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Bridging the global radiology gap

By Nahla El Gendy

According to the World Health organization, in many medical cases worldwide, clinical considerations are not enough to make a correct diagnosis. radiology, or diagnostic imaging, allows doctors to see inside the body, providing detailed information that is crucial for proper disease diagnosis. As the World Health Organization put it, "diagnostic imaging is a prerequisite for the correct and successful treatment of at least a quarter of all patients worldwide."

The problem? Two-thirds of the world's population lacks access to basic radiology services, whether in the form of X-rays, ultrasounds, CAt scans, magnetic resonance or other procedures -- what HealthManagement.org describes as the "global radiology gap that now poses a threat to public health."

"With technological advances in the last two decades, radiology is expanding rapidly worldwide while the number of radiologists has not increased at the same rate," said Amr Abodraiaa, CEO and co-founder of Rology, a startup of the AUC Venture Lab (V-Lab), Egypt's first university-based accelerator. Abodraiaa became aware of the problem several years ago when he worked on a hospital management system with a startup company in Egypt. "it always concerned me how there was a constant delay in issuing patient reports," he said. "Patients would sometimes have to wait for two or three weeks to receive their final diagnostic reports."

Using artificial intelligence, Rology works to bridge this gap through an on-demand, web-based teleradiology platform that instantly and remotely matches radiology images originating from hospitals with professional radiologists in different parts of the globe. Rology can be easily accessed by radiologists worldwide and doesn't require special hardware.

" Rology helps hospitals provide their patients with a fast and accurate report," said Abodraiaa. "this is crucial because a patient's diagnosis and treatment can only start after the physician receives the radiology report."

Rology operations follow three main steps: upload, match and report. the hospital uploads the patient's medical images onto the system. Based on the first auto analysis, Rology then matches the scan with the optimal radiologist, depending on availability and subspecialty. Afterward, the radiologist writes the final diagnostic report and sends it back to the hospital through a quality control process.

"The health care sector in Egypt is ripe for innovations," said Ayman Ismail 
'95, '97, Abdul Latif Jameel Chair in Entrepreneurship, associate professor at AUC's School of Business and V-Lab founding director. "there is a huge need for expanding access, improving quality of care and reducing costs for health care services in Egypt, especially with the growing population and rising incomes. startups like Rology are using innovative technologies and business models to expand access to radiology services. At the AUC Venture Lab, we are now adding health care as a focus sector and working with entrepreneurs like Amr to introduce new innovations to this vital sector."

Rology is already making an impact in Egypt. "We have helped hospitals and radiology centers in various Egyptian governorates to improve their operations by issuing almost 60,000 accurate and timely diagnostic reports since we started operating in October 2017," said Abodraiaa.

Rology currently works with 54 hospitals and private radiology centers across Egypt and has recently started operating in Saudi Arabia and Kenya, with plans to expand its services to new markets in Africa and the Middle East by 2020. "We have five main countries in our expansion plan for this year, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Congo," said Abodraiaa. "it's just the start."

 

HASSAN AZZAZY
PROFESSOR AND CHAIR
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

Building a low-cost sensor that monitors water quality

The Inspiration

I believe that clean water is a human right. Yet developing countries often lack the capacity to detect and remove toxic metals from their water supply. If you're exposed to those metals -- mercury, cadmium, arsenic and lead -- in your water every day, they accumulate in your body. As they accumulate, they can severely affect your health. They can lower IQs in children, damage organs in people of any age and more. My research team is trying to develop a low-cost testing device -- a colorimetric sensor -- for toxic metals in water.

The Process

The first step was putting together a multidisciplinary team: graduate students with expertise in sensing technologies, nanotechnology and analytical chemistry. Together, we prepared innovative nanosensors, which have been granted patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office; assembled sensor strips; ran tests and compared results. Those results were qualitative; they provided only a yes/no answer for the presence of a specific toxic metal. Similar to pregnancy tests, the color of each sensor strip changes in the presence of a specific toxic metal. We have also developed a portable device that can measure the intensity of the developed color and, therefore, produce quantitative results -- numbers that can be used to assess the exact level of toxic metals in water.

