By Dalia Al Nimr

Mariam Mohsen finds solace in music. Playing the piano since she was 8, the integrated marketing communication and political science sophomore who was born with a visual impairment uses music to connect with the world around her, expressing herself beyond words.

This fall, she performed alongside renowned Egyptian musician Omar Khairat at a Student Union concert in AUC New Cairo and delivered a captivating solo performance at the University's celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in AUC Tahrir Square. She was the first to organize an international event in Egypt raising awareness of Braille music, which she studied at Trinity College London.

Mohsen warms up before a performance at Ewart Memorial Hall, photos by Ahmad El-Nemr

"Visually impaired people I've met either think Braille music is very hard or don't know it actually exists," says Mohsen, who heads the Music Committee in AUC's Musicana student organization. "After just relying on my ears to understand the composition of a piece of music, I wanted to know how to actually write music from a theoretical perspective -- so I learned Braille music, which helped me picture the notes in my head while playing them."

Mohsen wanted to spread the word about Braille music, so she organized an online international conference where she invited organizations that transcribe, print or teach Braille music. "My goal was to provide resources to people with visual impairments to pursue music like sighted people do," she recalls. "I want to let every single blind person know that they can do whatever they want if they put their mind to it."

"It's not easy to fight for your goals, but when you see the results, you'll be happy that you actually followed your dreams."

Living by that motto, Mohsen did not just stop at music. She came up with initiatives to increase accessibility and inclusiveness across the country. "Accessibility has always been an integral part of my life," she says. "I was born visually impaired, so I wanted to do something that would make a change or difference in Egypt and the world."

Mohsen was an active participant at the December 2021 annual national celebration for people with disabilities, where she met with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and proposed a recommendation that all official documentation in the country have tactile features or Braille. "I could lose or misidentify my ID or even my passport," says Mohsen, who was named the country's Accessibility Ambassador.

Based on Mohsen's recommendation, the 2023-2024 ballots integrated Braille, and the Central Bank of Egypt embossed a tactile feature into the new plastic EGP 20 banknote, with plans to extend this to more banknotes.

"I worked alongside the Central Bank of Egypt, researching international laws and protocols, and I am proud that Egypt is one of few countries that introduced Braille into their ballots," she says. "It's very fulfilling when you do something that benefits people and impacts them positively."

For Mohsen, this is just the beginning. "I can do even more," she affirms. "It makes me brave and courageous to propose suggestions that will make life better for people like me." Mohsen's younger sister, who also has a visual impairment, is further inspiration for her advocacy. "I want future generations to feel better about themselves," she says. "It's not easy to fight for your goals, but when you see the results, you'll be happy that you actually followed your dreams."

AUC student Mariam Mohsen is working to increase accessibility across the country

Photos courtesy of the University Archives

When AUC was still a dream, Wendell Cleland, assistant to AUC's founding president, Charles Watson, played a pivotal role in the early vision of the University. Setting out to Cairo to study Arabic and see how viable establishing a university would be, he left the United States in 1917, during World War I. Cleland crossed the Pacific, traveling up the West Coast to Canada, then to Japan, China and India, before passing through the Suez Canal to Port Said.

"But the day we arrived at Port Said, the United States declared war on Germany. ... We had a communication from the Board of Trustees over here and Dr. Watson that they had decided that if a war was going on there that involved Egypt and the threat of the Germans, that there wasn't much opportunity to promote the growth of a new university in Egypt."

After the war, AUC began operations in 1919. Cleland notes that there were many graduates of secondary schools or the Egyptian University who were interested in taking classes at AUC.

"I was appointed to organize, according to the demand of the local community, classes for those who wanted to study certain subjects. And that eventually resulted in the 'Qism Khidma 'Aama,' the extension division of the University, where adults could come along and take courses and eventually get degrees and build up their own esprit de corps and improve their jobs." AUC's School of Continuing Education (SCE) was established in 1924 as the Division of Extension, with Cleland serving as director until 1947.

Local Connections

In the beginning, the school's primary aim was to engage and serve the Egyptian public through lectures, film screenings and outreach programs.

For Cleland, connecting the local community with AUC's foreigners and boosting the school's reputation was of major importance. He describes how the public lectures that began with the Division of Extension were a crucial factor in achieving this goal.

"... We did a good deal of publicity and got speakers speaking in Arabic, including Taha Hussein ... and Al Azhar students would come down in great bulks to take these lectures. ... That built a kind of spirit of goodwill between the foreigners, the Americans, and the local people."

