DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

Mission Statement for Al-Resala English Library Project

As members of DukeEngage Cairo 2008 we have undertaken the project of establishing an English library for the Mohandessein branch of the Cairo based charity organization Al-Resala (www.resala.org). This project was made possible through funding by the Duke Center for Civic Engagement (www.dukeengage.duke.edu) and the Duke Islamic Studies Center (jhfc.duke.edu/disc/).

This project seeks to grant access to English books and educational resources for Egyptian citizens. We hope to foster a healthier relationship between the Middle East and the West by establishing a sustainable project geared towards connecting our broader societies. Within the context of cultural understanding this project aims to generate greater exposure to western values and traditions. We recognize the challenges posed by biases and stereotypes and hope that this initiative may ultimately help mitigate some of the harm done by these cultural misunderstandings and misconceptions.

In order to accomplish these goals we have provided books, magazines, and audio/visual materials in the following subject areas: international relations, political theory, world history and culture, American history and culture, classical English literature, popular American fiction, language development, natural sciences, health and family development, interpersonal and business skills, and children’s books.

We have targeted Al-Resala because of their commitment to helping micro and macro communities in Egypt. The DukeEngage initiative targets finding solutions to social challenges and issues. Therefore, we desire to establish a relationship with Al-Resala because of their progressive thinking and well-established roots in many branches throughout greater Cairo. This also provides exceptional potential for expansion to other Al-Resala branches. We hope that this ongoing project will continue to grow and establish a constructive dialogue between Al-Resala and Duke University.

Sincerely,
Dylan Arnould & Jonathan Cross

Duke University 2010
 

So this is finally it, the end, or نحاية البداية , depending on how you look at things. As I sit here in our Cairo flat, finally nice and clean and ready for us to leave it (in better shape than it was found, thanks to Charles), I’m still stunned by my earlier realization that this really is the end of my time as part of DukeEngage Cairo. It seems like every day and every week before now it was always that there was more time to go and more things to get done, but that reality is now in the past and things really will come to a close on DukeEngage Cairo tomorrow.
 

Eight weeks in one city seems like a long time, but while for some eight weeks may be a long time to live in and endure Cairo, for others eight weeks isn’t nearly enough for seeing and experiencing all the things Cairo has to offer. I’ve found myself back and forth between these two during the past month, but for the last part of it I’ve been generally feeling like the latter. I’ll be sad to leave the city, just as I was sad when our summer English program came to an end and I saw my students for what was likely the last time ever. I can’t name a summer ever before when at the end I could list so many new experiences and new things I’ve done. Never before was I daily addressed as “teacher”, challenged to study and communicate in Arabic until my brain was ready to burst, a daily a target of price hiking by locals, accustomed to considering bread a complete meal, demanded money from for non existent apartment expenses, given the opportunity to ride a donkey, so quickly embraced as a good friend by a brand new acquaintance, so critical of certain cultural customs while so appreciative of others, so hopeful and yet in such despair over opinions of my country by others, so easily able to conquer sleep deprivation because of endless new experiences that never left my mind empty, and dozens of other experiences I could spend the rest of my time listing until my flight in eight hours. The bottom line is I think I will be leaving Cairo with plenty of mistakes to my credit, but with few regrets.

And even though our official stay here will be over, the impact on me of all the things that have happened here and all my experiences will be undoubtedly dragged along with me back to the States and into the future. I also know that there’s a responsibility on me to make sure the changes I have undergone don’t simply melt away as soon as I get back on American soil and resume my life of familiarity and convenience. Just as I hope the things I taught my girls at St. Andrews foster their further learning of the language, I hope the same goes for all I learned from them, as well as all the other relationships I’ve built here in Cairo. It’s maybe in a selfish way that I am pleased with my personal gains and growth (despite how quintessentially idealistic and utopian that sounds, I mean it) during the past eight weeks, but I also feel able to say that I for the most part did what I had hoped, that is, in terms of helping and effecting others around me. As Professor Lo has so often has pointed out, things could always be better, and no accomplishment or project will be perfect. And so with that in mind, I guess all I can hope is that ultimately I didn’t sell myself short here in Cairo, and most importantly that I did right by those I was here to help.

 

Here's a sampling of our experiences and adventures so far as part of DukeEngage Cairo....