The Next Steps

The next phase of our project is very exciting. We'll develop a tool that can help remove toxic metals from water. In everything we do, we're guided by the idea that our research should contribute practical solutions to address national and global challenges.

The IMPACT

Simply put, the devices we produce will help communities, especially those in remote locations dependent on underground water, to monitor their water quality. Local authorities will be able to assess the toxicity of metals in their water, giving them the information they need to warn community members of danger or to ensure that their water is safe for drinking or other uses.

Four toxic metals -- MERCURY, CADMIUM, ARSENIC AND LEAD -- are among the World Health Organization's Top 10 Chemicals of Major Public Concern.

The Future

AUC is one of the best places in Egypt to conduct innovative research. The high-caliber faculty, the industrious students, the advanced facilities and instruments -- these are all important factors. But the culture of AUC is important too. This is a University that encourages multidisciplinary research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Read about the newly inaugurated AUC and Alexandria University Center of Excellence for Water.

 

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By Yakin Ouederni

Communicating in Arabic Sign Language with the tap of a phone

Baher Moursy '18, Heba Sakr '18, Youssef Khairalla '18 and Tamara Nagui '17 have always been driven by a desire to give back to their communities whenever the opportunity arises. So when it came time for them to decide on a graduation project in 2017, it was difficult to settle on one of the many ideas they thought of, but they were sure of one thing: Whatever it was, it needed to go beyond being just a thesis project.

After months of brainstorming, they came up with Eshara, a mobile application that translates Arabic Sign Language (ASL) into written Arabic in real time. Eshara works on any device with a camera, using video recognition technology to detect the hand movements of someone speaking ASL and simultaneously provide a written translation.

"Imagine a world in which a student can raise his or her hand in a classroom and sign what he or she is trying to communicate, and everyone else in the classroom reading or hearing the translation instantly," Khairalla said.

The Eshara logo was designed by Yasmine Nagui '16

Due to rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), the world that Khairalla speaks of can soon become a reality. Eshara relies on computer vision and machine learning, a subset of AI that uses systems to identify patterns and make decisions with little to no human intervention. Both fields are increasingly being used across a variety of areas such as health care monitoring, financial services and transportation. In Eshara's case, the group films people speaking ASL and then programs the software to recognize specific movements as words so that it may provide a written translation.

"Basically, we design and train several AI computing models to associate each ASL word gesture with its corresponding text," said Mohamed Moustafa, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the team's supervisor. "This work of action recognition is actually part of a bigger research topic known as human-computer interaction. Its applications are all futuristic."

Noting the great impact of machine learning on people's lives, Moustafa emphasized the importance of investing time into developing this field. "Self-driving vehicles are expected to be fully autonomous in a handful of years, bidirectional language translation is helping real-time conversations, and mature models are being developed to recommend your next online purchase," he said.

And it's exactly this type of impact that the team hopes to make with Eshara: creating programs that make people's lives easier by using AI to help underserved populations and inspire others to do the same. "We have the knowledge; we have the technology," Moursy said. "Why don't we use it for the good of society?"

"Be the Future" in Arabic Sign Language by (front row) Youssef Khairalla, Heba Sakr, Baher Moursy and (back) Amr AbdelGhani

Two years after presenting their idea to the thesis panel, the team members are still developing the app. Amr AbdelGhani '19 has since joined the team.

What the team members have now is the demo they created for the graduation project, which is capable of translating individual words and not full sentences. By the end of the year, they hope to accomplish two goals for the app: translating full sentences and being quick enough to produce words in real time. Development takes place in two stages: data collection then programming the machine.

Eshara app design

When the team members initially started conducting research, they were surprised to see that there was no project like theirs targeting ASL speakers in the Middle East. This made the data collection process much more difficult and time consuming. "It took us around a year to collect data for the demo," Moursy said.

One year for 16 words.

Data collection involves choosing words to include in the Eshara dictionary and then filming those words being spoken in ASL. To ensure Eshara's accuracy at all times of the day and in different locations, the team needed to film movements across a wide array of environments and with different people. With no ASL experience and no contacts with anyone who speaks it, the team members had to learn the movements and train their friends to shoot the videos.

