Diaspora, when I was asked to look for the meaning of this word it amazed me that the definition that kept appearing was always related to Jews. After research a bit more I gladly discovered that it is linked to Jews because they are almost the first Diaspora that still exists till this day. If you are still wondering what it means I will spare you the search just keep reading.
Now the direct meaning of the word Diasporas is a group of people that are living in a different country away from their homeland. LIKE ME! But this still doesn’t explain why it is always related to Jews in every dictionary that you cross by.
You know how those internet dictionaries capitalize your first letter when typing the word. That was the reason behind the Jews reference, if you capitalize Diaspora then you are referring to Jews that were scattered after the destruction of their temple thousands of years ago and still are scattered all over the world trying to unite in the modern Israeli state. On the other hand if you don’t capitalize the first letter then you are talking about anyone who lives in a country that is not their homeland.
There are no synonyms for the word and if you ever type it in small letters dictionaries and websites do not identify it as a real word.
So for this research I was looking for three websites that are concerned with Egyptian Diaspora in U.A.E. amazingly while in the process I realized that there are almost 3.9 million Egyptians living abroad and this was in 2006. A huge number when you think about it. This is more than the population of Dubai. I am one of those 3.9 million. We used to leave our country simply because life there was extremely hard. Most of the people that leave their country do so to work. In my case it is slightly different my parents refuse to go back to Egypt simply because it is an unsafe, corrupted country that doesn’t feel like home. Same reasons the younger generations started a revolution. So a very good way to stay in touch with more Egyptians and feel like you are at home is through the internet.
First website that is mainly directed to the Egyptian Diaspora:
this is my favorite of all. Needs a new graphic designer to create a better layout to the website but other than that the content is great.
Second website:
A very popular website among Egyptian. You can rarely pump into an Egyptian that has not come across this website
And finally my third website:
a 7 a is interestingly a common expression used among the young generation to express their objection on a certain topic. This website shares the experiences of various Egyptians through posts ended with an a7a
ooooh my gud Maha so touchng post. I totally agree with you about A7a. its my faviourt too keep it up :) ,,, aya
ReplyDeleteI am glad you liked them Aya and thank you for the comment
ReplyDeleteWow! too much information, good job. I totally agree with Aya when she said it was very touching, mentioning why Egyptians leave their country. About the a7a website I looked it up, it was really nice. But again I need more about yourself Maha. You spoke alot about the Jews which was very informative, but it would be better if we knew about yourself, as an Egyptian living away from home,how do you feel, do you want to go back? Has the U.A.E. culture affected you, and do you feel like a stranger when you go visit Egypt for holidays? And about the corruption, it is not that corrupt and unsafe, but maybe the unemployment is really high, unfortunately and hoping it will be a better place. And I am glad I get to hear why you left Egypt.
ReplyDeleteHanan