Second look: one woman, two countries, a mission of tolerance

We rarely write about Americans who were granted another citizenship through marriage than they chose of their own free will. Karen is a US citizen by birth with naturalized Egyptian citizenship as of 2001 and her two children also have dual citizenship. She vowed to raise both children as Muslims while Karen embraces and adheres to Protestant Christian practices. Karen and her husband with her children observe the fast during Ramadan and the celebrations of all Islamic and Christian holidays. A living history of tolerance between Christians and Muslims through the understanding of the messages of Allah* (the creator). Graduated from Brown University with a BA in International Relations, including History and Political Science. In Egypt In November 2014, Karen and her husband traveled to Egypt with two suitcases of books donated to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Karen shared a presentation and activities related to Hands Around the Library for children in the Manshiet Nasser neighborhood of Cairo during an after school program operated by the Nebny Foundation of Egypt. Each child received a copy of the book in Arabic (translated and published by BA). Karen coordinated with Lamia Abdel Fattah, Head of the Library Sector, a two-day conference on literacy and informal education, at BA on 12-13 October 2015. More than 650 people from Egyptian NGOs, educators, librarians and others attended, they shared projects and collaborated on better ways to improve the educational prospects of poor children in Egypt. Karen is a lifelong journalist and writer, for radio, newspapers, magazines and now children’s books. Her first children’s book, the award-winning Hands Around the Library: Protecting Egypt’s Treasured Books, was published in 2012 in English and Arabic. It is the story of the protesters who held hands at the library in Alexandria, Egypt, to protect it from stone-throwing vandals during the 2011 revolution. A new edition of Karen’s illustrated biography, Karen’s illustrated biography, will be published in early 2019. Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words. Karen is an active advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities, especially intellectual disabilities, throughout society. Karen is an active board member of the Baltimore Luxor Alexandria Sister Cities Committee and co-chair of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC Chapter. In this capacity, Karen leads and facilitates online discussions between sixth graders in Egypt and the US.

The Baltimore Luxor Alexandria (Egypt) Sister Cities Committee (baltimoreegypt.org) is facilitating online exchanges between children in Alexandria, Egypt and the United States (Baltimore and Arlington). Sometimes the kids have live conversations via Skype or Google Hangout. This fundraiser will help provide technical support (high quality microphones and speakers), but will also allow us to use the secure Narrative Atlas platform provided by another non-profit organization, MapWorks Learning (mapworkslearning.org). Students will be able to share artwork, essays, and videos, create videos together, and map their own communities. Eventually, they can work together to learn and address some of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (undp.org) “The greatest outcome of education is tolerance.”