Nine AUC clubs cooperate to raise awareness of Arab issues
Student organizations at the American University in Cairo (AUC) have established the Nosrah coalition to raise awareness and encourage active involvement in issues concerning the Arab world.
Student Union (SU), Alashanak Ya Balady (AYB), Help Club, the Political Science Association (PSA), Development Organization (DO), Model Arab League (MAL), Al Quds Club, Hand in Hand and Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) will collaborate in the coalition.
The coalition is not only limited to members of clubs at AUC, but is open to all AUC students willing to participate.
“It is an initiative open to everyone in the university, whoever wants to join can join,” said Mostafa Sa’eed, the coordinator of the Nosrah coalition and a business senior. Sa’eed is also the Help Club vice president.
“Three main goals of the coalition are to create constant awareness, constant action and an ideology which develops proactive people,” said Sa’eed,
Nosrah will be a long-term strategic coalition at AUC, working to make a difference and develop community leaders, said Sa’eed.
Nosrah coalition will pick a different theme every semester to raise awareness about those concerns in the Arab world and create an action plan to address them.
“This year the theme is Palestine because of what has been going on in Gaza,” said Ayah Ghoneim, DO representative in the coalition and a mass communication senior.
“We believe the Palestinian cause is not only limited to Palestinians. The [job] of this coalition is to get as many people as possible informed about what is going on in Palestine,” said Yasmeen El Khoudary, Al Quds club president and a political science sophomore.
“ With the coalition, we are aiming to develop students’ minds because people will only take action once they have learned more about a particular issue, said Perihan Abozeid, SIFE president and a business senior.
“The short term action plan is to raise awareness [about] the Arab region’s issues and in the long term, the coalition aims to have students involved in the action plan, have them mobilized,” said Karim Omara, SU Academic Committee chair person and an economics senior.
The Nosrah coalition will launch the awareness campaign about Palestine before the spring break by promoting unity among students. After the spring break, they will organize a symbolic event about the Nekbah, the 1948 establishment of Israel, and continue the campaign for the rest of the semester.
The agenda has not been finalized but the coalition plans to raise donations and visit Palestinians in Egyptian hospitals.
“It is all about civic responsibility, taking it to the next level,” said Mayy El Sheikh, representative of AYB in the coalition and a political science junior.
“Hand-in-Hand joined this coalition because it is beneficial and it initiates awareness about issues that concern all of us,” said Nada Imam, Hand-in-Hand representative in the coalition and a business senior.
“Today the cause is Palestine, tomorrow it will be Iraq, and our club will [be part of the coalition] every semester,” said El Khoudary.
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