilizations. According to the ninth-century historian, al-Mas‘ūdī, Yemen is the birthplace of the Arabic Language. The three major parts of the Arab homeland are Yemen, the Hijaz (in present-day Saudi Arabia) and the Najd (Kuwait and its neighboring Gulf states). The Hijaz and Najd were historically subservient to the language of the South--Yemen. By the third century, the Arabic dialect of Yemen was the dominant dialect of the major commercial and religious cities of the Hijaz such as Bakka (Mecca), Taif and Yathrib (Madina, now the second holiest city in Islam). Furthermore, during the Muslim expansion in the seventh century to Egypt, Iraq, the Far East and North Africa, Yemeni tribes were at the lead, accounting for the majority of the foot soldiers and expeditionary missions of the Muslim armies.
In much the same way, Egypt also is the birthplace of great civilizations. In his famous book, Nations Negres et Culture, Sheikh Anta Dioup argues convincingly that Egypt is the crossroad of the great civilizations of the South as well as the North. Greece, in Dioup’s view, was simply a continuation of great Egyptian civilizations. Taha Hussein, the great Egyptian intellectual, took tremendous criticism for arguing in his book, Mustaqbal al-thaqafa Fi Misr, that Egypt was the center of the Mediterranean civilizations, which made it more of a member of the European West than the Arab Muslim East.
There is another dimension of similarity between Egypt and Yemen which is at the center of DukeEngage’s mission. Both countries have Arabic and Muslim identities that place them in the middle of the ongoing debate regarding the conceptualization of democracy and human development in the Middle East. I have described Yemen in a previous article as “a country in which the types of major problems that commonly afflict societies in transition are present. It is moving from a post-civil war era, it is reforming an educational system permeated with extremism and it is also struggling to reconcile the culture of tribalism with the needs of civil society”. It is the second capital of Fusha (modern standard Arabic), after Syria; it is also one of the last bastions of the Bedouin tribal lifestyle. It is no wonder that traveling in Yemen outside Sana’a reminded me of traveling in Darfur, Sudan, many years ago, where tribal identity, Klanshinkofs and a smile are a man’s best forms of protection. Yemen embodies the tragedy of political stagnation in the upheaval of modernity. As such, it enables DukeEngagers to witness the clash between the past and the present, as well as giving them the opportunity to inquire about the potential of the future.
Egypt, on the other hand, is also a stagnant modern state. It embodies greatest inequalities in terms of wealth distribution and the greatest disparities between what is and what should be in term of Islamic teachings; it is a country with a great history and great potential, but is still unable to move from its chronic dependency on developmental aid. Egypt was ahead of the Asian Tigers in the early 20
th century, but it now lagging behind them in all aspects of economic growth. Egypt was the first African or Arab state to witness Napoleon’s introduction of a modern public administration system; it has the oldest university—Al-Azhar (started in 972). Last year, Cairo University celebrated its centennial as the oldest modern university in the region. Nevertheless, Egypt remains unable to re-shape its bureaucracy or even adopt efficient and effective means of transportation. Poverty is at its highest in the region. In this context, both Yemen and Egypt are examples of nation states that are unable to cope with the current of change and the demands of modernity.
Despite these problems, Egypt remains the leader of the Arab world. The other Arab states often go to war when Egypt does; they listen when Egypt talks; they are entertained by the Egyptian movie industry. Arab audiences tend to read what Egyptian authors write. Dr. Taha Hussain, who is unanimously recognized as the Dean of modern Arabic literature, came from Egypt. The amir of modern Arabic poetry, Ahmad Sahwqi, is an Egyptian. Sayyid Qutb who is the most influential Islamic thinker in modern time, and the father of the theory of jahili society emerged from Egypt. Naguib Mahfouz, the only Arab Nobel Prize Laureate, also came from Egypt.
Egypt is the most populous Arab state, and the second most populous state in Africa. One out of each 3 Arabs in the world is Egyptian. Its dialect is becoming the lingua franca of the Arab street. To every Egyptian ‘misr hiya umm ad-dunya’ (Egypt is mother of the world). To many Muslim scholars Egypt (Misr in Arabic) is the only modern country that is mentioned in the Qur’ān. In Muslim popular culture, three cities never sleep: Cairo, Mecca and Madinah.
In this context, DukeEngage, the Duke Islamic Studies Center and the Duke Arabic Program’s shift to Cairo is no random act. Rather, it is one of the most creative and well-though out changes in the short life of this triple partnership. It gives Duke undergraduates the opportunity to examine cultural values and diversity on an international level and within the universal concepts of transitioning societies, communities and individuals.