"When filming the words, we needed a wide range of skin colors, hand sizes, backgrounds and lighting, and we had to film at different times of the day," Sakr said.

Their project stalled for one year when they lost funding, but AUC secured funding earlier in 2019, and the team got right back to work in July. Since then, they have expanded the dictionary to between 800 and 1,000 words. "Being part of the Eshara team resembles a great opportunity for me to help create something that can directly impact people's lives and has the potential to revolutionize communication with those who cannot hear," said AbdelGhani. "The current progress is unprecedented for Arabic Sign Language recognition, and I believe that we could potentially push this technology to achieve a breakthrough in scalable automatic ASL recognition. The passion and excitement of the team along with AUC's support make this project a fun and fulfilling journey."

Data Collection for Eshara

Turning AUC Tahrir Square into their workspace, the team members meet with ASL professionals and communities in Cairo that cannot hear or speak to film vocabulary. Khairalla, who is currently overseas, is helping with researching quicker and more efficient technologies for the app.

"Speed is our main concern," Moursy said. "The app needs to be able to translate full sentences in real time."

Sign language translating programs do exist for languages other than ASL, but what differentiates Eshara from all others is its accessibility. Most programs use censored gloves or 3D cameras to detect hand movements, while Eshara can be downloaded on mobile phones and works across different software.

"If someone who speaks Arabic Sign Language is sitting right next to me, there would be no way of communicating with him or her," Moursy said. "Eshara would allow me to just pull out my phone and carry out a conversation. We're not realizing that there's a whole demographic of people we aren't talking to."

What started out as a graduation project turned into an initiative to include an often neglected demographic in society. Even AUC Tahrir Square, which started off as a meeting place for data collection, became a space for a community of people working toward a common cause.

"The ASL professionals were really excited about the project and even want to continue helping us for free," Sakr said, emphasizing how this project will allow ASL speakers to enter the workforce more easily, making way for diverse skills and talents that were previously not tapped into. "We're helping to create a better future for them because they can finally be able to take part in regular, everyday life like everyone else."

 

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HASSAN EL-FAWAL
PROFESSOR OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
DEAN, SCHOOL OF SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
FOUNDING DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL 
HEALTH AND HUMAN ECOLOGY

Setting the foundation for the future of health care in Egypt

The Inspiration

My specific research area is environmental health, with a particular focus on developing diagnostic tests for a range of conditions. But I've always had a broad interest in breaking down barriers that impede meaningful progress for humanity. One such example is our focus on precision health to arrive at a gene-environment model within the demographic and socioeconomic context. One project we're keen on now, in collaboration with colleagues -- most notably Mohamed Salama, physician and clinical neurotoxicologist who recently joined AUC as associate professor at the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology -- and international partners, is establishing a reference genome for Egypt. This is an essential first step in identifying unique vulnerabilities of the population to communicable and non-communicable diseases. In that regard, it is a mission that satisfies both the interests of protecting environmental health and early disease diagnosis.

 

El-Fawal with faculty researchers Ahmed Moustafa, associate professor of bioinformatics; Mohamed Salama, associate professor at the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology; and Anwar Abdelnaser, assistant professor of environmental health

The Process

We're collaborating with a number of institutions in Europe and the Middle East. It's a vast, interdisciplinary project that requires the team efforts of medical health professionals, biomedical scientists and engineers, as well as the expertise of colleagues in the social sciences. In one way, we're doing what every good research project does: defining gaps in our knowledge, asking the relevant questions, designing an adaptable approach, running tests, analyzing big data and refining our methods. But we're doing these things at the most advanced level and with diverse expertise.

 

The Next Steps

A complete database that reflects the efforts of researchers and practitioners across Egypt will inform the country's health policy and its management of health care and will establish AUC as an enabling partner for researchers in Egypt. Not at all coincidentally, AUC has developed two graduate programs -- a master's and doctorate in global public health -- that focus on these issues. The graduate programs, in turn, are part of our new Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, which is designed to address worldwide challenges: food scarcity, environmental degradation, burgeoning populations, the spread of diseases associated with industrial development and much more.