Hanna Rizk, who served as Wendell Cleland's assistant director starting in 1925 and later took over as head of the division before going on to become the first Egyptian vice president of AUC, reflects on the unique freedom afforded to the program's lecturers in one of his reports:

"It is worthy of note that we never place any restrictions on what our lecturers may say and occasionally they may have been surprised when I have told them so. It is also remarkable that the freedom of our platform has never yet been abused by any lecturer."

Rizk's emphasis on the freedom of expression within the division was also reflected in his encouragement of more small-scale and ongoing conversations at AUC about current events. The American University in Cairo: 1919-1987 by Lawrence R. Murphy (AUC Press, 1987) highlights the fact that, "In addition to large lectures, Rizk arranged smaller forums where questions of critical importance to Egypt could be discussed by a more select audience."

The school also screened films at Ewart Memorial Hall and beyond. Ghali Amin, an AUC graduate who worked for the division, noted in his oral history interview that the school began having weekly cinema shows after his first year in order to raise money. This began in 1934 "when families didn't go to public cinema, nor girls alone."

A season ticket cost 25 piasters for one seat in the hall and 30 for the balcony. The films were typically historical, social, scientific or based on literature. King of Kings, a 1927 film that depicts the last weeks of Jesus's life before crucifixion, was shown to a Christian-only audience 20 to 30 times per year around Easter.

"Once Cecil B. Dellille [the film's director] was in Cairo before Easter time. They took him around Ewart Hall to show him the poor Christian families who had come to see the film." Rizk added in a 1947 report: "The King of Kings film is not exhibited in Egypt in any place other than in Ewart Memorial Hall."

It was during this time that Umm Kulthum, the Palestine Orchestra and other major artists performed at Ewart Hall. "AUC was selected because of its good acoustics for recording," Amin said. Despite tumultuous times in Cairo and beyond, attendance remained consistent. Even during World War II, when there were air raids during shows and people would leave the theater into a blackout, "Programs [were] as popular as usual; films came as usual."

Health and Welfare

In the early days of the University, Egypt's rapid population growth prompted the Division of Extension to send its students to visit villages outside of Cairo. Their goal was to assess the challenges faced by the residents and explore ways to help. Cleland recalls the efforts in his oral history interview:

"... It was rather amazing the degree to which the local villagers accepted this kind of aid. We didn't ask them for anything; we offered just to help them."

One of the school's most successful public health campaigns, launched during this period, was the "Save the Eyes" initiative -- whose name was chosen by Rizk and approved linguistically by Taha Hussein. The campaign aimed to raise awareness of eye hygiene and prevent blindness, a pressing concern in Egypt's rural regions. By distributing leaflets, screening educational films and hosting local events, the campaign helped to address a critical health issue while demonstrating the division's ability to engage directly with the public.

The school also opened a Child Welfare Clinic in Cairo's Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood in late 1925. During its first six months of operation, the center served 1,294 people, giving 5,056 treatments, mostly to women and children, and operating a small girls-only school, according to minutes from a 1926 Board of Trustees meeting.

The report describes the clinic's location and services:

"The American tourist who occasionally visits this center first gets a ride through narrow, thickly populated streets, where an automobile has to creep and a few drops of rain make mud for two weeks. Just behind the famous tomb-mosque of Lady Zeinab, granddaughter of the Prophet, and near three other mosques, he descends from his car ... Up narrow stone steps he goes to the second story and there he is ushered into a bright, clean reception room from which he can watch events."

A visit to the clinic cost two and a half piasters; however, no one was turned away for inability to pay. Patients could also enjoy demonstrations on childcare, nutritional counseling, advice on cheap materials for creating cradles and bathtubs at home, and religious lessons.

Evolving with Egypt

Throughout the years, SCE's curriculum has always been set based on the needs of the public. According to Osman Farrag, director of the Division of Public Service from 1966 to 1973 and professor emeritus of psychology, the school offered free courses in psychology, family planning and care for children with disabilities.

He describes in an oral history interview how many of the division's courses came to be during his tenure, and specifically how one conversation he would never forget launched one of SCE's most successful programs.

"A student [who] was studying English came to me and said, 'I am a chemical engineer and I am working in a textile factory. ... Suddenly after ten years I have been promoted and became the president of the company. I have 150,000 workers ... I am lost. ... I haven't had any experience in management or administration."

The student told Farrag that there were many like him -- teachers who became headmasters and doctors who were promoted to heads of hospitals. All of them had the same problem: they didn't know how to lead. "We started to offer this [business and public relations] program which flourished and is one of the most important areas of study at AUC now," Farrag said.

Similar stories led to the development of other tailored courses. Farrag describes special programs that upskilled government employees in

Egypt's ministries, such as a massive training program for agricultural workers under President Gamal Abdel Nasser's land reclamation program, and specialized English courses for diplomats, doctors, lawyers, businessmen and legislators. Under Farrag, the school also offered decoration engineering for movie producers and theaters, playwriting and secretarial studies, which was one of the most sought-after courses, he recalls.

