A new study correlating rising temperatures with women’s cancer in the Middle East recently attracted global media attention, seizing headlines in outlets like The Washington Post, Daily Mail, Fortune and more. Behind the research are authors Wafa Abu El Kheir-Mataria (MPA ’18, PhD ’23), a senior research fellow at AUC’s Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology (IGHHE), and Professor Sungsoo Chun, who conducted the observational study at IGHEE.

“This research rang an alarm that we need to be aware of in health policies,” said Mataria. She initially proposed the topic due to her concern over gender disparity in healthcare and the broader vulnerability of the region with climate change. 

Her alarm rang loud and clear, with the paper scoring in the top 5% of all research outputs and the top 1% for high attention as compared with papers of the same age, according to Altmetric (a platform that measures and ranks the engagement that research articles receive beyond traditional citation counts).

The study analyzed data from 17 countries over a 20-year period, checking for correlations between temperature increases and mortality rates from four types of female cancers: breast, uterine, ovarian and cervical. 

“This research rang an alarm that we need to be aware of in health policies.”

While the overall correlation was the first result, a country-by-country breakdown provided secondary results. “Is this valid for each and every country or not?” Mataria inquired. The correlation was ultimately found to be statistically significant for six countries, with the most striking results in Gulf states. It was also particularly strong for breast and cervical cancers. 

Mataria unpacked some likely causes based on the literature: “Heat increases exposure to pollutants and disrupts healthcare systems, delaying diagnosis and treatment. It may also alter cell structure. Women are more vulnerable due to limited access and cultural taboos around breast and cervical cancer,” she said. 

Chun added that the best thing countries can do now is abide by multilateral climate-targeted policies, such as the Paris Agreement (an international climate treaty signed in 2016 that seeks to curb global warming). “The Paris Agreement is one of the clearest guidelines on how to stop rising temperatures. Implementing its exact recommendations for each country is essential to stopping climate change,” he said, though he noted that many nations are failing to meet the treaty’s criteria.

“Although we promised only one paper, many journalists are concerned about the severity of the findings. That means that this is a really urgent, in-demand topic to solve globally.”

Beyond women, Chun emphasized that vulnerable populations will suffer disproportionately if global conditions don’t change. “Post-colonial populations, older people, children and, of course, women have unique weaknesses in certain periods, such as during childbirth. So we should make clear programs or policies to support these vulnerable populations, especially through a strengthened healthcare system,” Chun said.

This research is not just relevant to those facing health problems or working in the health sector; it can be used to inform health policy, address gender gaps and understand the impacts of climate change. “This concerns not only people in the health sector, but also in policy, sustainability and other areas. Health is relevant to all fields, and it’s good to work together,” said Mataria.

Mataria views researchers at institutions like AUC as indispensable to the field. “We open people’s eyes on certain topics. Research and evidence draw attention,” she said, “Numbers talk.” 

Mataria and Chun are also hoping to receive more grants to continue the novel research. “Although we promised only one paper, many journalists are concerned about the severity of the findings. That means that this is a really urgent, in-demand topic to solve globally,” said Chun. 

“There’s not much on it yet,” added Mataria.

Even as the pair’s findings are making waves in the media, they were quick to point out that more research will be needed to understand the results. “This research is preliminary, but it’s a good start,” added Mataria. 

“There are so many contributing factors to the instance of cancers. We need to make another experimental design controlling not only for the setting but also for community levels,” said Chun.

The trailblazing article is now paving the way for international research focused on the intersection of climate change and women’s health. Mataria said, “It’s really just one point in a sea of research. There is a lot to do.”

When junior Marwan Shawwara moved to the south of France to study at Sciences Po last fall, he was prepared to step outside of his comfort zone and experience the trials and tribulations of a semester abroad. Most of the time, Shawwara lived as a typical exchange student — he found community, made lifelong friends, played college soccer with weekend tournaments around France, and backpacked through seven countries and 24 cities. “It’s me and my backpack against the world,” he said.

However, what the political science major didn’t expect was that he would reach a new understanding of his own country by meeting Egyptian refugees scattered along European frontiers. 

