by Alissa Skelton
The Crete News

A Fulbright Scholar from Egypt hopes to discredit common misconceptions about the Islam and Arab world as she finishes up her teaching grant at Doane.

Magda El Mahalawy teaches standard Egyptian Arabic and Islamic studies at Doane to eight students. El Mahalawy and her three children moved from Cairo to Crete last fall. Jan Willems, director of International Programs at Doane, is a close friend with El Mahalawy and her family and helped El Mahalawy apply for the job.  

“It is so good for students to gain a prospective that isn’t very accessible on this side of the world from such an incredible woman,” Willems said.

El Mahalawy goes the extra mile for her students. She tutors one-on-one and tries to immerse the students in her culture. On Sunday, she prepared a traditional Egyptian meal for students at her home. Classes are conversational to make sure each student participates. Professor Tim Hill, political science professor and a student of El Mahalawy, passes out candy before the start of class and always has a sense of wit. He jumped at the chance to learn Arabic after experiencing an intriguing Islam class in college.

El Mahalawy is no rookie to teaching in a foreign language. In Egypt, she has taught Arabic at the American University for 10 years. She has a master’s in teaching Arabic and a bachelor’s in journalism.

El Mahalawy’s husband, Mohamed El Ghannam, visited Crete in 2007 as a Fulbright Visiting Specialists in the program called “Direct Access to the Muslim World.” Since, El Ghannam has been working for the United Nations to create a new constitution for Iraq.

The family constantly worries about El Ghannam for putting his life at risk. El Ghannam stays in the green zones, but even doing so, his sleeping area has been hit with rockets three times. El Mahalawy knows little about her husband’s job due to its confidentiality and she’d rather not know.

“I try not to think about the danger he is putting himself in and focus on my responsibilities,” El Mahalawy said.

El Ghannam may risk his life, but makes sure his family is safe. After visiting Crete, El Ghannam thought Crete would be an ideal place for his family to live and learn about America. Crete’s strong family values and welcoming atmosphere stood out to him.

The family is no different than Nebraskans. The children like to play PlayStation and Wii, enjoy the outdoors and love Nebraska football. Their 3-year-old daughter, Ashraqat’s favorite TV show is Dora the Explorer and she loves Winnie the Pooh. On the weekends, the family goes bowling and the two sons play sports.

For five years El Mahalawy has been raising the three children on her own, while her husband has been between Iraq and Yemen. Crete is a great place for her children to learn about how real Americans live.

Abdel Rahman, 14, is the family protector. Being the oldest, he has a sense of obligation to look after his two siblings. He aspires to impact the world as his father does. Abdel Rahman wants to attend the University of Cairo to major in mechanical engineering.

“I love complicated things I want to make something that would help solve a world crisis,” Abdel Rahman said.

He’s a freshman at Crete High School, plays football and is a talented artist. If you look around their apartment you will find a lamp, and a husker DVD shelf that Abdel Rahman made in his shop class.

Ashraqat goes by the nickname Eshesh (pronounced Ish-Ish). She often challenges authority and likes to do things her own way. Eshesh comes off shy at first until she warms up to new people. She knows how to speak English and Arabic fluently. While traveling to the United States she refused to speak English to the flight attendant when she wanted a glass of water. Now she refuses to speak Arabic.

She has a glowing personality. She likes attending Blue River pre-school but misses Egypt, her nanny and dad. She has two teddy bears that she named daddy to cuddle with at night when she misses her dad.

Youssef, 11, is the energy of the family. He is always active and playing sports. All of the Nebraska snow is driving Youssef to have cabin fever from not being able to play catch with his brother in the front yard. Finding things to do in the house has been hard so he resorts to doing back flips on his mother’s bed. His mother knows he rough houses so she remembered to bring seven pairs of Youssef’s glasses from Egypt.

Egypt does not have football so the boys love any chance they get to play the sport. Youssef volunteered to be the water boy for the Crete football team last fall, while Abdel Rahman played on the team.

Abdel Rahman and Youssef had troubles getting used to the Crete school curriculum since it differs from Cairo. Making friends was also hard since students don’t understand the family’s culture.

In January, El Mahalawy educated Crete Middle School about Egyptian and Arab lifestyle and customs to help the students get acquainted with their background. Youssef wanted the students to know that Egyptians do not dress as pharaohs, live in pyramids or ride camels. As he put it, “camels are for tourists not natives.”

Abdel Rahman realized many high school students understand little about Islamic culture and are not eager to find out.

“Arabs have a bad wrap for being terrorists,” El Mahalawy said. “I want Crete to see that not all Arabs are like terrorists.”

Crete residents often think El Mahalawy is Mexican probably because of the large Hispanic population in Crete. Once residents realize she does not know Spanish, El Mahalawy speaks of her Egyptian heritage.

Despite his disconnect with students, Abdel Rahman is enjoying the peace and quiet Crete has to offer. Like the rest of the family, he misses Egypt too. Specifically the fish filets and seafood.

Life without a housekeeper or nanny forced the children to be independent. Abdel Rahman and Youssef wash dishes and help around the three-bedroom apartment on campus.

“We don’t live a hard life in Egypt like they do here,” El Mahalawy said. “The kids miss our nanny and big house.”

El Mahalawy misses sitting in her garden at home and having a big kitchen to cook tradition Egyptian food. The snow and frigid cold have been shocking to the family who is used to warm weather.

“I don’t want to see the color white when I get back to Egypt,” El Mahalawy said.

But putting up with snow is worth it to El Mahalawy because she is making an impact on students and her children are being exposed to “The Good Life.”

Meghan Kurtz, a senior English major at Doane, said El Mahalawy is an inspiration to her because El Mahalawy is strong and intelligent. Kurtz knows what it is like to have people make assumptions about her religion. Kurtz is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints.

“People don’t understand Muslim culture, people only understand the way extremist acted on 9/11,” Kurtz said. “It’s extremely unfair to all the Muslims because all Muslims aren’t extremists.”

In honor of El Mahalawy, Kurtz’s New Year resolution was to focus her prayer time as Muslims do with the Pillars of Islam. Kurtz, a Christian, now prays five times a day as Muslims do. The practice has improved her lifestyle.

“I am I so grateful that Magda was willing to come and share her culture with us,” Kurtz said.

It is students like Kurtz that make El Mahalawy’s time worthwhile. All of her students are eager and mindful. When she leaves Crete she plans to take a piece of it back to Cairo. She hopes Crete will be left with a piece of her knowledge and wisdom and keep an understanding of the Middle East.