The IMPACT

The reference genome for Egypt will provide a database for comparative studies and a repository for shared information on the genetic basis of health and disease to advance personalized medicine and health care among the Egyptian population. It will empower researchers and clinicians to better identify risk -- diagnosing diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative conditions and heart disease -- while mitigating risk or customizing treatment. Simply put, it is the future of health care in Egypt that should inform policy.

 

The Future

AUC recently celebrated its centennial. To me, this project -- as well as the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology -- represents the dawn of our second century of service. It's about working together across borders, across disciplines in a spirit of progress and collaboration to find solutions.

Read about the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology.

 

 

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Training Social workers to respond to children in crisis

 

CARIE FORDEN
PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

The Inspiration

How do we protect children from neglect and abuse? That's a critical question in Egypt and around the world. I'm collaborating with UNICEF and Egypt's Ministry of Social Solidarity to answer it. We're trying to enhance the skills and capabilities of professional social workers -- the people who often have the best chance of improving the lives of children in these situations.

The Process

The team at AUC includes Yasmine Saleh '91, associate professor of practice in the Department of Psychology, and many students who have worked as interns and research assistants. Here's what we do: We conduct assessments to determine the kinds of training that social workers need to be effective in serving children -- for example, training in gender-based violence, alternative care, positive parenting and psychosocial support for trauma. Then we develop training courses with lots of hands-on activities, produce the materials to support them and lead the courses. We conduct evaluations of the training sessions to help ensure they are effective and improving social work practice. We also train new trainers so the work can spread far beyond us.

Saleh (left) and Forden engaging with social workers

The IMPACT

We've trained more than 400 social workers in Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Sharqiya and North Sinai; developed 33 days of training curricula; and certified nine local trainers. If we can sustain this approach, the potential impact of the project is huge: Social workers across Egypt will be better able to protect and support children, youth and families, and the changes that UNICEF and the Ministry of Social Solidarity are trying to implement will be embedded into the national system of social work training and practice.

93% of children aged 1 to 14 have been exposed to violent disciplinary practices by their parents or caregivers, including psychological and physical violence.

UNICEF, citing the 2014 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey, published by the Ministry of Health

The Next Steps

In the next two years, we plan to train and certify an additional 500 social workers. The chances of success are high. A recent call for a training of trainers on gender-based violence drew more than 300 applicants. We're also supporting the ministry's efforts to move from placing children in orphanages to placing them in alternative parental care and helping them create a new system to certify child protection social workers.

The Future

AUC is the ideal place to do this work. Our community psychology program -- focusing on collaboration with community partners, creating positive social change and building professional practice skills -- is unique in the region. We're able to attract high-caliber students; they're true partners in this project. AUC's reputation for excellence means that our community partners welcome the chance to work with us, and trainees see our programs as prestigious. And the University is truly committed to community engagement. Work like ours is valued and sustained, which then helps us ensure that social workers and the children they serve are valued and sustained.

 

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ASMA AMLEH
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

Developing a more effective screening test for ovarian cancer

 

The Inspiration

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological cancer. The symptoms are ambiguous, the disease has a high worldwide rate of mortality and morbidity, and the majority of women aren't diagnosed until the disease has reached its last stages. Yet the screening tests are limited, especially at the early stages. So we need to find new approaches to early diagnosis. With breast cancer, there's a lot of research and data available, and survival rates are higher. There is a lot to be done with ovarian cancer.

8th most common CANCER among women WORLDWIDE

 

The Process

 

This is a two-year research program, supported by AUC's Bartlett Fund for Critical Challenges. My initial research in this area began at AUC in September 2013 as part of a collaborative project with a researcher from Canada. After winning the Bartlett grant, I became the principal investigator, along with co-investigator Terri Ginsberg, assistant professor of film in AUC's Department of the Arts, for an interdisciplinary team that includes graduate and undergraduate students at AUC, a gynecologist from Mansoura University, a biostatistician in AUC's Department of Biology and a filmmaking instructor in AUC's Film Program. We're collecting and analyzing specimens from both healthy and diseased patients, and extracting RNA and sending them to be sequenced. At the end of the day, diseases affect gene expression. So we need to understand the specific expressions that indicate ovarian cancer.