Egyptian Encounters

Long interested in equality and justice, Shawwara began volunteering with the AUC student organization 3alraseef in his freshman year, educating and spending time with impoverished children in Manshiyat Nasser twice a week. At Sciences Po, Shawwara kept up his commitment to volunteer work, documenting refugees at the Franco-Italian border crossing with Sciences Po Refugee Help, a student club. 

It was through this role that he discovered a new side of Egypt: the country’s politically marginalized. Throughout the semester, Shawwara learned lessons about Egyptian politics from his fellow countrymen that further shaped his identity and future plans. 

“Most of the refugees are unfortunately from our region, North Africa. It was a different experience seeing them firsthand, communicating with them, listening to them,” he said. “These people are not just numbers crossing the Mediterranean; they are humans.”

“I’m looking at life differently now. These people risked their lives to seek asylum just to live like anybody else: to get married and educate their kids. These are basic human rights.”

Traveling in Milan, Shawwara found himself surrounded by his native tongue, the streets filled with Egyptian refugees from areas like Upper Egypt, Fayoum and Beni Suef. Many had come to support their families, working in manual labor jobs. 

One boy in particular left a lasting impression on Shawwara. When they first crossed paths, the now 17-year-old was excited to buy Shawwara lunch and share his story. Mohamed fled to Italy two years ago as a 15 year old, coming alone to provide for his parents. “He did the unimaginable. He crossed the Mediterranean without his family,” said Shawwara. 

As a minor, Mohamed became a registered refugee, eligible for housing and documented part-time labor. “When he becomes an adult, I think he will be given the right to come back to Egypt and return to work in Italy.” The potential visit to Egypt would be Mohamed’s first in three years.

The touching story — one of many that Shawwara encountered — had a profound impact. “I’m looking at life differently now. These people risked their lives to seek asylum just to live like anybody else: to get married and educate their kids. These are basic human rights,” he said.

A New Political Vision

Shawwara’s interest in history and politics was initially sparked by his post-Revolution Cairene upbringing, leading him to pursue his semester abroad at the second-ranked university in the world for political science. However, it was not university courses but interactions with Egyptian refugees that most shaped his vision for his future, and the future of Egypt.

“I want to specialize in political theory now,” Shawwara said. “I want to produce a theory that fits all these people in it rather than excludes them because the current policies of the region are turning a blind eye." 

“At Sciences Po, I found my interest in journalism and speaking up. When I came back, I thought, let’s initiate something here.”

Commenting on the difficult financial circumstances that led many Egyptians astray, Shawwara said, “If you can pay, you can live. These people don’t have the chance to earn money in the first place.” 

Shawwara is particularly interested in post-colonial and decolonization theories. “Until now, I see that countries in the region are still under Western domination while they are supposed to be independent states. I want to understand this,” he said.

Bringing It Home

His exploration of Egypt from this external lens did not stop at his volunteer work: Shawwara wrote for two campus publications, contributing meaningful stories about the Middle East, from stories about Morocco’s football team to Lebanon’s ceasefire to Cairo’s environmental problems.

Upon his return to AUC, Shawwara was inspired to jumpstart a new political science publication, the PSS-Journal, through the Political Science Students’ Association, of which he is now the incoming co-president. “At Sciences Po, I found my interest in journalism and speaking up — we need to be vocal about some topics. When I came back, I thought, let’s initiate something here,” he said. Within two weeks, Shawwara had assembled a team, and the journal published its first issue in one month’s time, with big plans for the year ahead.

Though Shawwara wants to remain in Egypt in the long term, he is considering a master’s degree at Sciences Po in Paris after graduating — just one more way in which his study-abroad experience has shaped his outlook on life and his future career.

“My interests in this region have been instilled in me since my childhood through conversations with friends, peers and family, and hearing about it on the news,” said Allan Feldman, an economics and Middle East studies junior on an exchange semester from Brandeis University.

Feldman’s interest in the Arab world took on an academic fervor when he began studying the region at his home institution. “I decided to take Arabic classes at Brandeis and enjoyed the challenge of the language, which naturally grew into my being more interested in the local Arab culture and people,” he said.

