A Little History
Both my parents were born and raised in Egypt. In the late 60's, they wed and made the difficult decision to try their luck abroad. My mother, Bahia, had earned a Bachelor's degree in sociology and worked for a time while my father, Mohammed, pursued his doctoral degree in materials engineering.

Coming to this country proved to be a great trial for them. My father worked hard to complete his studies. My mother, on the other hand, struggled to find her place in a new environment where everyone was a stranger to her. Both my parents strove to understand the language their new world operated in as well as the idiosyncracies of American culture. A short time after their arrival in the United States, they were blessed with the birth of their first son, Sharief. My mother attempted to continue to work and raise him at the same time, but found she preferred to make caring for him her full-time job. Three years later, Ahmad, another son, was born. In 1974, my father got a job in Iraq. My family moved there and stayed for 6 years. Near the end of this time, I was born.

Longing to be near their relatives as well as to give back to their native land, my parents decided to move to Egypt. We lived there from the time I was 6 months old to the time I was 2 and a half. We met much adversity in Egypt. Although my father had a very decent job (he worked as a department head at Cairo Univeristy), he and my mother felt they could not survive in Egypt. Every task was a complicated chore there. In addition, in order to be successful in Egypt at that time, a person would have to be untruthful. He or she would have to lie about happenings at work and bribe people just to receive the benefits any hard-working person living some place else would earn.

To escape this lifestyle of injustice and difficulty at every turn, my parents decided to move to the United States once again. From their experiences before, they knew that they would be able to live comfortable lives there and that they would be receiving what is rightfully theirs through their honest, hard work.

In 1982, my father took the position of associate professor in the department of industrial technology at the Univeristy of Northern Iowa. Before long, he worked his way to department head. He remains in that position now, 20 years later, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Tarek, my younger brother, and Nirmeen, my younger sister live there with him and my mother.

I grew up in Cedar Falls, and as the time to attend college rolled around, I decided to stay there. I studied biological sciences at UNI for two years before I decided to change my major to journalism and to transfer to the University of Florida. I made these decisions at a time when many aspects of my life were changing. I became engaged in December 1999 and had my wedding in May 2000. In August, I moved to Florida with my husband, Ahmed. I now am fininshing my degree and plan to graduate in May.

E-mail me at: monafahmy@hotmail.com