Most people think that Egypt is totally a desert with camels everywhere. They don’t realize that Egypt has large cities with many tall buildings. Usually their only concept of Egypt involves mummies, pharaohs, and pyramids. Although we Egyptians are very proud of our long past, that’s ancient history! Egypt is a very modern country, and we have a lot of professionals, like doctors, engineers, and scientists. Americans also think that all Egyptians are Muslim. However, many of us here in North Colonie are actually Christian. They think that women have to wear burkas and veils, but that is not a requirement. Women have the freedom to wear what they want, including jewelry and makeup.
Egyptians might think that all Americans are really rich. Since American kids have so much personal freedom, it is sometimes difficult for us to relate to them. Before we arrived in the U.S., we only knew what we had seen in the movies. We thought that all Americans would have blond hair. We thought that everyone lived in big cities. In fact, Latham seems kind of small to us since we come from the Egyptian capital of Cairo.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
Number of Egyptian immigrants receiving permanent resident status:
1997: 5,029
2006: 10,500