Living Egypt

When he decided he wanted to move to the Middle East to immerse himself in the Arabic language for a semester, he knew he wanted to be at a high-quality institution where he could continue taking diverse courses in his fields of study; this helped him choose AUC. Now, Feldman is not only a student but also a research assistant for Professor Mona Said in the Mohamed Shafik Gabr Department of Economics. 

“The faculty at AUC and the economics department are great. If you look at the research these faculty members have produced, they’ve done really reputable work for organizations like the Economic Research Foundation and other international research institutions. They’re very experienced,” said Feldman. “In my interactions with Dr. Mona Said and Dr. Abeer Elshennawy, my Economic Development course professor, both were super welcoming,” he added.

“You can make a lot of connections here if you put yourself out there. I found that all the professors were very willing and happy to help me out.”

The Brandeis student was also impressed by the networking opportunities on offer at AUC — even the implicit ones. “You can make a lot of connections here if you put yourself out there. I found that all the professors were very willing and happy to help me out,” he said. As a matter of fact, Feldman first connected with Said for his assistantship through the faculty network. 

In his free time, Feldman volunteers with the student group Help Club, packing food boxes for those in need during Ramadan and working with underprivileged children.

Feldman was also a member of AUC’s track and field team last semester, which trained four days a week. In an impressive feat, Feldman placed third in the 3000-m track event at Cairo Governorate regionals and fifth at nationals in the 5000-m event. He also ran a spontaneous 10,000-m event around the Saqqara pyramids with another AUC track and field member.

A Cairene Summer

Since finding his footing at AUC, Feldman has gone on to secure opportunities in Cairo that will extend his stay into the summer. He also wants to continue studying Arabic and move downtown for greater immersion. “I want to meet more locals,” Feldman said.

For this summer, Feldman won a $10,000 grant from Middlebury College’s Davis Projects for Peace program to work with an Egyptian transportation startup. The company, Tink, graduated from the AUC Venture Lab and will create a program this summer addressing female sexual harassment through automobile and mobility workshops located in Cairo, the North Coast and potentially one more governorate for now. 

 “Since coming to AUC, my interest in Arab culture has only grown.”

“Through this program, I hope to gain experience doing community programming in Egypt, working with a startup and meeting as many people as I can,” said Feldman. He also shared his hopes to reach Egyptians across different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Another summer goal for Feldman is to immerse himself in the local cycling community. He recently invested in a bike and began riding with Egyptian teenagers and adults in the Cairo Crit Club, a local club that meets every Friday morning at 5 am. He has also ridden with an expat-based club, the Cairo Cycling Club.

Cairo and Beyond

Alongside his studies, Feldman has gotten to explore Cairo and learn from the locals, feeling welcomed by Egyptian people’s deep family values, relaxed attitude and collaborative ambiance. 

“One thing that shocked me was the pure chaos of the city juxtaposed with people’s extreme kindness. People are not afraid to just interact with you on the block, spontaneously, and I think they do that out of love,” said Feldman, who felt a personal need to talk to as many locals as possible coming into his exchange semester — a goal he feels he has accomplished. 

“I had a few experiences during Ramadan where I was invited to iftar with some Egyptian friends and their families, and that was both enriching and fascinating because I could see really how important this family gathering was. To be part of that has been very special,” he said.

After graduating from Brandeis next year, Feldman envisions himself focusing on the region in his career, be it through economic research or public and private sector work. In the long term, Feldman aspires to familiarize himself with Arabic’s various dialects while continuing to learn Modern Standard Arabic. “Since coming to AUC, my interest in Arab culture has only grown,” he said.

Imagine taking your studies across continents without ever leaving the classroom. That’s what a new AUC partnership seeks to allow for the University’s most tech-inclined. By pairing with the University of Waterloo — Canada’s top-ranked university in computer science and engineering — AUC is promising joint supervision of capstone projects for students, with the possibility of graduate studies at Waterloo and mutual campus visits.

The program began in early 2025, allowing students from both institutions to collaborate on academic and research activities. Computer science senior Hadj Ahmed Chikh Dahmane is the partnership’s first student. He is completing his thesis this semester on cellular networking under joint supervision by Professor Raouf Boutaba from Waterloo and Professor Moustafa Youssef from AUC. 

