Local Egyptians Worry About the Future of their Homeland

It’s a time of uncertainty in Egypt. Who will lead? What happens tomorrow? What happens next week?

These are questions people in the African country can’t even answer, let alone Egyptians who now call America their home, where they’re forced to watch events as they unfold on TV, thousands of miles away, only able to hope for the best.

 “Everybody is just waiting. They don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Samuel Saba, a Deacon at St. Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church on Riva Avenue. “Nobody can say or prophesize about what is going around. All of them are Christians and Muslim, but when it comes to the government and the power, it is another thing.”

Saba said that no matter what happens, he hopes the country becomes a place where people are free to practice their religion and have a say in the government.

“I hope they will have a very democratic parliament, a very democratic life at least, and live and be free that this is his country, not as a second class citizen,” he said. “All our concern is that the Muslim Brotherhood doesn’t take over. It would be the end of Judaism and Christianity in the Middle East. They don’t know what is going on, what is cooking in their secret kitchen.”

Most importantly, Saba hopes that others don’t experience the same religious persecution he and his fellow Coptic Christians have suffered at the hands of his fellow countrymen. Recently, the bombing of a Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt, killed 23 and injured more than 100 worshipers who were leaving a New Year's Day mass. The attack was not the first, and other members of the local Egyptian community have said it was just part of a systemic pattern of violence against Christians.

However, recent events in Egypt are about more than that. What began as a series of peaceful demonstrations on Jan. 25, eventually led to large-scale protests against the Egyptian government, and this week, President Hosni Mubarak surrendered power to the military after three decades in power. What happens next is anybody’s guess.

“You don’t know what the mood of the military is going to be, if they’re for a civil government and rights for everybody. That’s alright if it’s good. But to be another Iran, this is another problem,” he said.

Saba, who left Egypt a little more than 40 years ago, said he has been expecting events like these for some time. He blamed much of the current state of the region on the downfall of the Soviet Union, which held many governments in the area together during its reign.

“The Soviet Union is like a bad egg, all she needs is something to crack the shell, and then all the dirty things will come out. And that’s what happened.”

For Viola Daoud, concern not only for her country, but for her family and loved ones still there is first and foremost in her mind.

“As a Coptic American my heart is broken over the current violence that is taking place in Egypt,” she said last week. “I am greatly concerned over the safety and security of our friends, families and all of Egypt. We are praying that peace and order would be restored to this great nation that is loved by all. I am confident that God will continue to bless Egypt as promised in the book of Isaiah 19:25 which states ‘Blessed be Egypt my people.’ ”