"I had at that time a big problem facing the huge number of applicants who [wanted] to attend this course. To the extent that the police sometimes interfered in order to solve our problem because the pressure was tremendous. Why? Because in banks a good secretary can get starting from 3,000 pounds a month to 15,000 pounds a month. The AUC graduates in other departments cannot get this [much], so we used to receive applications from AUC graduates themselves. ... We used to accept about 200 every semester."

A Spirit of Service

To understand the SCE's commitment to community and service, one need only look at its administrators. Mohamed El Rashidi, who worked in the Division of Public Service and its successor, the Center for Adult and Continuing Education, from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, embodied this ethos, as his dedication often extended beyond his official role at AUC. He describes in his oral history interview that he was also in charge of civil defense, where he trained staff members in crisis management and first aid:

"Once, we had a fire at [Ewart Hall]. My people, my people whom I trained, put [out] the fire before the [firemen] came ... In '67, I helped all the Americans [evacuate during the war] ... I took them to Alexandria, put them on a bus to a hotel, and spent the night. And brought them from Alexandria, to Malta or Cyprus or some place. And I was the only Egyptian with them."

Rashidi's example of selfless service reflects the broader legacy of the Division of Extension and its successor programs, which, from their inception, aimed to bridge gaps -- whether through education, cultural exchange or social services. From addressing public health issues to creating new opportunities, SCE's enduring legacy of connection and care continues today.

As Rashidi put it, "CACE is [the] backbone of education in Egypt. ... Anywhere you go, you find our graduates, CACE graduates, holding very good jobs. ... Whether they are police officers, drivers, ministers, under secretaries of state -- they are everywhere, like nerves in a body."

"I see life in sports," says Karim Hosny '05, head of purpose at Right to Dream Academy and co-founder of Nafas, a social enterprise that initiates and manages sports teams for Egypt's underserved youth. "There's teamwork, losses, people supporting each other. It's a positive ecosystem where you can learn a lot."

For Hosny, sports have always been a pillar of life. Growing up, he played basketball at Al Ahly Sporting Club. Later on, while studying business administration at AUC, he was captain of the basketball team and a member of the volleyball and football teams. After completing his MBA at the University of North Florida and landing a job in investment banking, he returned to the University as a part-time football coach. After realizing the profound influence athletics had on his life as well as the lives of his teammates, Hosny felt compelled to share this experience with the larger community.

In Cairo, most football pitches are costly to rent or tied to a private sporting club, leaving many children without access to such activities. "Sports have become a commodity in Egypt," Hosny says. "This is not right; there needs to be a place for children to play, to breathe."

While on a team trip in London, Hosny learned about Street Child United, a charity that hosts athletic games around the world for teams of street children. Later, at the Doha GOALS sports conference, he met the president of the Homeless World Cup. "Things started flowing from there," Hosny recalls. "This inspired us to take the leap from being a group of volunteers into establishing a structure."

Alongside fellow alumni, friends and colleagues, Hosny launched Nafas in 2012. The first team practiced twice per week at AUC's Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor Football and Track Stadium before setting off to Brazil to play in the 2014 Street Child World Cup. Nafas has since taken teams of boys and girls to Russia, Qatar, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands and Mexico to compete in similar events.

"The main idea was to give children a breath, or nafas, from their daily lives through sports," Hosny says. "We aimed to complement the work of Cairo's NGOs to give youth opportunities, exposure and pathways -- basically, using sports for good."

Full Circle

Speaking with the now-adults whom Hosny coached a decade ago, the impact of Nafas is apparent. Among the initial Brazil team of nine was Abdallah Ezzat, who had grown up homeless and began living in a Cairo shelter at the age of 8. He was just 13 when the team went to Rio de Janeiro.

"My trip to Brazil was a transformative experience that I cherish," Ezzat reflects. "It inspired me to continue to grow and help others. The coaches, the support and love, the training, the hope -- it has all made a huge difference in my life."

After Brazil, Ezzat became an ambassador for Street Child United and went on to travel with the Nafas team to Russia and Qatar for the third and fourth editions of the Street Child World Cup. Last year, he launched FitLifeU, a social development project seeking to holistically support street children and orphans in Cairo by teaching them computer skills, nutrition and mental health, as well as offering career guidance.

He also gets to know the children outside of the classroom environment, often at dinners or events. "The importance of building connections is something that I learned from Karim and his friends," he says. "I'm trying to follow a similar path."

