We rarely write about Americans who were granted another citizenship by marriage that they chose of their own free will. Karen is a US citizen by birth with naturalized Egyptian citizenship as of 2001 and her two children are also dual citizens. She is committed to raising both children as Muslims while Karen embraces and adheres to Protestant Christian practices. Karen and her husband with her children observe fasting during Ramadan and the celebrations of all Islamic and Christian holidays. A living history of tolerance between Christians and Muslims through understanding the messages of Allah* (the creator). Graduated from Brown University with a BA in International Relations, including History and Political Science. In Egypt In November 2014, Karen and her husband traveled to Egypt with two suitcases of books donated to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Karen shared a presentation and activities related to Hands Around the Library for children in Cairo’s Manshiet Nasser neighborhood during an after school program operated by the Nebny Foundation of Egypt. Each child received a copy of the book in Arabic (translated and published by the BA). Karen coordinated with Lamia Abdel Fattah, Head of the Library Sector, a two-day conference on Literacy and Informal Education, at the BA on October 12-13, 2015. More than 650 people attended from Egyptian NGOs, educators, librarians and others, they shared projects and collaborated on better ways to improve the educational prospects of poor children in Egypt. Karen is a lifelong journalist and writer, for radio, newspapers, magazines and now children’s books. Her first children’s book, the award-winning Hands Around the Library: Protecting Egypt’s Treasured Books, was published in 2012 in English and Arabic. It is the story of the protesters who joined hands in the library of Alexandria, Egypt, to protect it from stone-throwing vandals during the 2011 revolution. A new edition of Karen’s illustrated biography will be published in early 2019, Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words. Karen is an active advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities, especially intellectual disabilities, throughout society. Karen is an active board member of the Baltimore Luxor Alexandria Sister Cities Committee and co-chair of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC Chapter. In this capacity, she Karen leads and facilitates online discussions between sixth graders in Egypt and the US.

The Baltimore Luxor Alexandria, Egypt Sister Cities Committee (baltimoreegypt.org) is facilitating online exchanges between children in Alexandria, Egypt, and the United States (Baltimore and Arlington). Sometimes kids have live conversations over Skype or Google Hangout. This fundraiser will help provide technical support (high-quality microphones and speakers), but will also allow us to use the secure Narrative Atlas platform provided by another non-profit organization, MapWorks Learning (mapworkslearning.org). Students will be able to share artwork, essays, and videos, create videos together, and map their own communities. Eventually, they can work together to learn about and address some of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (undp.org) “The greatest outcome of education is tolerance.”