Chikh Dahmane’s research project involved the development of vChainNet, a first-of-its-kind 5G slice modeling framework. 

“Our system achieved up to ~11% improvements in accuracy compared to state-of-the-art network modeling solutions, while reducing the modeling complexity by 95%,” said Chikh Dahmane. “It provides a tool for network operators and engineers to efficiently choose suitable configurations for their 5G slices, allowing them to make use of their resources and meet the quality of service requirements for their slices.” In simple terms, the tool would allow 5G network operators to explore new services and applications for their networks.

“The partnership is enabling an ecosystem for our faculty that supports and encourages research. We are glad to be affiliated with one of the best, especially in support of undergraduate research.”

With his capstone project a success, Chikh Dahmane explained that the joint supervision allowed for “a rich exchange of ideas, continuous feedback and a broader research perspective.” Chikh Dahmane said his relationship with his Waterloo supervisors was productive, offering both guidance and intellectual freedom.

“My supervision team is providing me with invaluable feedback to improve my scientific writing style and delivery to publish at top research venues,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of this partnership, Youssef said, “This program enables our students to access Waterloo resources, interact with faculty and other students, and visit Waterloo to interact with faculty on site.”

Sherif Aly ’96, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, shared similar sentiments: “Our affiliation with this school is an attestation to our quest for quality education to our students.”

“This collaboration solidified my research interests and gave me the foundational skills and motivation to continue exploring the field in-depth." 

The new initiative is a game-changer for computer scientists and engineers across both institutions. “The partnership is enabling an ecosystem for our faculty that supports and encourages research. It took us many years and hard work to materialize this agreement, and we are glad to be affiliated with one of the best, especially in support of undergraduate research,” said Aly.

After completing his current project, Chikh Dahmane plans to pursue graduate studies with a focus on networking. He credits his Waterloo experience for exposing him to current research gaps and challenges in 5G networks. “This collaboration solidified my research interests and gave me the foundational skills and motivation to continue exploring the field in-depth,” he said.

Down the line, Chikh Dahmane hopes the program will continue to grow in size and subject areas so that more students can benefit from the unique collaboration. “This would make the initiative even more inclusive and impactful,” he said.

Until then, he is glad that his involvement helped lay the groundwork for future AUCians to participate in the partnership. “It was certainly a challenge to take part in something so new, with little precedent to guide us. However, I now feel proud of what I have accomplished,” Chikh Dahmane said.

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.

"Many things combine to show that Midaq Alley is one of the gems of times gone by and that it once shone forth like a flashing star in the history of Cairo. Which Cairo do I mean?" writes Naguib Mahfouz in the opening lines of his 1947 novel named for its setting.

That question -- Which Cairo? -- may be the central consideration for students who take AUC's new class, The World of Mahfouz, a 300-level course offered in the spring and designed by Dina Heshmat, associate professor of Arabic literature in the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations.

Throughout his life, Mahfouz penned 36 novels, 25 screenplays and 15 short story collections, along with several short fictions based on his dreams, according to AUC Press. The World of Mahfouz syllabus includes the novels Midaq Alley, Palace Walk and The Thief and the Dogs, but it likely won AUC's Core Curriculum Course Competition in Fall 2022 for its multidisciplinary approach.

In addition to reading source materials, students in the course also watch Hassan Al-Imam's film adaptation of Midaq Alley and the TV series Bayn al-Qasrayn as well as hear guest lectures from history and film studies scholars.

"I have quite a long relationship with his literary universe," said Heshmat, who analyzed Midaq Alley for her PhD and has previously taught a freshman-level course on the author called Reading Mahfouz. "It was interesting to put together a course about him because he is so important in Egyptian and Arabic literature, and many of his works have been living on in Egyptian and Arabic culture through film."

Through various media, the course explores the author's vast array of work in terms of its influence on film, TV and literature, but also on Cairo itself -- the way that Mahfouz was able to depict the physical, social, political and economic dynamics of the city and its people. That opens up opportunities for AUC students to have wide-reaching discussions about society.

Weaving Past and Present

Though Midaq Alley revolves around the residents of a single street in Cairo in the 1940s, the students making their way through the novel's English translation by Humphrey Davies during the spring semester were keenly aware of its broader relevance.

