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Fatma Al-Sayegh is no stranger to the United States. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee and was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in 1993. This past year, she came to the United States from the United Arab Emirates on a second Fulbright grant but was extremely apprehensive about making the trip.
“This time the circumstances and political conditions were dramatically different,” she says. “My region of the world is portrayed as a breeding ground for terrorists and extremists. I heard disturbing stories of Muslim women in America who were forced to remove their headscarves to avoid discrimination and harassment. I could not believe America could change so much since I was a student there.”
In spite of her fears, Al-Sayegh left her home institution of the United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ain to further her research. She was relieved and delighted to have a vastly different experience from the stories she had heard. She felt welcomed at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, where she pursued her research, and throughout the Washington, DC area.
“I saw the other side of America, the human side, which the world often ignores or misunderstands,” she says. “Americans hate violence and terror and look forward to cooperating with international communities for the betterment of humanity.”
Al-Sayegh completed her research project, entitled “The Political Changes in the Oil Monarchies in the Aftermath of 9-11,” and presented her findings in Germany at a prestigious international conference focusing on the contemporary Middle East.
One of Al-Sayegh’s most memorable moments, she says, was having tea with Mrs. Harriet Mayor Fulbright, widow of U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright and a prominent member of the Washington, DC philanthropy community. “Meeting with such a courageous lady I admire and hearing her views on politics and international events changed my own perspective on America,” she says.
When she returned to the United Arab Emirates, Al-Sayegh resumed her teaching career as a professor of modern history. Most of her students are women, who, because of tradition and segregation, know little of the outside world. Al-Sayegh was pleased to be able to relate her experience. “I was able to tell them most of what we hear about Americans is not true,” she says. “They are just like us: peace-loving people.”
Al-Sayegh says she is extremely glad she came to the United States. “People are all the same,” she says. “We only differ on politics. On a human level we share so many similarities. A program like this is needed to present to the world a true picture of all societies.”
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