Local Egyptians Watching the Revolution From McLean

McLean resident Amin Bonnah, a Georgetown University professor and Egyptian native, visited family in Egypt in early January and saw no evidence that a major uprising was brewing.

He left Egypt Jan. 13 to return to the United States. Two weeks later, he watched with amazement as the events in his homeland became historic, chronicled 24/7 on cable news and impacting the balance of power in the Middle East.

 “I had no idea, I had no feeling that it was going to happen,” Bonnah told the McLean Patch. “No one told me (while I was in Egypt) that the president would be out. There was no indication that in a few days things would change."

Dr. Reem Bassiouney, who lives in Falls Church and is an associate professor of Arabic linguistics at Georgetown University, echoes Bonnah's thoughts.

"I was hoping that change was coming to Egypt," Bassiouney said. "I never expected a revolution."

Like the rest of the world, Bonnah and Bassiouney were mesmerized for 18 days by what was happening at home in Egypt from Jan. 25 when Egyptians took to the streets in massive numbers to protest the rule of President Hosni Mubarak until Feb. 11 when Mubarek was driven out of office.

Bonnah talked to his two daughters and other family members in Egypt everyday to  get a firsthand report about how the landscape was swiftly changing. In addition to his two daughters, Bonnah’s family in Egypt includes 11 brothers and sisters and 35 nieces and nephews.

“They were very excited. They were scared going through that. There was fear. But this is a revolution,” Bonnah said.

Bonnah, who teaches in the department of Arabic and Islamic studies at Georgetown, has lived in McLean for 20 years. He travels to Egypt 2-3 times a year. And he never imagined anything like this happening.

His family is “very happy today but they are not certain about what’s going to happen tomorrow because there is no new government or president,”  Bonnah said.

 “It’s like starting all over again. It’s a new institution, mentality, a look and the end of a military era,” Bonnah said. “When you have a popular revolution, there is uncertainty because you don’t know how you are going to go into this new world, what you are going to build.”

But it’s also a time for great pride for Bonnah and Egyptians everywhere.

“I feel proud of the Egyptian people who went out and assisted for more than two weeks to bring change to Egypt,” he said. “We don’t know what the shape of the government is going to be. It’s going to be a new beginning. I am proud of the people who went out and faced the police.”

Dr. Bassiouney, who is from Alexandria, Egypt, has been hearing from friends and relatives about the earthshaking events of the last week.

"It's a moment of enlightenment. It is a victory," she said. "My mother knows. She feels the ground is shaking by the power of these people. It is peaceful but it shakes the ground."

In addition to her academic work, Bassiouney is an author. Her fourth novel  -The Pistachio Seller - chronicles the changes that have happened in Egypt from Sadat to Mubarak.