Farah Khayry
Farah Khayry strikes as a vibrant, multifaceted person. She is a second-year student at the American University in Cairo (AUC), and even though she has been abroad only once, she meets a lot of different people daily on her diverse university campus and is eager to learn from them and share her own views. “It is important, you need to interact with different people from diverse backgrounds, diverse religions,” Khayry says. “This includes interacting with the opposite sex.”
In her largely traditional home country, Egypt, there are often separate classes for boys and girls in schools.
It is weird to think that if I continued at my first school after 9th grade, the next time I’d be with boys in the same class would be at the university,” Khayry says. “And how would I be able to be comfortable with them and work on group projects together?
Khayry is a part of the feminist initiative Heya at AUC, which has been a hub for the students interested in gender and women’s issues since 2011. Khayry finds it unfortunate that there is still a big number of arranged marriages in Egypt, which leads to a high divorce rate. Also, women wearing tight clothes often face harassment in the streets. These and other issues are addressed by Heya.
Khayry channels her passion for feminism into other socially significant projects, as well. She has been an academic coordinator for the Junior Cairo International Model United Nations, working with her team to create the whole experience for the 9-graders in the UN Women section. Khayry presented to them on the topic of female genital mutilation and found the experience very satisfying. “When they are engaged, it pays off. You’re leading them and raising awareness, and this is very different from giving a presentation in class,” Khayry shares. “This is the topic they have possibly never heard about before.”
The same passion Khayry expresses for her studies and future career goals. When she just started at AUC, she did not know what major to choose. She says she is not a math person, but also is not entirely into humanities, so integrated marketing became a perfect combination of diverse skills for her. With this choice, Khayry especially appreciates an opportunity to express her ideas in this sphere in her future job. She was impressed when a local marketing agency came to recruit on AUC campus, and she got to see how creative their social media marketing is. “Marketing can be much more than just billboards, tv ads, and other traditional forms,” Khayry says. “I will be able to introduce my ideas there.” The reason Khayry is taking communication classes, but did not choose it as her major, is her fear that in a journalistic writing job in Egypt her contributions would not be recognized. “They would just use my skills to write what they want,” Khayry says. “I would be sitting in meetings, having ideas, and not be able to write about them.”
A big career advisor and role model for Khayry is her elder sister Nermine. Khayry also has another sister, her twin Hana with whom she is close, but when it comes to career and life choices, Nermine is the one who guides her. She graduated from AUC three years ago and now works as Communication and Visibility Officer at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Khayry often asks Nermine to give her a ride to or from school, and they enjoy discussing social issues or university classes as they drive.
Khayry is also close with her other relatives and considers herself a family-oriented person. Despite some political and social issues in Egypt, she is planning to stay in her home country after graduation, and being with the family is one of the reasons. Khayry also thinks the whole world is unstable anyway. “In other countries there may be better healthcare system or less harassment, but you can’t predict what’s going to happen there in the future,” she says. “All countries have their problems; in the States there is gun violence. I can move there today, and everything will change there tomorrow.”
Khayry is happy with her life. She enjoys her classes, spending time with family, and exploring her personal interests. She loves everything vintage. “My sister was studying abroad and got me a bag from a flea market in London that belonged to a woman in 1920s,” excitedly shares Khayry. She also enjoys watching old movies with her mom, looking for home décor and plus-size fashion ideas on Pinterest, and listening to classical music. Enthusiastic and open to all things new, Khayry is eager to explore and excited to see what her future holds.
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Polina Isakova is a fourth year journalism student at the American University in Bulgaria. This story was written as part of a collaborative project created during the AMICAL Conference in Kuwait in January 2020. Professor Kim Fox of AUC and Professor Laura Kelly of AUBG teamed their students to make audio and magazine stories and to learn about each other’s daily lives.
