The Copts Abroad: Begging for Understanding

Many things were written about Copts that live outside of Egypt and many accusations were leveled against them from treason, collaborating with Zionists, calling for Aid to Egypt to be cut and generally being fanatic Christians that exaggerate about the situation in Egypt.

When I was invited to attend the Coptic Conference being organized by the Coptic Assembly of America in Chicago, I had mixed feelings about it and felt hesitant to accept. My own experience in meeting some of the Coptic Political leaders abroad had not been very encouraging and I knew that if I attended I was going to be automatically labeled with all sorts of terms.

I thought a lot about it and decided to attend. Part of that decision was based on my interest in meeting those people that are so much hated by the Egyptian media and forming my own opinion about them.

I traveled to Chicago for 4 days and can claim to have met most of the Coptic activists there and my own conclusions are quite different from what has been written about them.

I met extremely patriotic Egyptians that loved their country very deeply and that hoped for the best for it. It was extremely painful to see them one by one talking about how much they loved their country and how much they were proud of their Egyptian heritage.

Cameel Halim, who heads the Coptic Assembly of America, is a very successful businessman in Chicago. He had emigrated from Egypt in 1968 and built his life in the States from there on. As a successful businessman in his elder years a very easy decision is to relax after so many struggles and enjoy life to the fullest, yet he very passionately talked about his homeland and as an Egyptian American urged the US to increase its AID to Egypt.

Rebecca Michaels, a very successful young lawyer represented the Coptic youth in America in her speech and although she represented a generation that was not born in Egypt, her passion for Egypt and her hopes for a better future for the country were no less than Cameel’s. She had the same pride in being Egyptian and the same dreams for Egypt.

Outside the Conference I had a chance to go out with some of the younger Egyptian Americans. I met Joseph, Paul and Bassem who were all young Egyptians that were struggling to build a future for them and their families in a very competitive environment, but this made them no less patriotic.

I had the pleasure of meeting Atef Mackar, who is the President of a consulting company in Chicago and in his middle years. I was quite impressed by his calmness and his wisdom. His hopes for Egypt and his determination to improve it are remarkable.

I can go on and on about all those young and old Egyptian Americans and how they destroyed all those myths associated with Copts abroad one after the other. Whether young or old, whether they have succeeded in their adopted country or were still struggling to build their future, they all shared a deep passion and compassion to plight of the Egyptian people and also a lot of sadness. You could see that very clearly in their eyes. Whether they left Egypt willingly or unwillingly they still loved it very much and it hurt them deeply to be labeled as traitors.

I do not deny that I saw some crazy men that were full of hatred to Islam and that could not distinguish between Islam and Muslims, and between the painful incidents that they had suffered from in Egypt, but I can clearly state that they are not in any way the majority and that the Copts Abroad are much more patriotic than many Egyptians that I have met in Egypt.

The Copts Abroad have succeeded in building their lives and careers in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia. They are doctors, lawyers, businessmen, university professors and engineers. Isn’t it time that Egypt benefits from this strong pool of resources???