"We were talking about the syntax and writing style of Mahfouz, how he created symbols for the characters and how these characters have an origin in our society," said economics sophomore Sohayla Eid. "Not society back then only -- you'll find these characters here in modern life."

To discuss "the world of Naguib Mahfouz" is to consider the interplay of multiple worlds: the old and new, rich and poor, East and West, religious and secular, cultural and institutional, home and alleyway, the city and the world.

Midaq Alley is full of characters who struggle with the friction between their personal desires and ambitions and the binds of societal norms. A well- respected dentist turns to thievery in order to provide his services at a low cost, a young woman who dreams of being rich and liberated becomes a prostitute, a young man who has no desire to leave the alley does so in order to impress the woman he loves.

Given the dichotomies Mahfouz's characters struggle with, it's easy to see why author Elif Shafak implied that Mahfouz himself was "a writer torn." Despite the black-and-white nature of moral codes, "Mahfouz's Cairo was a fluid world," wrote Shafak. Though the characters are symbolic, they aren't fixed.

In other words, as the students studying the novel noted, they're real.

"We were talking in class about how universal and realistic his characters were," said Miriam Elsebai, a political science sophomore. "They were neither super evil nor super good. There are always these contradictions that represent reality. It's a clear mirror reflection of society nowadays."

Midaq Alley, a book written more than 50 years ago, has prompted students to consider modern contradictions. If Mahfouz were alive today, the 20-year- old speculated that he might write about the duality presented by social media and its effects on young people.

"Midaq Alley is not depicting a society that ended; it's depicting an everlasting struggle," said Elsebai. "There's always conflict between people's moral goals and social laws. No matter how 'woke' we are or how much we evolve, one way or another, these struggles will be there."

The students also drew comparisons between the novel and their own experiences living in the midst of international warfare. Eid pointed out that one of the characters in the book, a businessman, makes money off of the conflict. "I was connecting it to what is happening now, like for example in Egypt, many challenges facing society are a direct result of the Russia-Ukraine war -- how the behavior of people is the same and how people are taking advantage of the war and political situation we're going through," she said. "So whenever I read Mahfouz, I definitely think of politics."

The Power of the Pen

Plenty of people think of politics when they think of Mahfouz.

His 1959 novel Children of Gebelawi, or Children of the Alley, which Mahfouz said was inspired by the 1952 Revolution, had to be published abroad because its content was deemed controversial. In 1994, the author was stabbed in the neck by someone believed to be angry about the book's depiction of Islam (though it's been reported that the assailant hadn't read the book).

Mahfouz described himself as becoming the victim of a clash not unlike one he might have written as allegory. "I simply got caught in the middle, in the battle between the system and the Islamists," he said -- another complex struggle with the author at its center.

"Students are often genuinely surprised by how daring he can be in his works, how relevant some of the works are to today's society."

 

As such, the World of Mahfouz course also touches on the author's life and political involvement. It would be impossible, if not irresponsible, not to.

"His well-known Children of the Alley is an opportunity to open discussions in class about censorship," Heshmat said. "Students are often genuinely surprised by how daring he can be in his works, how relevant some of the works are to today's society and how close they sometimes are -- obviously not systemically -- but how close the ideas, the emotions can be to a more contemporary context."

After watching a documentary about Mahfouz's life, the students in the course did note his ability to subtly weave his opinions about politics and society into texts. "He was so politically smart," said Elsebai, adding that while she doesn't expect everyone outside the classroom to be well-versed in Mahfouz, she does try to use what she's learned from him out in the real world.

"Talking about it in class won't be useful unless we actually use what we learn in our daily lives," she said. "It's like we're integrating these lessons within our social discourse, making conversations about them strong and powerful."

So Mahfouz's impact lives on. The Egyptian author's work becomes another tool in the student arsenal -- a way for them to better understand and engage with the complexity of the world around them -- as all good literature should.

"To those who disagree with my views," the author wrote in the dedication for Children of Gebelawi, "I dedicate lines I have written for a society that can only be made better through culture."

By Abigail Flynn

While planting trees at a public school in New Cairo last spring, mechanical engineering sophomore Hassan El Hassan met a seventh-grade girl from the school who blew his mind.

