Pride, tears, joy: Egyptian-Americans celebrate Egypt's new beginning

As Cairo exploded in jubilation upon hearing news of President Hosni Mubarak’s exit, Egyptians across the United States cheered alongside, through instant messaging, Facebook, and emotional phone calls to friends and family in Egypt.

As the news hit the airwaves, Egyptian-Americans report that they felt a range of emotions: disbelief, pride, but also concern over Egypt’s future.

“I will never forget this day,” says Noura Fadel, an Egyptian-born dentistry student in Rochester, N.Y. “For so long we didn’t have hope. Now we have hope.”

Ms. Fadel, who grew up blocks from the Presidential Palace in Cairo, said she had heard rumors Mr. Mubarak might step down, so she spent the morning refreshing her Facebook page “every 30 seconds,” waiting to hear the news.

When she finally did, she says, “I called my mom [in Egypt], that’s the first thing I did, congratulated her…. I was in [the dentistry] clinic, I was crying, and they told me to go home … but I don’t feel like going home, I want to celebrate,” she says, continuing to send and receive text and Facebook messages as she spoke. She says her friends and fellow Egyptians across the world – Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Qatar – were celebrating and dancing in the streets.

“The first thing I’m doing, I’m going to the chapel to pray and meet my people, all the Egyptians…. We’ll get together and celebrate,” she says, adding that she will make kuneifa, an Arabic pastry, and distribute it to friends in congratulations.

In a mid-morning communiqué, Mubarak said he turned over all power to the military, and left the Egyptian capital for his resort home in Sharm el-Sheik. The announcement, delivered by Vice President Omar Suleiman on state television during evening prayers in Cairo, set off ecstatic celebrations in Cairo – and elsewhere around the world.

Soumaya Khalifa, an Egyptian-born American and founder of Khalifa Consulting in Atlanta, described the news as a miracle.

“What happened is beyond anybody’s imagination,” Ms. Khalifa says. “Everyone thought Egyptians were apathetic. That it happened in only 18 days, it’s a miracle.”

Khalifa said she woke up at 3 in the morning to check the news, but her husband told her to go back to sleep, “because nothing will change,” she says.

In the morning she heard the news on Al Jazeera.

“I started crying,” she says. “The tears kept gushing. I went on Facebook and put up a post and immediately people responded. The comments are still coming in, from all over world…. What was amazing was how everyone cared about what’s happening in Egypt, not just Egyptians,” she says.

Khalifa says she hopes the spirit that brought down the 30-year Mubarak regime will continue to propel the country forward.

“Democracy is not easy, but I hope that they continue on that momentum they have built and be able to select right leadership that is different than what they had … and make sure Egypt is a place for everyone – not for one ethnicity, one religion – for everyone.”

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