What a long strange trip its been
While I am sure that the late great Jerry Garcia did not have the Middle East in mind when he penned the classic Dead song, I can think of none more appropriate than that to sum up my experience in this wonderfully amazing, confusing, scary, loving, poor, wealthy, beautiful, war torn, foreign land.
When 26 random students from NU boarded a Luftanza flight for Cairo, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into, including myself.
After 24 hours of flying we could barely make heads or tails of what was going on that first day. But before we knew it there they were, just as I had seen in so many books and movies my entire life, the great pyramids of egypt.
We mounted our camels and headed up towards one of the great wonders of the world. For some reason I had no idea camels are exceptionally tall, so I spent the better half of the first twenty minutes just hoping I didn’t fall off. As the winds picked up while we inched closer and closer I assumed this was the natural weather of the desert. It was not. Who could imagine that the day a person finally sees the pyramids for the first time it will be in the middle of a sandstorm! That’s just how this trip was meant to be I suppose.
Now I suddenly find myself sitting on my couch, in my living room, with my dog, eating ramen and drinking milk (not together, that is just disgusting, but they are two foods that I missed the most).
I realize that when I left this very house some six weeks ago I felt seasoned, rounded, worldly and knowledgeable. I have returned knowing that I was naive, sheltered and had more than a lot to learn.
Looking into the eyes of the small children during my visit to Ain El Sira has fundamentally changed me to the core. When a thirteen-year-old girl, whose ten-year-old brother works twelve hour days for a dollar, tells you that she wants to do something great with her life, that she wants to be a doctor, you cannot help but change. To live in such immense poverty and still have hopes and dreams of a better future for yourself and those around you, truly captures the human spirit that lies within all of us.
While the story that I wrote about micro-finance with my colleague Kristina was wonderfully published on our main blog I do not intend to stop there. The program is so powerful and influential, when run properly, that I cannot simply turn my back to it now that I have returned to my cushy surroundings. So I use this blog as a forum to try and begin a local drive to raise money for the Alashanek lending group in Cairo. Here a just a few images that may encourage others like myself to want to help these wonderful people.
A convenient store and some local children
The amazing beautiful children of the neighborhood
To say she can steal your heart with one look would be a gross understatement
I will be putting more together for anyone that would like to contribute to this great cause in the near future.
Leaving Egypt was a sad and thrilling experience. After spending three weeks on the island of Zamalek it had begun to feel like home. The wonderful people at the Flamenco who always made us feel welcome, to the cute little old man at the falafel shop around the corner who lit up like a christmas tree when I would return to his store, were hard to say goodbye to. Not to mention the one and only Abdu. From finding lost members of our group, to organizing soccer matches, Abdu truly is the James Bond of Egypt, anything you could possibly need or want he can make happen. I miss you terribly Abdu.
Now, Syria. I had no idea what to expect when I stepped off of the plane. As we were ushered into the VIP waiting room I knew that this would be a very special experience. As we met with different ministry officials it became clear that we were not somply being treated well because of that little blue passport, it seemed as though we were the first link in a long awaited Syrian /American relations change. As times we felt like pawns in a political game, but if being used grants me access to high ranking cabinet members… use away! I am a journalist and contacts are vastly important in having a successful career. Now granted, when the anti-Israeli tirades were underway I found myself uncomfortable at times, but that was mostly due to my own ignorance about the history of the two countries.
Visiting the Golan Heights was an emotionally draining experience because of the massive destruction that remains to this day. Bombed out hospitals and churches, barbed wire fences, and the UN are all that remain and that is a truly sad sight.
After an action-packed visit we were boarding yet another plane and heading to Qatar. I had heard that this was a city like none other in terms of wealth and construction, everything I heard was true.
It seemed as if no one actually lives in Doha, it is all office buildings and hotels. I expected a very Western feel, but the only Western aspect was the skyscrapers. The city of Doha is extremely conservative and unlike the other countries we visited, no one was walking the streets. It is hard to grasp a culture that you have no submersion into. Everyone has a car and drives from one place to another, with little interaction.
Doha at night
Then came the reason we were here, Al Jazeera. The main entrance serves as a museum to the history of the station and those who helped build it. The vest of a journalist killed by US missiles is encased in glass, as is his bullet proof vest and helmet. As we continued the tour of the studios one cannot help but feel as though this is where a foreign correspondent belongs. This network has informed so many people of the events affecting their lives in a way that no one before them had been able to do. I admire their work and look forward to their US birth on July 1.