5th most common CANCER among EGYPTIAN women

The IMPACT

Our goal is to develop a screening method to detect ovarian cancer in its earliest stages. Our method would be cost-effective, noninvasive -- based on a blood sample -- and derived from microRNA sequencing, the most specific and sensitive data marker available. This work is urgently needed. The impact would be immediate and powerful.

The Next Steps

Part of our project is to empower women with the knowledge that regular checks for ovarian cancer are crucial. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women in Egypt are hesitant to discuss ovarian cancer. We want to normalize that conversation, so we're making a video to spread knowledge about ovarian cancer. Research is about discovery, but it's also about raising awareness.

The Future

This is a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional project, where researchers from around the world bring their own expertise to the table. At AUC, we have a smart, hard-working research team, supported by all the resources and facilities we need: dedicated labs for cell culture, genomics and bioinformatics; technological support; an Academic Data Center and a tremendous library. By working together, we produce something beautiful and necessary.

 

Thanks to all AUC alumni who shared their advice on the Facebook group

Galal Zaki '68: "The future is not the way it used to be. Practice and academia complement each other. Innovate or evaporate."

Cherif Ramsis '74: "You never know where your career will take you. Fate has its way. Enjoy the ride, and don't try to fight fate."

Djehanne Massabky Mazhar '75, '79: "You are lucky to have such an institution, so make the best of it. Education stays with you forever."

Soha Farouk Kamal '88: "While you pursue success, don't forget to live."

Omar G. Barazi '92: "Follow your passion and build on it. Learn it. Make it your life. Make it your career. Do what you love, and you won't have to work a single day."

Nahla Mesbah '92, '10: "Make sure you get involved in extracurricular activities. They enrich your life and help build your character. Don't fall into the labeling trap. Most 'tough graders' I have taken courses with provided the best teaching experiences I've had. Remember to enjoy your interactions with fellow students. [AUC] is where many of us made lifelong friends."

Heba AbouRabia '93, '14: "Be proud of your learning experience at AUC. It was and still is the best in Egypt."

Fadi Habib '94, DPL '99: "GPA is important, but it should be number 10 on the list:

1. Go to all trips and parties.

2. Enroll in as many clubs as you can.

3. Be active, not just a silent member of clubs and associations.

4. Make a lot of friends, and enjoy their friendship.

5. Participate in a student exchange program for a summer or semester.

6. Learn to play music.

7. Play a few sports. Choose one sport, and play lots of it.

8. Learn stuff. Don't just go for grades.

9. Enjoy and relax. It doesn't matter how stressful you think it is. It is your best time on Earth.

10. GPA."

Shima Barakat '95, '98: "Learn to work with as many different people as you can. Truly discover what it means to be a good person to be around. Your time at AUC is when you discover yourself and sow the seeds to be a global citizen who contributes to the world rather than expect it to deliver. The world/society doesn't owe you anything. You owe it everything."

Doaa Bashanfar '96: "Change is the only stable thing in life. So be agile to absorb it, move, achieve and improve."

Maha Saleh '02: "Enjoy the soft Core courses. You will cherish this information later on -- adding up to your general knowledge, overall skills and social intelligence."

Shady Mohamed Zayat '04: "[Take part in] internship programs. ... If you can find a part-time job, go for it -- because if you think that only being an AUCian will help you, [then] you are dreaming."

Karim Salem '04: "Enjoy what you are doing to the maximum. These days won't come back. Your bachelor's degree on its own is not enough to help you realize your dreams. The experience and hard work will. Focus on getting as much practical work experience as you can."

Mia Malak '11: "Enjoy your undergraduate years. Enjoy learning freely. Enjoy discovering. Enjoy making new, lasting friendships. Enjoy doing new things. Explore; find yourself; learn about yourself and all that you can do. It's the phase where you can still be a kid with the mind and body of an adult. Be silly; be serious; be funny; be curious.

Make use of what the University offers you. You can't imagine the freedom that a liberal arts education gives you. Make use of the library. We've got one of the best libraries. Participate in student activities. Learn. Enjoy your classes."

