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

We rarely write about Americans granted another citizenship by marriage who have chosen of their own free will. Karen is a US citizen by birth with a naturalized Egyptian citizenship in 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 their children practice fasting during Ramadan and the celebrations of all Islamic and Christian holidays. A living history of tolerance between Christians and Muslims through understanding the messages of Allahʼs * (the creator). Graduated from Brown University with a BA in International Relations that includes 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 Hands Around the Library-related presentation and activities to children in Cairo’s Manshiet Nasser neighborhood during an after-school program operated by the Egyptian Nebny Foundation. Each child received a copy of the book in Arabic (translated and published by the BA). Karen coordinated with Lamia Abdel Fattah, Head of the Library Sector, a two-day conference on literacy and informal education, at the BA from October 12-13, 2015. More than 650 people from Egyptian NGOs, educators, librarians and others attended. , 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 Egyptʼs Treasured Books, was published in 2012 in English and Arabic. It’s the story of protesters who held hands around the library in Alexandria, Egypt, to protect it from stone-throwing vandals during the 2011 revolution. A new edition of Karen’s illustrated book biography, Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words, will be published in early 2019. Karen is an active advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities, especially intellectuals, throughout society. Karen is an active board member of the Baltimore Luxor Alexandria Sister City Committee and Co-Chair of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in 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 Sister Cities Committee Luxor Alexandria (Egypt) (baltimoreegypt.org) is facilitating online exchanges between children in Alexandria, Egypt and the United States (Baltimore and Arlington). Sometimes children 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 highest outcome of education is tolerance.”