Ezzat stresses that effective support boils down to people. "The shelters and the system governing them have issues," he admits. "What really helped me the most in the shelter were the volunteers. Some of them were university students like Karim. They were very supportive and loving from the heart."

The Greater Goal

Hosny is now head of purpose at Right to Dream Egypt, a football academy that provides student-athletes between the ages of 11 and 18 with coaching, education and soft skills development. "Right to Dream is like Nafas but more comprehensive," he says. "We provide everything: housing, food and education. The boys and girls are scouted as children from across Egypt and live at the organization's campus."

Hosny's work at Right to Dream allows him to blend his business savvy and passion for sports. Though he no longer spends his days running teams up and down the field, he hasn't forgotten the importance of staying involved and on the ground -- or in his case, outside on the pitch. "Positive sports environments create massive networks and pathways, both of which help societies grow," he says.

Hosny's network -- which includes hundreds of boys, girls, women and men -- has become a force for change, enabling children to follow their dreams within and beyond the realm of sports. As Hosny asserts, "In nurturing dreams, we create the athletes and leaders of tomorrow, shaping a brighter future for all."

By Claire Davenport

May Kassem '05 isn't afraid to make a statement. Her brand, Scarabaeus Sacer, offers a green alternative to mainstream or fast fashion while raising awareness of social issues such as mental health.

The brand name refers to the ancient Egyptian scarab beetle, which is a symbol of rebirth and resurrection. And true to the name, Kassem is on a mission to revitalize Egypt's fashion scene. Kassem started Scarabaeus Sacer in 2018 with her husband Ali El Nawawi, looking to create positive impact while drawing on her background in psychology as well as her corporate experience. The brand was incubated by the AUC Venture Lab.

"I always speak very highly of my time at AUC," she said. "Combining your studies with extracurricular activities really shapes who you are funding, sponsorship and marketing -- even with things as simple as knowing how to present and pitch your ideas," she said.

Sustainability isn't just one factor, Kassem said. It's a combination of strategies to treat labor fairly and equitably, find materials locally, use eco-friendly resources, mitigate carbon emissions, reduce water and energy consumption, and make sure that every part of a product is sustainably sourced.

Scarabaeus Sacer has a transparent supply chain so consumers can see how their clothes are made from farm to closet. "Customers are able to scan a QR code, which will take them to an app where they can see images of every single part of the manufacturing process," Kassem said. "We also reduce waste by using everything that comes out of production, even the scraps."

For Kassem, a big part of the shift into an eco-friendly fashion future needs to be consumer-driven. "Consumers have the power to say no to unsustainable products and should also be on the lookout for certifications such as Fairtrade and Global Organic Textile Standard," campaigning through in-person events and live talks to bring this information to the forefront."

The Scarabaeus Sacer team is working to make its brand even more eco-conscious by experimenting with new inks and dyes sourced from veggies, fruits and other natural resources, as well as finding more sustainable packaging options and continuing to upcycle its lines.

In addition to sustainable fashion, a big part of Scarabaeus Sacer's advocacy work focuses on destigmatizing social issues. Their pilot collection was called "Mind, Body & Soul," focusing on mental health and well-being.

As Kassem noted, "If people walk down the street wearing one of our designs and someone says, 'Oh what's that about?' -- it starts a discussion on anxiety, depression, gender equality and discrimination."

Kassem is excited to watch the conscientious fashion movement grow in Egypt. "Every year, we see more people interested in living sustainably and having eco-friendly options. There is a demand, and now there is a supply. This is just how fashion has to be," she said.

By Abigail Flynn

A young man in Cairo loses sleep worrying about how the city's pollution is worsening his mother's asthma. Meanwhile, a teenage girl on the North Coast is wracked with daily anxiety as rising sea levels threaten to submerge her family home. As the consequences of climate change materialize and intensify, so does the impact they have on mental health.

Kate Ellis, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, studies how climate change is affecting young people in Egypt. "My research is on eco-anxiety. It's a bit of an unusual term, but it refers to the emotional and psychological distress that people experience regarding climate change, like sadness, anger or anxiety," Ellis explains.

These emotions can express themselves in different ways depending on an individual's context. "For some people, climate change is threatening their very livelihoods, so their anxiety stems from their day-to-day struggles," Ellis states. "At the same time, there are others whose lives haven't been directly impacted, but they still have broader concerns about the world, their children and future generations."

Interviewing individuals between the ages of 16 and 25 in Cairo, Alexandria, Marsa Alam and Assiut, Ellis has gained a comprehensive understanding of how the climate crisis is affecting people from different socioeconomic classes. After conducting these focus groups in collaboration with the Christian Blind Mission, an international organization that helps people with disabilities, Ellis attended COP27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, with an AUC delegation to present her findings.