And as I finish this last post, from my couch, I want to thank everyone involved in making this trip possible. I also want to thank my colleagues who endured traumatic times, unbearable stress, and unstoppable laughter, along this journey of self-discovery with me.
Al Jazeera
Arriving at the Al Jazeera compound was a stark contrast to the television stations I have been to in the States. The stations property seems to cover acres of land and is highly guarded and surrounded by fencing. 
The entryway of the AJE (Al Jazeera English) network serves as a museum to former employees and professes the journalistic beliefs on which the station was founded.
The mission and vision statements glow underneath the tables in the room. Their motto:
“the opinion and the other opinion”
The vest worn by Tariq Ayoub, an al-Jazeera cameraman in Baghdad, when he was killed when a US missile struck the Qatar-based TV station’s office in Baghdad on April 8, 2003.
Ihtisham Hibatullah , senior planner of communications and corporate relations, provided a thorough background on the station before escorting the group of American students upstairs to the boardroom.
Hibatullah was joined by Richard Lewis, program director for the network and Satnam Matharu the head of international and media relations.
Lewis told the group that AJ provides the majority of the news regarding the Middle East to the rest of the world. He said, “They give a voice to those that have long been without.”
With AJ’s conception in 1996 they have been able to gain a leg up in the region over all other news networks. For instance, they are the only international presence in the Gaza region.
“We have earned our stripes,” said Lewis, “AJ provides an alternative service that all people should be aware of.”
The network will be taking a massive leap forward in Western relations with the launch of it’s first 24 hour a day network in the U.S. The station will air in Washington, D.C. on July 1. 20 other cities throughout the country will also carry the network on smaller scales.
Matharu explained that while AJ would enjoy a larger presence in the American market, cable companies have extreme control over the programming that is aired. Programs are tested for commercial profitability and then picked up, or passed on.
Matharu went on to explain that AJ was loved by U.S. administrations from 1996-2001. “We were seen as taking the tape off of peoples mouthes and the Arab people finally had a voice.”
Unfortunately this quickly led to the Bush administration and their subsequent dealings with the network. “We continued to show both sides. We showed the missiles going up, but we also showed them coming down,” said Lewis. He went to discuss the images that were being shown on U.S. stations and how they compared to those of an old video game.
Matharu told the students that when they received the first Bin Laden tape, following Sept.11, it was a 45 min which they cut down to 2 min. “In this region Bin Laden tapes were news.”
Donald Rumsfeld accused AJ of supporting and promoting terrorist propaganda, a label that the network is still trying to peel off today.
“It has been a very difficult perception to change,” said Matharu.
The AJ network is founded on the belief that all stories need balance for truth, opinion, and safety. “Most right minded people accept balance and arguments to any story,” said Lewis.
AJ currently has the highest credibility rating in the Arab world, according to the latest Nielsen ratings.
Lewis feels that AJ prides itself on being a journalism of depth. A recent Pew study found that there has been a decline in the quality of news coming from the West due to commercialization. “We don’t want that,”said Lewis, “Fox News is like Jerry Springer meets journalism.”
When news is decontextualized it means nothing, AJ feels it is providing that context to all of its stories. AJ has 69 bureaus across the globe. “Our reporters are bold. They live and breathe the culture. They report with a level of authenticity that parachute journalists cannot,” said Lewis.
“Journalism is more important than medicine in some ways,” said
Matharu believes that reporters can change the course of history by covering world events. After journalists started to bring home photographs to America from the Vietnam war, the people’s perception of that war was forever altered.
“The world is in a big mess, so we can change that. Journalism is more important than medicine in some ways,” said Matharu.
Ode to babybel
While Shwarma (a.k.a. mayonnaise and pickle with shaved chicked) sandwiches and falafel can be delicious and filling the first ten times you have them, student journalists constantly on-the-go often need some quick food savior at their disposal…
BABYBEL TO THE RESCUE!!!!!! Although they may look small and unsatisfying, paired with some complimentary pita bread from that mornings breakfast those little waxed covered wheels of cheese can allow even the most famished student to survive hours in a bus with a tour guide that enjoys talking more than Regis Philbin. Thank you babybel…and thank you Osama!
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