Mona Al-Abiad '89, '10: "Go to all trips and events. Make more and more friends. Takes courses in music, theatre and dancing. Enjoy the experience to the maximum. Go to your professors all the time. Talk to them, and always ask for their help and advice."

Sherine Samir '00: "Study what you love and not what others want. Enjoy your life at AUC because the world is different outside of it."

Sarah Badreldin '02: "Accept and respect other cultures as you come across them."

To a student coming fresh from an American college to A.U.C., the change is not so tremendous as it might seem. Especially do the outward things; athletics on the field, assembly every morning, the extra-curricular activities of the Review, clubs and orchestra, make one feel at home.

But among the greatest differences which I find between A.U.C. and my college at home is the feeling of unusual co-operation between student and teacher. With a small number enrolled in the school, the classes are small enough for each student to feel himself an individual. In contrast to some lecture courses given to one hundred and seventy five students in my home college, to be in a class where each one of the six is doing independent, individual work, is stimulating.

After only three weeks of school, I'm more than ever convinced that if more students would make as a part of their education a transfer into the schools or educational systems of another country, there would be as a result, a marvelous decrease in some of the most stupid of race prejudice.

The advantages which every student in A.U.C. has, in coming in contact with students of other races and creeds, is to me, marvelous, For in my college, with a comparatively small enrollment of sixteen hundred, we are most of us from American homes of the same type.

Cairo in itself is proving to be so fascinating a place just in which to live, that I regret that there is not more time to see things and go various places. To a Westerner new to the near east, there is an ever present thrill in strolling into a darkened Coptic Church, exploring odd corners of the Mouski, seeing strange sight near the tombs of the Mamelukes, visiting in an Egyptian home, or perhaps just trying to get about town, and getting consistently lost, because the only two Arabic words to one's credit are "malesh" and "saida," which certainly are not helpful in getting home.

After only three weeks of school, I'm more than ever convinced that if more students would make as a part of their education a transfer into the schools or educational systems of another country, there would be as a result, a marvelous decrease in some of the most stupid of race prejudice. We Americans, who are here in Egypt, a foreign country to us, and the Egyptian students who are studying here under a system foreign to their own, are both gaining this sort of exchange education. It seems to me that there is unusual value in it. I can only add that the extreme courtesy and friendliness with which all of us co-eds have been treated is another thing which makes going to school in the A.U.C. a profit and a pleasure to me.

-- I.W.

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Coming back to a place after years away can be a deeply emotional experience. For Waleed Alasad '91, who studied mechanical engineering at AUC and is now the CEO of NAPESCO Petroleum, visiting Ewart Memorial Hall in the spring of 2024 for a memorial event triggered strong feelings of nostalgia. After the service, he went home and wrote the following in honor of the space and the memories it holds.

Read the original Arabic version on Substack.

---

Alasad at Ewart Memorial Hall, photo by Ahmad El-Nemr

I still remember the summer morning in July nearly four decades ago when I stepped into Ewart Memorial Hall to sit for the aptitude test required for admission to AUC. That grand hall -- with its vast space between the seats, the ceiling and the stage adorned with European Rococo ornaments -- bears an inscription in Latin that seemed to have been crafted by Egyptian calligraphers trained in Ottoman script, merging the two worlds. It read:

"Let knowledge grow from more to more, but more of reverence in us dwell."

Ewart Hall, whose construction was funded in the 1920s by a granddaughter of William Dana Ewart -- the American inventor of the chain belt -- became a small homeland for us Sudanese students while we were far from our country. Our connection to it was through the Sudanese Students Association at AUC, an active organization and close-knit family centered around identity. The hall often hosted rehearsals for our choral group, and its majestic walls echoed with our pentatonic scale as we sang and learned who "Azza" was, as "Azza" in our poetry and songs means Sudan:

"Azza, I have not forsaken the land of beauty,

Nor have I sought a substitute, none but perfection.

My heart never swayed to another.

Embrace me with your right hand, for I lie resting on your left."

The hall's Western murals would smile back at us, replying salaamat (greetings) after each line.

The 1980s were full of both sorrow and splendor. What more can be said of those times?

Ewart Hall couldn't close the chapter of the 1980s without adding the crown jewel of that era: the Akad El-Galad band.