We do not want to be overly optimistic with regard to our students, but as alluded to in the DukeEngage mission, the program’s goal is to expose students to the challenges and beauty of cultural difference and diversity, whether in Durham, NC, India, South Africa, Ireland, Peru or Cairo. In the age of the greatest setbacks in our formal diplomacy, the value of universities’ mission is much greater. Not only do they have to tackle the traditional challenges of adjusting to the whims of nature and predict the unpredictable in human behavior, but they now have to transition their graduates from the halls of academia to the jungle of real life experience. DukeEngage’s dedication to proving funding and staff guidance is in the context of fulfilling that duty. It is up to the students to commit to the program; it is the responsibility of DukeEngage to facilitate the means of carrying out that commitment.
I agree with Isiha Berlin’s argument that cultural values are incommensurable, whether at the individual level, the communal level, or among nations. Variation within individuals and within different social settings lies at the heart of what is human nature. The beauty of enjoying human diversity lies in knowing its roots, contexts and ramifications. There is a Wolof saying, “Thebu Janbi nekhna…”, (fish and rice is delicious because of the salt, the spice, the hot paper, and the cabbage..). The various elements of the dish make it delicious, in a way in which none of the individual ingredients could on their own. The proverb conveys the idea that beauty in something implies knowing its many different parts and the components that constitute that difference. Thus is the case with cultural values and diversity. One must experience it in order to enjoy its beauty. Theories without experience is hollow, and do little to bring one closer to a real understanding of the actual situation.
DukeEngage’s Cairo program sets the bar high in establishing a framework of civic engagement that acknowledges the cultural values and diversity in Cairo. The design of the program requires students to work 16 hours a week in the classroom to implement St. Andrew’s summer literacy program. This summer literacy program is designed for the Somali refugees, who are the victim of man’s inhumanity to man, the witnesses of the failure of the modern African state as well as the world community to maintain one of the most basic and primitive needs of human beings: a home. As Cairo has become one of the five major urban cities with the largest numbers of refugees, Somali refugees are exceptionally disfranchised. 90 percent of those attending the literacy program are women between the age of 14 and 18, with no basic formal education in Somali or Arabic languages. They lack the means and the legal status to integrate into the local educational system in Cairo. In a society where refugees do not have either the legal protection or the institutional support, DukeEngage is exceptionally us
eful in helping this refugee population. The DukeEngage team carries out the summer school, in the hopes that by the end of the intensive program, participants will have the ability to continue their formal education through the existing school systems, whether in St. Andrew’s advanced program, or other public or private programs. In addition, DukeEngagers develop proposals to help these young girls understand the challenges of navigating through a patriarchal society and the mechanism of self-empowerment.
Our second partner is the Aresala Association for Charity. This association symbolizes a localized Western model of NGO. It is one of the largest charity organizations in Cairo. Solely based on volunteerism, it offers classes for the blind, providing books on tape to this kind of population. It supervises orphanages and provides educational opportunities to this disfranchised population. DukeEngagers spend time shadowing and observing how the association functions in delivering goods and public services. Then they are to develop proposals on how to help such a local NGO become more efficient and effective in helping those who cannot help themselves. For instance, one of the DukeEngagers, Becca, is running First Aid and CPR workshops for the association.
Our third partner is the Ebnati Care Society, which is a government supported-NGO that runs an orphanage for girls from 2 months to 18 years old. These girls also produce many artistic works and hand-made crafts that find their way to the local markets. DukeEngagers are to look at the NGO’s many multi-dimensional services and come up with proposals on how to empower these girls through English lessons, artistic creativity and teaching them technical skills on how to better market their product through websites and E-Bay.
In establishing a partnership with these fthree seemingly different, and even competing
NGOs, DukeEngagers have the opportunity to test many questions that are the central themes of the civil society debate: are religious institutions effective and efficient in working for the public good? Can a true Non-governmental Organization function in a highly bureaucratic and centralized state such as Egypt? Is there a difference between western-based NGOs like St. Andrew’s Church and traditional and indigenous NGOs like Aresala? To what extent can a state-supported NGO like Ebnati function as a true Non-governmental NGO?
Beyond these short-term academic goals, DukeEngagers learn the ability of groups with different convictions, diverse religious affiliations, and broad cultural differences to develop and implement a common agenda and work together to deal with real challenges that face fellow human beings. The many layers of the program signifies that whether it is natural difference, circumstantial difference or religious difference, it is our moral obligation to face it, understand it, and, in this context, try to remedy it.
-- Prof. Mbaye Lo