2005 Single Region Program: Arab Middle East
The 2005 Arab Middle East Single Region Program came to a close in Philadelphia this month, marking the beginning of the life-long Fellowship for 18 new Fellows from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. The regional program’s joint purposes—to offer unique programs to diverse rising stars and to forge bonds of Fellowship and friendship across borders in the region—were fulfilled by a combination of individual itineraries that took Fellows from coast to coast and group gatherings which brought them together in some locales off the beaten path.
A highlight of the program was the Fellows’ seminar with former President George H.W. Bush in College Station, Texas at President Bush’s presidential library. The conversation at the seminar focused largely on U.S. foreign policy as it relates to the Middle East, and all parties made their remarks candidly and openly in the spirit of meaningful dialogue.
The Fellows then went on to Canton, Illinois where they were hosted by Suzanne Ginger ’93, USA, her husband Mike Evans, and their children for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on the farm. Ginger and her family generously prepared turkey and all the fixings for the entire group, a courtesy the Fellows repaid by singing lively folksongs from their respective countries. The group spent the day following Thanksgiving in New Salem and Springfield, Illinois, visiting the memorial sites of President Abraham Lincoln.
Smaller groups then went on to visit Microsoft and Boeing in Seattle and Intel in San Jose, and all Fellows followed their own paths to meet with the leading thinkers and doers in their respective fields. Their travels took them to places like Denver, Detroit, Memphis, and Salt Lake City in addition to more common destinations like New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. In traveling, noted Mohamed Rakhawy of Egypt, “the ‘unexpected’ was the most valuable… What is not available in written materials about technical and/or theoretical recent advances is the context in which they emerge, develop, change, succeed or fail. It is the culture. Without the intense experience of Eisenhower Fellowship I would have never had the chance to witness that context, in depth.”
The Fellows returned to Philadelphia in mid-December for the program’s closing seminar, and to share insights gained from their fellowship with one another and with Eisenhower Fellowships staff. The final evening of the program featured a roundtable discussion, moderated by EF trustee Hap Wagner, on what they learned from their experiences, including observations on U.S.-Middle East relations, a topic that was as central to the program, for many Fellows, as individual professional themes.
The seminar was a fitting conclusion to the six-week program, as it was marked by lively exchange and strong camaraderie among this tight-knit group of Fellows & spouses. Reflecting on the experience, Deya Elyas of Saudi Arabia wrote in his final report on the program, “The most important gain that I’ve made was the new friendship with the 2005 SRP fellows. In a way I feel that I have expanded my family by an additional 26 members. I am indebted to the Eisenhower Fellowship program for introducing me to these people, and I am sure that we will cherish this bond for the rest of our lives.”