In the hall, we organized a grand concert for the band, inviting Sudanese students from all the universities. The aisles were packed after the seats were filled, and Sheikh Rihan Street overflowed with people of dark skin from every direction, their hearts longing for the words of Mohamed Taha Al Gaddal, Amal Dunqul and Al-Madah Al-Makkawi. The concert began, and the hall erupted. The voices of the students overpowered the band, chanting.

The hall reciprocated our enthusiasm with its timeless word engraved above the stage: "Reverence."

Today, after all those decades have passed, after calendar pages have fluttered away, after the disappearance of newspaper vendors, after Koshary El-Tahrir turned into a franchise, after the crowds vanished from Tahrir Square and after the unruly growth of a McDonald's branch across from the green gate on Mohamed Mahmoud Street -- I return to enter Ewart Hall, this time to attend a memorial event for the dean of Sudanese journalists, Mahjoub Mohamed Salih.

I return to find Ewart Hall unchanged, welcoming us as always, with the same distinctive scent. I can almost hear its sigh of reproach for our long absence, for the absence of the echoes of our pentatonic songs from its walls all this time.

The doors of the Main Campus opened from both sides, and the guests filed in with commendable order, organized for a memorial worthy of that towering figure who departed just as our bodies, too, were forced to leave:

"Embrace me with your right hand, for I lie resting on your left."

It was truly a remarkable evening, filled with the essence of home, interspersed with profound words from Sudanese and foreign journalists, from the family of the late Mahjoub, and especially that tender speech from his granddaughter.

Ewart Hall gave us today the same echo we had known years ago as the audience sang for Sudan along with the band to the words of the late Abdul Kareem Al-Kabli:

We shall rejoice with our children and sing,

To our origin, our beginning.

Oh, the sweetness of the stage of our youth,

And our memories, our longing."

Ewart Memorial Hall, I dedicate this to you on behalf of all the Sudanese you sheltered in their exile. In my heart, after the music fades and the guests leave, I return to you in secret to offer the last refrain as a toast to you and to those beautiful years. I sing for you:

Oh, the sweetness of the stage of our youth,

And our memories, our longing.

 

By Hadeel Soliman

The gazelle is a lean, strong, graceful and capable being -- a great representation of 22-year-old Egyptian squash player Hania El Hammamy.

Though appearing sweet and calm, El Hammamy is merciless on the court. After many triumphs in her career as a junior squash player, she went pro and her talent was quickly recognized on a global scale. She is now third worldwide in the Professional Squash Association Women's World Rankings, earning her iconic nickname, the gazelle, due to her wide and fast stride.

As if a switch had been flipped, El Hammamy's gentle exterior quickly faded as we began discussing her squash career. "I am very greedy. Number three isn't where I belong. I can do better," she said.

Though not pleased with her ranking, the gazelle still acknowledges her numerous achievements. She notably remembers a match she won at 17 years old, which lifted her spirits and reinforced her self-confidence. "I played against Nicol David, who had previously been number one for nine consecutive years, so no one dared to go near her," she recalled. "When I won that match, I was very happy. My young age made the victory that much sweeter."

While climbing the global rankings, El Hammamy also challenges gender norms faced by female athletes. "I'm very aggressive on the court, and sometimes people tell me that my attitude is too much for a woman," she said.

The comments don't affect her. At a press conference, El Hammamy handled such challenges and criticism from reporters with grace -- as would any confident athlete. When asked if she felt bad for playing against her friend in a match, she replied sternly: "In individual sports, if you think like that, you shouldn't even be competing. This is our work."

Determined, hungry for victory, confident and skillful -- El Hammamy possesses all these skills that we love to see in athletes. However, as a woman, El Hammamy is frustrated by the difference in treatment she gets from the media and fans alike. "A male player and I may be featured in the same magazine, but he will be the one placed on the front page even though I actually have higher rankings than he does," she said.

El Hammamy's message to all young athletes: "You'll never be at your peak forever. There will be ups and downs, but giving up is not an option."

Despite the challenges on and off the court, the Egyptian champion remains unfazed and confident because she only has her eyes on one thing: being number one.

Hadeel Soliman is a communication and media arts junior at AUC.