One major difference that Ellis found was between individuals who live off the land and those who do not. "Anyone who is dependent on the agriculture, fishing or tourism sectors is going to be particularly affected by eco- anxiety. In Alexandria, for instance, many people are anxious because they have lost their homes to rising sea levels or pollution is causing them serious illness," Ellis states.

Not everyone Ellis interviewed mentioned climate change specifically as the cause of their anxieties, but they were still very conscious of the changing environment.

"While many of these people would use a term other than 'climate change,' they were all aware of the environmental impacts that were affecting their lives and communities," Ellis recalls. "We also want to raise awareness of what is causing these environmental impacts, that being climate change."

Meanwhile, people who do not rely on agriculture, like Cairenes, express different concerns. "Focus groups in Cairo were more concerned about the state of the environment and economy," Ellis says. "There was a lot of discussion about nonhuman life, how things like overfishing and river pollution would affect sea life and the economy."

Understanding the types of anxieties young people in Egypt are facing and examining the sources of these stressors help researchers encourage a shift toward more sustainable behavior. For the last six years, Ellis has been working with various community projects that aim to improve sustainability all over Egypt, which is what inspired her to pursue the current eco-anxiety study.

"As people become more anxious due to climate change, they tend to become agitated and withdraw into themselves. You see this particularly in relation to extreme heat," Ellis says about her general findings. "You hear a lot of teenagers saying they don't want to have a family in the future because they're concerned about losing their homes, not having enough money and the world generally falling apart."

One major consequence of climate change and eco-anxiety is people losing a sense of agency. "Average people are angry at both the state and big business and industry. They perceive themselves as not being self-empowered," Ellis explains. "The problem seems too big to address at an individual level."

Ellis hopes to challenge this perception. "We want to show people they can make a difference at the individual and societal levels. There are so many youth groups doing work on climate change throughout Egypt, and we want to work with them to both improve education on climate change and potentially affect some sort of policy transformation," she says.

For those suffering from eco-anxiety, Ellis emphasizes the importance of community dialog. "Letting people express how they're feeling helps reduce anxiety and improve mood. Destigmatizing discussions about mental health is incredibly important," she says.

Descriptions written by Richard Hoath

For a bustling city that more than 20 million people call home, Cairo hosts a surprising abundance of wildlife. At AUC, the University Garden boasts more than 60 acres of serene space, with trees that bear citrus, mangoes, olives, dates and fragrant flowers, making it a great place to spot some of Egypt's resident and migratory birds.

We asked Richard Hoath, faculty member in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition and author of the Field Guide to the Mammals of Egypt and The Birds of Egypt and the Middle East to help us identify a few of the most common winged beauties with whom we share our campus.

Common Kestrel

Falco tinnunculus

This is a small falcon that breeds on campus. The male is smaller than the female, chestnut above, spotted with a black-tipped gray tail, gray head with a distinct moustachial stripe. The larger female is chestnut-brown-spotted and barred black throughout. Senior Thesis biology students have identified at least three nest sites on campus and have shown that they feed on birds, small reptiles and mammals, as well as large insects. Listen out for a penetrating kee kee kee, and watch for a raptor with a long straight tail and narrow pointed wings. The falcon was associated with the god Horus in ancient Egypt.

Spur-winged Lapwing

Vanellus spinosus

A striking wader. Both sexes are pale gray-brown above with a black breast and flanks. It has a black hood and throat and contrastingly white cheeks. The short, straight bill and long legs are black. Very black and white in flight. This species nests on the ground with four eggs in what is little more than a scrape. It can most often be seen in the desert scrub areas near the offices of AUC's Center for Applied Research on the Environment and Sustainability (CARES). Listen out for a sharp pik pik pik. This is an alarm call that says you are too close to the nest. Leave quietly!

Death's-head Hawkmoth

Acherontia atropos

This spectacular insect is one of Egypt's largest and most impressive moths, its wingspan exceeding the length of some of Egypt's birds such as the Graceful Warbler mentioned below. The forewings are blue-gray complexly marbled with black and white and the hindwings yellow, banded black. It gets its name from the pale, skull-shaped marking on the thorax. Flies mainly at night and lies up by day in the gardens. Spectacular but completely harmless, its sinister reputation was reinforced by a starring role in the movie, The Silence of the Lambs as Hannibal Lecter's sidekick.

Common Bulbul

Pycnonotus barbatus

A small brown bird with a big song and character. Both sexes dull gray brown with a darker brown head and a suggestion of an angular crest. Underparts paler. Bill slender and dark, and with dark legs.