It’s not every day that you get to go to attend a meeting of writers and other literary elites in a tucked away building on some backstreets in Cairo. At around 1030p on a Thursday night that’s exactly what we were allowed to sit in on. It was almost like being in some sort of a movie, looking through a lens at a scene like this, not really being there. The meeting, being directed and run by the famous author Alaa el-Aswany, began with introductions to the sort of format these meetings usually take on, and what types of issues they usually discuss. As it turned out, they didn’t have a specific topic of literary work they were intending to discuss, but rather a more open agenda towards any relevant issues mentioned.
The early part of the discussion turned towards Egyptian identity, and how the Egyptian people’s identity did not start with the introduction of Islam, but rather traces back to the Pharaohs and the Ancient Egyptians. Al-Aswany made the point that this history is not being taught in the schools in Egypt, but is greatly emphasized in other countries. It made me think of how many people in the U.S. think of Egypt in terms of Ancient Egypt, and how strong the imagery of the pyramids and the ancient Egyptians is when thinking of Egypt today. I sometimes find that people seem to almost think of Egypt as distinct and separate from much of the Arab world, possibly either because it is one of our best allies or because of such nostalgic imagery. The reality is that on the surface today Egypt bears little resemblance to a the common imagery of Ancient Egypt, and most things serving as reminders of it are usually gifts or trinkets to sell to tourists.
I found the larger point that there needs to be more recognition and reconciliation with Egypt’s pre-Islamic past to be a very interesting one, but it also made me think of the new reality that is Egypt that most people fail to really know. This is in keeping with the fact that most Americans are extremely unaware of the political and cultural situations here, from knowing any of the presidents or major political figures in the region, to having any understanding of the culture. This was another point that was brought up in the meeting, with one gentleman wanting to know why this is. There are many answers to this, but the important thing is that it’s not a result of American people being selfish and not interested in human rights. Professor Lo offered the explanation (applauded by al-Aswany), a very bare summation his remarks being that namely it’s necessary to look at the unique conditions of America’s past, growing up completely separate from Europe and being nearly a continent unto itself.
This meeting, involving many members of Kefaya (“enough”) gave me a great deal of hope towards the potential future of Egypt. It also shocked me the amount of history most everyone there knew, being able to cite historic events and then offer explanations for the current existence of many unfavorable government regimes in the Middle East, not solely being a result from internal events within a country, but as a result most often actions and decisions by many other countries around the world. However, while recognizing that there is such a general lack of interest and knowledge of this part of the world by many Americans, we serve as evidence that this is changing and that people are becoming aware of the necessity to become educated and knowledgeable about this part of the world, a trend I expect to continue to increase in years to come.
 

We arrived sometime in the morning at the village after a 45 minute or so bus ride, and after a little standing around and chatting, and then light unloading as well convincing that I was capable of doing real work, we set off on trying to deliver some items, me being in charge of carrying a washing machine that was to be delivered to a bride. The delivery was successful and satisfying from the bride’s response, but the amount of time spent being herded around in a big group was frustrating, and this sort of frustration with the organization of the trip didn’t let up much throughout day. Even the most engaging and interesting part of the day largely spent digging to find a pipe ended in frustration as we found nothing in the end and I left the area to go on to some other task without knowing whether any of the work I put in at all actually made a bit of difference.

But despite this, I was able to walk away with some amazing interactions with many of the boys there, with them finding a tall white American kid like myself something of a novelty there to say the least. They were happy to pose for photos and seemed utterly gleeful after convincing me to ride a donkey. The amusement and possible escape for them from a poverty stricken reality rendered irrelevant for me the question of whether most of their laughs and jokes were in complement to me or at my expense. And I further don’t deny I appreciated the attention and found it somewhat flattering to say the least, but afterwards couldn’t help but feel guilty as I boarded the bus to head back the city, while two of the boys from the village stood outside my window, waving goodbye and trying to communicate something further that I failed to understand.

And then just an hour or two later I found myself at an American Embassy 4th of July party somewhere out in the desert. It was extremely well put on and organized, and for some moments I could have even tricked myself that I was back in the U.S. The change was so drastic it made my time earlier in the day seem years away and almost half real, and instead of trying to figure out how many homes had any running water, I was spending my absent thoughts staring in mild bewilderment at the Hebrew labeled Corona’s, before of course realizing they all must have come from Israel. The change seemed a possible small scale prelude of my return at the end of this trip, back home and back to all the normal and familiar things, giving me the luxury to spend time pondering whatever trivial things seem the most interesting, and often losing sight of things much more important.