Egyptians in London

The UK is a very different place than Egypt. Cold, rainy, gloomy are contrasted to warmth, humid, and sunny when comparing the two countries. Considering how drastically divergent these two climates are from one another, its natural for an Egyptian to get nostalgic about home every now and then. Especially since Egypt's been in the news headlines for the past month or so, one can really feel home sick nowadays. An occasional walk down Edgware Road with the various Arab cafes and restaurants can alleviate this longing for Egypt every now and then, but its not just the same as being back home.

More than ever I have a yearning to return. It almost feels as if exile sometimes. Just as I hear snippets from family of friends back home about the vibrant nationalist scene and how everyone is out in the streets to serve Egypt, I feel like I'm missing out on all the action. The least I could do to reconnect with my motherland was to reach out to my compatriots here in London. Sherif, a good friend I met during the demonstrations in front of the Egyptian embassy, suggested that we initiate a University of London Egyptian Student Association.

We wanted to rally the support of students in the city to aid Egypt in whatever way we can. What was the one thing that would bring Egyptians together, we thought. It had to be something related to their national identity. When we thought long and hard about it, we realized that that "thing" that would be our magnificent history. With the British Museum (BM) right around the corner from where I lived and where Sherif does his research, we decided to gather as many Egyptian students from the University of London as we could. I contacted all of my Egyptian acquaintance, those from school, from the demonstrations, from random encounters, etc... I even broadcasted the message on various Egyptian student facebook pages. To my surprise, we had a decent turnout of about eight people on Saturday.

We met on the steps of the BM's main entrance and proceeded to the Egyptian section of the museum, by far the main attraction. Since it was the weekend, the museum was packed with tourists, but we seemed to be the only Egyptians there to relish our own history. As we entered, the Rosetta Stone stood upright with all its splendor. It was a bittersweet feeling seeing my history showcased in all its might in the BM. On the one hand, I despised the notion that these beautiful artifacts were looted, but on the other hand, I was honoured to see them represent my great nation to the many visitors that flooded the BM daily.

Sherif is an encyclopedia of Egyptian history. I have never seen an Egyptian so familiar with every aspect of his history. He gave us an excellent tour of the Egyptian section, explaining every detail on each of the pieces. Unlike most Egyptians, he had travelled extensively around Egypt to connect with his roots. He was also a prolific reader of Egyptology and knew how to decifer and prounounce certain words from the hieroglyphics on many of sculptures we looked at. My favorite part of this tour was the fact that Sherif would always show how relevant everything was to our daily lives in Egypt. We have inherited more heritage and culture from our ancient ancesstors than one could possibly imagine.

After the tour, we all dined at Hare and Tortoise in Brunswick Square. It was great being amongst Egyptians, sharing the latest news from the post-revolution period, and planning how we could play our share in the future of the revolution.

Today, I also had the opportunity to attend a fundraising dinner under the theme: Aid Egypt. The idea behind the event would be to gather as Egyptians in London, pay £25 for dinner (proceeds of which would fund medical supplies for those in need back home), listen to eye witness accounts of British Egyptians who were in Tahrir Square as it happened. It was quite inspirational seeing so many Egyptians show up to the event. I have never seen Egyptians so active and dedicated to make their country a better place. I really pray this optimism, commitment, and passion for Egypt is everlasting.

That's all for now. I agreed with some of my new friends that we'd meet next weekend to brainstorm some ideas of how we could lend a supporting hand to Egypt in the coming few months, so more on that later.