This is one of the most common birds on campus. While it is rather dull in appearance, it makes up for this in voice. It chortles and warbles. Listen out for an agitated tchurr when alarmed. In Sinai, a very similar bird, the white-spectacled bulbul (P. xanthopygos) has a bright yellow bottom (vent).

Blackbird

Turdus merula

Larger than the bulbul and a bird of the gardens. The male is jet black throughout with a bright yellow bill and eye-ring. The female is dark brown above and streaked brown below. The blackbird used to be a winter visitor to Egypt but in recent decades has dramatically increased its range as a breeding species and breeds on campus. Listen out for the wonderfully mellifluous song sometimes given by the male from the top of the library.

Great Grey Shrike

Lanius excubitor

Distinctive gray, black and white bird. Both sexes with pale gray upperparts and black wings and tail with white on wings in flight. Look out for a bold black 'bandit' mask through the eyes. This shrike nests on campus in the gardens and defends its nest. Duck! In the States, it is also called the Butcher Bird as it stores its prey, such as beetles, grasshoppers and the like on tree thorns for future use. Elsewhere, it uses barbed wire as an alternative. Clever.

Hoopoe

Upupa epops

What a striking bird! The eponymous hudhud. Both sexes are cinnamon pink throughout with bold black and white wings and a long, slender downcurved bill. When alert or landing from flight, an elaborate crest is raised similarly tipped in black and white.

Taxonomists don't know what to do with the hoopoe; sometimes it is lumped in with the African woodhoopoes and sometimes put in its own family. An enigma -- and believed to have delivered wisdom to Solomon.

Graceful Prinia

Prinia gracilis

A tiny, mouse-like bird. Dull brown and streaked above and uniformly pale below with a slender bill and a long, slender and skinny tail. Difficult to see but can be heard throughout the gardens with a loud prrlip prrlip prrlip and a tsit. For those in central Cairo, and not afraid of devaluation, the terrace of the Zamalek Marriott is a cert. I prefer our gardens.

Want to learn more? Pick up a copy of Hoath's latest book, The Birds of Egypt and the Middle East, and his Field Guide to the Mammals of Egypt at the AUC Bookstore or buy them online.

All photos excluding shrike and hawkmoth by Ahmad El-Nemr

L'Aroma: Peacefulness

You like cats, or at least tolerate them, given how many will be trying to sit on your lap while you sip your drink. You enjoy the simple things in life, like spending time sitting in the garden, and you don't mind stretching your lunch break just a teensie bit to enjoy the weather.

TBS: Balance

You enjoy the sweeter things in life. Never without a pastry or sandwich in hand, you strike a balance between the bitterness of your espresso and the sugar in your freshly baked croissant with the same poise that balances all things in your life. That being said, you have things to do, people to see! You take your coffee to go, balancing your teetering treat atop your steaming coffee lid as you head to your next appointment.

Cilantro: Patience

You are blessed with the gift of patience and understand that the best things in life are worth waiting for, which is why you visit the locale with the longest line. You're certainly a social butterfly; your friends spot you across Bartlett Plaza and pop over to chat while you wait. Like a caterpillar waiting calmly to receive its wings, your time is best spent relaxing while you wait for the aromatic experience of a fresh espresso.

Quick 24: Efficiency

As the name implies, you appreciate efficiency and embody self-efficacy. No need for a barista, you'll make the coffee yourself, thank you very much. With two clicks of a button, a quick peruse of the shelves and a no-nonsense conversation with the cashier, you are in and out with coffee and snacks in two minutes flat. You're a person who gets things done. As you stow your chips in your bag and sip your self-made coffee, you know you're saving precious time.

Need a container for all of this coffee? Visit the AUC Shop!

By Claire Davenport

In Youth in Egypt: Identity, Participation, and Opportunity (NYU Press, 2023), Nadine Sika '97, '00, associate professor of comparative politics, paints a picture of young people as Egyptian citizens in their own words.

"I wanted to investigate how Egyptian youth see themselves as a force for transformation and how they are passionate about making a positive change," she explained.

The book tells a new story about young people -- looking at them not just as an age group but as actors for change in the public sphere. Sika was inspired to explore this topic while conducting research on youth in the South Mediterranean. "We got a lot of insight into how young people participate and engage differently in the public sphere," she explained. "After the research project ended, I wanted to do more."

The book draws on qualitative and quantitative analysis with almost 100 interviews and focus groups and a survey analysis of 1,200 young people. Sika worked with AUCians, including undergraduate and graduate students as well as alumni, to conduct the qualitative analysis, interviewing youth and civil society actors from various sociopolitical and economic backgrounds over a three-year period. "AUCians are the backbone of this research," she said. "As a team we would sit together, think about what questions we wanted to pose, how to do the research and who to target."

