Husam Habeeb

CEDAR RAPIDS – One year ago, Husam Habeeb was sitting in Cairo’s Tahrir Square surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people protesting Egypt’s regime. During the weeks of protest, the 29-year-old  witnessed three people die beside him due to police violence.

Tonight, one year later, Habeeb attended the Celebration of the First Anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution for Democracy, an event hosted by the newly-formed Egyptian-American Community of Iowa.

Over 50 people – including Marion Mayor Allen “Snooks” Bouska – attended the celebration at the Muslim American Society, 2121 N. Towne Lane NE, where they ate traditional Egyptian food, spoke in support of the Egyptian revolution, and shared ideas on how to stay involved as the country continues to change.

Children ran around the room with the country’s red, white, and black colors painted on their cheeks, attendees wore red wristbands with the writing, “I love Egypt”, and every chair and table was decorated with red streamers or balloons.

Ibrahim Shehata, one of the founders of the Egyptian-American Community of Iowa, said tonight’s event is the first of many they plan to host in order to garner support and involvement for Egypt’s transformation. Both Egyptian-Americans and non-Egyptian Americans are encouraged to participate, he said.

“People will be more understanding, more involved, and more knowing of one another and knowing of the different cultures,” Shehata said.

More than 50 people gathered to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the uprising in Egypt Wednesday, January 25, 2012. The event was hosted by the Egyptian-American Community of Iowa. (Emily Busse/SourceMedia Group News)

Ayman Amer, Associate Professor of Economics at Mt. Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, said they want as much support as possible in the “establishment of a new Egypt.”

“We invited every Egyptian in the state of Iowa, and maybe we didn’t reach all of them, but we will,” Amer said.

Both men participated in the recent Egyptian elections by mailing their votes to the embassy.

 According to Islam Tatish, a neurologist at Allen Hospital in Waterloo, the group has contacted the consulate at Chicago’s Egyptian embassy who gave them suggestions of how to support the movement in Egypt. For example, they may raise money to help invest in agricultural projects in Egypt, he said.

“Now it really feels that this country belongs to us,” Tatish said.

But despite the positivity of many attendees, Habeeb said there is much, much more to be done in Egypt’s transformation.

“I’m frustrated because there is not a major change in Egypt,” said Habeeb, who is now studying marketing management on a six-month scholarship at Kirkwood Community College.

Habeeb recalled the bombs, tear gas, and rubber bullets used during the protest. He said the government also encouraged parents of young protesters to try to get their children to come home in order to “split up families.” In fact, he recalled his own mother crying on the telephone as she tried to convince him to abandon the revolution and his father promising he would disown him if he didn’t return.

Yusuf Shehata

According to Habeeb, many of the protesters’ original objectives  to fight poverty, corruption, and inequality are yet to be achieved. But  Habeeb, who has a three-year-old son, said there is still hope.

“We are planting the seeds of freedom for our children,” he said. “If we don’t succeed, we hope our children can complete it.”

“The thing that’s important is that… the whole county is, in a way, better,” he said.