Meanwhile in Alexandria, Prof. Audrey Helfman, faculty director of
the study-abroad program in leadership, and her husband saw a protester
climb the flagpole at the police station near their hotel, grab the
flag, and set it on fire. Then the rioters got a Toyota pickup and
pushed the vehicle into the fire. The police station burned.
At one point, Helfman says, they heard more screaming and didn't know
whether to run from the hotel. A volleyball team from Algeria staying
at the hotel advised them to stay in their room.
We just sat on the bed, holding hands and listening intently,
Helfman says. My only fear was that our building was going to burn.
Helfman credits tourist guide Hany Tawfik, whom she has worked with
for years, for getting her and her husband to the Alexandria airport for
the flight to Sharm-el-Sheikh, a resort on the Red Sea, where she
reunited with her 10 students, who had gone there in advance for their
first free weekend of the trip.
We really owe him a lot, Helfman says of Tawfik. He's just a super
guy. He usually works with big cruise lines, and we are the only
younger group he works with because he believes in what we are doing.
It's about leadership and listening to the people.
Helfman praises UD's Institute for Global Studies (IGS) for its support throughout the ordeal.
The UD team, under the direction of Lesa Griffiths, associate provost
for international programs, worked around the clock to bring the
students and faculty safely home and to keep in touch with concerned
parents.
Program coordinator Lukman Arsalan served as the point person for
communications with the hotels in Egypt and the University's travel
assistance and evacuation company there because he is a native speaker
of Arabic.
I don't think he slept Friday or Saturday night because we could get
through on phones much better during the night, Griffiths says.
While Griffiths and Arsalan communicated with parents of the students
and Griffiths kept the UD administration informed, Lisa Chieffo, IGS
associate director, worked with travel agents to change flights and with
UD Procurement to make sure the study-abroad leaders had enough funds
to deal with the evacuation.
We literally had to respond to almost every CNN story parents saw --
and give them the latest information we had about what was happening
from people there, Griffiths says. Stephanie Countess's mom had just
returned from Cairo, and she offered all the other parents her
assessment of the airport environment, which eased a lot of concerns. So
we had parents helping us out, too!
But the real people to admire, Griffiths says, were Yasser Payne and Audrey Helfman.
They calmed the kids, kept them reassured, and did their best to try
to get calls out even if they were constantly cut off. They were
fantastic! Griffiths says.