Youth as Active Citizens

Sika's research shows that youth in Egypt perceive themselves as members of society with agency and a desire to contribute to positive change.

"A lot of people think that youth aren't interested in public engagement, but the majority of young people we worked with see themselves as a force for development and impact," she said.

Sika also looked at what marginalizes and disenfranchises youth as well as the lack of economically marginalized youth representation in the public sphere.

"We always hear that education is the opportunity for upward mobility. However, educated young people coming from lower economic backgrounds are less likely to have better life chances," she said. "What we found through our research was that youth from disenfranchised backgrounds really need to have their voices heard."

Sika hopes that this book serves as a reminder that young people want to continue taking part in shaping the future of society in Egypt and the region at large.

"Youth in Egypt are actually vibrant, present and optimistic about their future," she said.

By Katie Marie

Ahmed Sameh (MA '18, MA '20) is on a journey to help himself and others get in touch with their authentic selves.

In the nearly 10 years since he founded his social enterprise Emmkan, it has grown from a career guidance hub for young people to become Egypt's first organization for developing social and emotional learning (SEL) workshops and tools that help people of all ages to better understand themselves and others.

"When you're connected to your true self, you are way more confident, more at peace when it comes to mental health and less fearful of judgment or failure," Sameh explained. "Better social and emotional awareness enables you to live more intentionally. It lets you have healthier, more harmonious relationships."

For much of the company's existence, Emmkan has focused on supporting and teaching Egyptian youth. Starting just two years after Sameh graduated with a bachelor's in computer engineering and an MBA in marketing, the company originally aimed to help students explore their personalities and make better career decisions.

Almost immediately, though, Sameh's focus began to shift.

"Instead of using the safe space we created to discuss career or academic choices, many of the students talked to us about stress and challenges in their lives. Some had experienced severe traumas and didn't have an outlet to deal with them," Sameh recalled.

Today, Emmkan offers workshops and retreats to K-12 and university students at schools across Egypt, including AUC. Through its free Student Ambassador program, Emmkan also trains and mentors high school students, empowering them to lead community development and volunteer projects.

Digging Deeper

In 2015, after several years as a practitioner, Sameh felt compelled to return to school -- this time to AUC, where he obtained two master's degrees in international and comparative education and philosophy.

"I only had a very basic introduction to the humanities in my own undergraduate degree, and felt like I needed to expand my own knowledge in order to be able to dig deeper in our work," Sameh explained.

"Better social and emotional awareness enables you to live more intentionally. It lets you have healthier, more harmonious relationships."

Bringing together educators from different fields, AUC's Department of Educational Studies (formerly the Graduate School of Education) provided Sameh with the opportunity to connect with and learn from other practitioners. "Many of the students are teachers or administrators working on the ground," he said. "This experience has given me one of the most powerful networks I have in my career."

During his master's studies, Sameh also learned the professional language needed to explain his passion. "At the Comparative and International Education Society's 2016 conference in Vancouver, I attended a workshop about social and emotional learning. I had never heard the term before, but I understood that it was exactly what I had been trying to do. I finally knew how to explain Emmkan's mission."

Play to Learn

More recently, Emmkan has sought to broaden the reach of its programs, sharing SEL knowledge via its Instagram, TikTok and YouTube channels. It has begun to develop learning tools for adults, the first of which is an SEL card game called Share. Several editions of the game have been published, including versions for friends, families and married couples -- the last of which has become a bestseller. Share is tailored to the Egyptian social context, and the decks are bilingual in both English and Arabic.

While anyone can purchase the game, it has become a popular tool among life coaches, psychologists and others working in SEL and mental health.

"Our pivot to focus on all ages is really aimed at amplifying the impact of SEL to the community level. Adults, especially parents, or couples with these skills can create a more supportive environment for children to grow in," Sameh explained. "If SEL is adopted more widely, this will create increasingly authentic and balanced communities. The change would be massive."

By Kara Fitzgerald Elgarhy

Da7ee7 is by all accounts a success story. Amassing more than 1 billion views since its establishment in 2014, the online edutainment show hosted by Ahmed Elghandour '16 has captivated and enlightened viewers across Egypt, the Arab world and beyond with equally funny and smart takes on subjects from the science of migraines to the history of the Berlin Wall.

However, Taher El Moataz Bellah '14, in writing his latest book, El Da7ee7: Behind the Scenes, did not set out to outline a success story. In fact, he didn't even originally plan to write a book about Da7ee7. El Moataz Bellah instead sought to write about a series of contemporary startups. When he first began writing in 2018, Da7ee7 was only one of the chapters, but in 2019, after five years of episodes and becoming a smash hit on YouTube all over the Arab world, he decided it deserved its own book.