"She already knew coding languages that university sophomores and juniors haven't touched," he said. "My mindset about public school students immediately changed -- I was inspired to help them succeed."

El Hassan met this student and other "hidden gems," as he calls them, as part of a new, multidisciplinary outreach initiative from AUC's Middle East Institute for Higher Education (MEIHE) aimed at creating school-university partnerships that promote community engagement, empower public school students and foster sustainable development.

After intensive preparation which included workshops, meetings and coaching, AUC students began volunteering at the schools in a variety of ways, starting with eco-friendly projects like making crafts from recycled materials, conducting theater workshops under the theme "sustainability" and planting gardens.

"Instead of just explaining the importance of sustainability, we wanted to practice it in real time," said Malak Zaalouk '71, '76, professor of practice and MEIHE director. "Having the students plant fruit trees and vegetables on their school campuses gives them a sense of belonging and lasting impact on their community."

Filling the Gaps

Public schools in Egypt face a number of challenges, from overcrowding in classrooms to a lack of amenities and deficit of teachers. These partnerships seek to address these issues. By organizing school-based enrichment activities in subjects like digital literacy and English, for example, MEIHE supports informal, student-led learning activities -- freeing up valuable time for teachers to focus on lesson planning and delivery.

"We want to use our resources at AUC to empower these students, helping them see that they have a role to play in the success of their schools and communities," Zaalouk said. "This is how public schools become more effective."

Despite issues with staffing and amenities, students at Egyptian schools continue to strive for excellence. Haggar El Khatib, a biology senior, recalled her experience volunteering. "Engaging with public school students has opened my eyes to the daily challenges they face," she said. "They have ideas and talent, but lack a proper channel for them. This program is that channel."

"Instead of just explaining the importance of sustainability, we wanted to practice it in real time."

El Khatib believes that as the initiative grows and strengthens, the students benefiting from it today will return to their schools as university students in the future to conduct similar activities -- creating a chain of giving.

Shifting Culture

While spring planting and summer workshops served as short and intermediary phases of the program, MEIHE also introduced formal fully fledged community-based learning courses this fall for AUC students as part of the school-university partnerships.

These courses cover citizenship education, sustainable development and digital literacy through neighborhood engagement programs. "By actively participating in their communities, AUC students develop a heightened sense of social responsibility and contribute to the betterment of education in Egypt as a whole," Zaalouk said.

In this, MEIHE hopes to establish a lasting and supportive relationship between AUC and the New Cairo Educational Directorate through a renewed agreement with the Ministry of Education. The practice of school-university partnerships was established through past agreements with the ministry, largely supporting teacher agency. This time around, the focus is on student agency.

As the initiative paves more avenues of support for students, teachers and education in Egypt, El Hassan is sure that the hidden gems at these schools will begin to shine as bright as the gifted young coder he met last spring. "The future of Egypt is in good hands -- if we support people like her," he said.

By Elizabeth Lepro

For a few months in 2018, I lived in an apartment in downtown Cairo near the French Institute, in a room I had chosen primarily because it featured two French doors that opened up to a balcony. From up there, I could watch Cairo go by. Young men balanced bread trays on their heads as they pedaled past on bikes, men stretched their legs as they smoked in foldout chairs, women walked arm in arm, and the pigeon keeper on an adjacent roof tended to his flock.

When I was home, the doors were open. That meant, even while lying in bed, I could also hear Cairo go by -- the scrap merchant repeating robabekya to market his wares; the muezzin's adhan, or call to prayer; the steady hum of chatter and laughter and the occasional hi-hat of an argument; the trills and coos of murmuring pigeons and the honking. Always the honking.

For many Cairenes, these noises are so commonplace as to be unnoticeable. But for those of us who have left the city or moved to its outskirts, hearing its soundscape can bring on a visceral wave of nostalgia. Which is to say: If you don't notice the sounds of the place you currently call home, you may come to appreciate them -- even miss them -- with some distance.

That recognition is what graphic design alum Nehal Ezz '21 and her best friend and project partner Youssef Sherif have delivered with Sounds of Cairo, a collection of the city's most recognizable sounds, which includes bites of all the aforementioned noises and more. The pair's goal is for the recordings to one day make up an online database of sounds, some of which may otherwise be lost to time and development.

