Eman Khader is the Arabic Language Teacher’s Assistant at Middlebury College. Just 21 years old, she graduated last year from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Alexandria. This past Wednesday, February 23rd, Eman and four students, recently evacuated from Alexandria, spoke at Middlebury as part of a panel put together by the Middle East Action Club at the college. In a brief and remarkably moving speech, Eman describes what it was like growing up under President Hosni Mubarak, paying particular attention to the close government regulation of her education. Her account explains why this popular uprising is such an incredible testament to the courage and resilience of a people. She talks about the years of neglect for the country’s intellectual resources and laments all the great minds that have been stifled and gone to waste under the fist of the regime. Listen to what it means to an Egyptian woman to watch her nation awaken from a coma of fear and corruption, a previously unimaginable development to Egyptians like Eman.
Written by Otis Pitney a student at Middlebury College who was studying at the C.V. Starr Middlebury School Abroad in Alexandria.
