Five VCU students gain cultural and economic understanding of Egypt

By Tom Gresham

One afternoon this summer, a group of Virginia Commonwealth University students ate koshari, a traditional Egyptian dish, at Al-Azhar Park in historic Cairo and engaged in an intimate cultural exchange with a collection of Egyptian college students.

Atop a hill that afforded striking panoramic views of Cairo, the students traded questions and stories about their lives and countries, learning about each other and about the different worlds that they inhabited. In a matter of hours, they crossed the natural divide that existed between them and found common points of view and tracts of interest. And, more simply, they enjoyed each other.

That sojourn to the park was one in a series of memorable experiences for five VCU students during their three weeks in Egypt. The trip, which was funded with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, allowed the students to live and study in Cairo, free of charge, improving their cultural and economic understanding of a bellwether country in the Middle East.

The trip attracted 60 applications. The five selected to go represented a diversity of backgrounds and career aspirations, linked by a presiding interest in the opportunities and effects of globalization.

Students chosen for the trip were Donovan Astwood, a senior majoring in homeland security and emergency preparedness with a minor in Islamic studies; Elisabeth Chop, a junior majoring in international studies (concentration in international relations) with a minor in art history; Sanjay Iyer, a senior majoring in homeland security and emergency preparedness and international social justice; Erica Lamberta, a senior majoring in marketing; and Garima Prasai, a senior majoring in accounting and finance with a minor in economics. 

Van Wood, Ph.D., professor and Philip Morris Chair in International Business, and Patricia Cummins, Ph.D., professor of world studies, organized the trip. The grant was the result of collaboration between the School of Business and the School of World Studies designed to expose students to an influential culture and to help them prepare for careers in a globalized workplace.

Wood said the trip turned out as he hoped it would, “I think it proved to be a profound experience for them.”

Students were hosted at Helwan University in Cairo. They received instruction at Helwan in Middle East History and Arabic and used the university as a base for their daily ventures into the city to cultural and business sites.

Students visited many of the customary tourist stops in the area, such as mosques, monasteries, museums, pyramids and the Great Sphinx. They took a weekend trip to Alexandria and swam in the Mediterranean. Chop said those visits exceeded her high expectations. “I loved the history there,” said Chop, who called riding a camel at the pyramids an “almost overwhelming experience for me.”

The VCU traveling party also visited a number of businesses and other organizations operating in the Cairo area, such as Procter & Gamble, the Social Fund for Development and Oriental Weavers. The mixture of cultural outings and business visits was intended to help the students gain a clear understanding of both sides of Egypt -- how they are separate and how they overlap. 

“We had such a broad base of people there,” Astwood said. “We got to see a lot of different things. I liked that the trip was not tailored to just one background.”

One unexpected foray off the beaten path that proved poignant for the students was a trip to a section of Christian slums. Lamberta said the living conditions, which included majestic trash heaps and decaying high-rises, left her astonished, even as the students were greeted by residents conspicuously pleased to see them. “Those images will never leave my mind,” she said.

From the outset, the relationship between the VCU students and the local residents was strong.
   
“I’ve never met such nice people in my life,” Chop said. “We were welcomed on the street and treated great. They were amazing.”

Lamberta said she routinely was greeted by curious people around Cairo. Many, she said, seemed to have learned the bulk of what they knew about American culture from movies and television shows – “Friends” was especially popular. Some were interested in her light hair, even wanting to touch it.

Just as the Egyptians were surprised by some of what they learned about the United States from the VCU students, a great deal surprised and intrigued the visiting Americans.

“I wasn’t expecting quite the culture shock that I experienced,” Chop said. “It’s very different experiencing a culture firsthand than reading about it in a book.”

Lamberta said she was occasionally taken aback by the “way some Western ideas have merged with Eastern ideas there.” For instance, she befriended Egyptian women wearing similar clothes to her own – jeans, T-shirts – who nonetheless had starkly different lifestyles.

By coincidence, the VCU students happened to be in Cairo for a momentous meeting of their home country and their host one: the visit of President Barack Obama to Egypt, where he delivered a highly anticipated and closely watched speech on the relationship between the United States and the Middle East. VCU students said Cairo appeared to be in complete shut-down mode for Obama’s visit, stores were shuttered and employees were given the day off from work. Security was tight, especially in parts of the city the president visited.

“People were glued to their TVs all day,” Astwood said. 

Obama’s speech opened a new vein of discussion between the VCU students and Cairo’s residents – Astwood said it appeared to be received with optimism. Astwood noted the education he gained, especially in his study of Arabic, simply from sitting in cafes, eating Egyptian food and swapping stories and ideas with his hosts for three weeks.

“You learn a lot sitting in a classroom but you learn more when you experience it,” Astwood said. “It sticks with you better.”

VCU has funding for this program for one more year and applications will be sought from students interested in a similar trip in the late spring/early summer of 2010. Students should visit http://www.ciba.vcu.edu, the Web site for VCU's Center for International Business Advancement, and follow the "Scholarships and Grants" link to "The 2010 BIE Grant - Student Study in Cairo, Egypt."