Still, the idea was not to celebrate or memorialize. For El Moataz Bellah, the show was a case study. "You examine a case study not to idealize the protagonist but to take away learnings and build from it," he said.

El Moataz Bellah did not write El Da7ee7: Behind the Scenes like a typical case study. Rather, the book is written in the format of the show itself -- the same dialect, the same quippy and comedic style. "I wanted this book to target young audiences of the show who hadn't read books before; I was hoping this would be their first book," El Moataz Bellah explained. "So I zoomed in on this story about a familiar subject in a familiar language. I hoped that readers would hear Ahmed's voice narrating the story."

The book plays on the same synergies of education and entertainment as its subject matter -- the synergies that attracted El Moataz Bellah first as an avid fan of the show, then as a contributing writer and, most recently, as its storyteller.

Reading as a Gateway

In telling the story of Da7ee7, El Moataz Bellah looked through the lens of his own tenure with the show and the nature of the time it emerged. He also looked to the early formative experiences of Elghandour that made Da7ee7 possible.

For instance, El Moataz Bellah attributes Elghandour's status as an avid lifelong reader to simply having so much time and few options for entertainment during his childhood in Saudi Arabia. "He had nothing to do but go to the bookstore and sporting club once a week," he explained. "So at 10 years old, he read his first complete novel and got hooked. By middle school, he was reading about the 2008 financial crisis and World War II."

In fact, El Moataz Bellah describes reading as Elghandour's first and core superpower, responsible in large part for the others. On road trips with his family from Medina to Jeddah, Elghandour -- the eldest of five siblings -- would pass the hours telling stories from what he read. To El Moataz Bellah, "he was a storyteller long before he knew it." But he still had to practice. "In his initial videos, he was an average performer. But he was consistent. With discipline, he transformed. You can track it on YouTube. Video by video, he became more and more comfortable."

Finding the Formula

When Elghandour first started Da7ee7, El Moataz Bellah was one of the earliest admirers, hooked even before the viral 2016 episode inspired by the movie Interstellar. El Moataz Bellah would share every episode and exchange articles and commentary with fellow AUC alumnus Elghandour.

In 2018, around the same time that he received a scholarship for his master's study, Elghandour signed a deal with Post Office, a production startup that produced the pilot and coordinated an agreement to air Da7ee7 episodes on AJ+.

Somewhere in the midst of traveling back and forth between Hong Kong and Cairo, he realized he could no longer continue as the sole content creator and presenter. So Elghandour reached out to El Moataz Bellah to join a new team of writers. El Moataz Bellah describes this move -- giving up the one- man venture for a diversely interested and talented team -- as ultimately responsible for the longevity of the show and evidence of Elghandour's strength as a leader: "He had to be mature enough to be willing to delegate," El Moataz Bellah said.

The new team and new way of working inherently adjusted the show's formula, from sharing purely scientific findings and studies to addressing a wide range of fields. Viewership rose as a result. "One of the questions asked when looking at some big and bold topics was, 'Will the Arab audience care?' And it was clear that yes, they do," El Moataz Bellah recalled. "They don't just want local news and comedy. They want to know what is happening in the world and become global citizens. That is one of the reasons episodes like Brexit did really well."

The show's expansion in scope has meant a virtually bottomless source of content. This added to other proven elements of its appeal, like the timeliness of introducing an online show and a general departure from political satire.

The AUC Years

Elghandour's tenure at AUC also reflects this combination of circumstance and choice. His family supported him to attend AUC after years of fostering his love of reading and intellectual curiosity with the best international education they could afford, sending him on his own to Egypt and giving him the freedom to decide what to study.

At AUC, Elghandour benefited immensely from the rich intellectual activity on campus. El Moataz Bellah describes, "He fed on it, metaphorically and literally." Indeed, during his time at AUC, Elghandour started a WhatsApp group called AUC Food, which published information about events and activities that offered both interesting scholarly opportunities and free food.

Tracing Elghandour's journey through these formative vignettes in El Da7ee7: Behind the Scenes allowed El Moataz Bellah to tell the story of Da7ee7 the way he sees it: "It's not just a story of a genius but also the luck and privilege of having a loving family and inherent ability transformed through a world-class education and hard work."

Now at Harvard Business School, El Moataz Bellah is all too familiar with case studies, and he continues to reflect on his own takeaways from observing, contributing to and studying Da7ee7 -- chief among them, the power of communicating big ideas through entertaining characters and narrative. It's a thread that's clear in his El Da7ee7a ("The Nerds") series, his biography of Princess Diana and his upcoming work about Russian President Vladimir Putin.