"I realized, 'OK, what about the sounds in Cairo?' because they're sort of musical sometimes."

Ezz, who is originally from Cairo but now lives in Saudi Arabia with her family, got the idea for the project while making a video for a World Music class at AUC.

"I realized, 'OK, what about the sounds in Cairo?' because they're sort of musical sometimes," she said. For the project, Ezz recorded some audio herself, but when she went looking for cleaner, high-quality sound bites on the most popular online sound libraries, "I couldn't find anything for Egypt. Even on YouTube, I couldn't find sounds available for me to use. So with the guidance of my thesis adviser, [Associate Professor] Haytham Nawar, I decided to create a database where the sounds can be preserved and archived."

Right now, the project exists on a website, a YouTube channel and an Instagram account. A more formal, searchable archive is still in the works. To capture a representative sample of sounds, Ezz and Sherif broke the audio into categories: economic, social, religious, wildlife and transportation. Robabekya would fit into the economic category, while chatter and laughter would be slotted into social.

Ezz and Sherif distributed a survey to collect input on which sounds should be recorded, but Ezz also went looking for more particular audio to capture -- sounds she associated with the Cairo of her childhood, like the whistle of a cotton candy vendor, the milk seller banging on bottles and the sound of the makwagi, a person who irons clothes using their feet. These were more difficult to track down.

It doesn't mean those sounds no longer exist, but they may be more rare, especially for those who can afford to move out of more populated areas and into houses or apartments on the city's developing outskirts. A pre-coronavirus pandemic report showed that Egypt was the world's fastest-growing real estate market, thanks largely to a dramatic upsurge in housing development in Cairo's satellite cities.

"The newer places, they're very, very quiet -- the compounds and the closed areas," Ezz said. That was doubly true during Egypt's pandemic lockdown, when the recording process unveiled the stark difference between how neighborhoods beyond downtown Cairo were able to pull back from public life compared to places where commerce and culture happen in the streets.

"When I compared the sounds that I got before and those I got after, I felt like it only affected certain areas of Cairo," Ezz said. "Downtown people went on with their lives as soon as they could be outside again."

Sounds of Culture

Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer is credited with coining the word "soundscape" in the 1970s. The term "acoustic ecology" was born when Schafer, like Ezz, noticed that as society changed, so too did our acoustics.

"The sounds of the environment were changing rapidly, and it seemed that no one was documenting the changes," Schafer wrote in his memoir. Schafer would go on to create the World Soundscape Project -- an admirable initiative that, despite its encompassing name, was focused largely on Canada and Europe.

The concept caught on, and soundscape projects facilitated by more accessible technology have since blossomed worldwide. AUC faculty lecturer, guitarist and composer Pawel Kuzma, who was Ezz's professor for the World Music class that inspired her project, pointed out that soundscapes are popular among electronic music artists around the world.

"Soundscapes have various uses -- as textures in music genres like noise, avant-garde, ambient, really anything that includes recordings, but also music therapy, city planning, environmental studies, meditation and -- as with Nehal's project -- preserving cultural elements," Kuzma said.

Still, finding formalized soundscape projects like these is a bit more difficult in Egypt. That doesn't mean soundscape projects don't exist in Cairo, but like sounds from your childhood you want to preserve, you may have to go looking for them.

A City in Tune

When you begin researching soundscapes, you find that the city is an instrument. People handle it differently; they use it to make their own music and come to their own conclusions.

The act of recording forced Ezz to pay more attention to individual sounds within the cacophony as she was walking around downtown Cairo. Under the overwhelming noise of traffic, she heard the street vendors selling specific items. "I started appreciating the sound a little bit more, how it contributes to the whole soundscape," she said.

Sometimes Ezz recorded surreptitiously, while other times she explained the project to her subject. Outside of an academic setting, not everyone understood the mission. "They were like, 'It's just going to sound like Cairo,'" Ezz said. She explained that it's possible Cairo might not sound the same in the future. Some people understood. Others replied, "'No, it's always sounded like that; it's always going to sound like that.'"