since I am joining the Edgeryders community it is time to introduce myself proper. Born and raised in Cairo, i attended the German School (DEO). This school is special in that it provides a completely germanised experience from childhood; sort of shaped me to be a hybrid between german culture and my own. I attended the American University in Cairo (AUC) after, studying the unlikely combination of Economics and Rhetoric & Composition. The first proper proper Egyptian institution to hold me was my obligatory military service after (Hello there @Hazem); I started serving during the rather turbulent time of Summer 2013.
The Egyptian revolution was during my second year at studies. A pivot; the way it was for everybody! I saw hope, I saw activism. During that time my university witnessed turbulence between workers strikes and student uprisings. The latter is strange for a posh international institution, yet I saw in it a student body taking ownership of its host institution in a way unparalleled within the wider Egyptian Higher Education landscape. The AUC administration might be a tough, but AUC has proven freer and more malleable than any Egyptian public university and most private ones.
Personally, I engaged myself as a student representative fighting towards lower tuition; a don quixote quest in an american higher-ed. The activism paid off: During a student strike in September 2012 that shut off the university, a proposal I had co-authored created resulted in a student-adminstration agreement, eventually lowering tuition fees and re-opneing the university.
Change can be large, uni comes to mind, or small. I cycle everyday in Cairo. Either way, change needs a drive and a feeling of ownership. I recently ran into the Edgeryders platform and got intrigued by its approach to work. Currently I am candidate for a Masters programme come September in Urban Science & informatics. Until then, I will be working on a personal research project (Check here) in addition to Edgeryders. I am looking forward to conversing and meeting with more people from the community.
Maybe tell us a story about yourself? It can be the story of your life’s journey, or the story of a day when you discovered something important about yourself or the world. It can be about achieving something or about coming up against an obstacle that prevented you from achieving it.
Sharing your story increases the likelihood that you will meet other Edgeryders who might be interested in what you do, have helpful advice or even want to collaborate with you on your projects. It also a key enabler of Edgeryders to learning from each other’s strategies, successes and mistakes. For example I think you may appreciate this post by Ida about why she moved back to in Bucharest after seven years abroad…
@Hegazy welcome from me too! I see you are already hard at work manning the platform, quite proficiently I would say It’s how it starts. Looking forward to meet you in person tomorrow in the community call!
hey @Hegazy from one “Cairene” cyclist to another I would like to welcome you on board.
I missed the call today but I am looking forward to meeting you in person with @SamarAli ( both from Cairo right ? )
and if you need any help with the platform or getting to know what happened in spot the future, I am here to help ( been here since a year now ), looking forward to see how this project would develop.
here is an old post to know me better see you soon
@Hazem@SamarAli It’s pleasure to hear from you guys. Let’s arrange to get together in person soon, I’d love to meet both of you; and we can start arranging for the visit in June.
@Alberto@Noemi Thank you both for the very warm welcome. I guess we need to start at a high pace already; The visit is coming up soon soon soon
@trythis Cycling is taking up quite rapidly in Cairo now, despite it being concrete jungle and all. In fact the government is even building egypt’s very first Bike lanes (Never mind it being a desert road to nowhere :p)
see you soon