Local Egyptian natives gather to celebrate ‘magical’ revolution

By Jackie Valley

Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011 | 9:05 p.m.

During a trip in November to his homeland, Nabih Helmi observed the downtrodden spirits of Egyptians — the depressed and desperate looks of people yearning for change.

But Helmi, a Las Vegas resident since 1975, didn’t see change on the horizon. After all, Egyptians’ demands for reform had gone unanswered numerous times.

That’s why a party was in order Saturday night.

About 50 Egyptian natives, mostly Christians, gathered at Laziza Hookah Lounge and Restaurant on Eastern Avenue carrying their homeland’s flag to celebrate what many thought impossible for so many years: the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak following an 18-day revolution.

“To see the youth go 18 days changing history in Egypt in a peaceful way — that’s a magical thing,” said Helmi, who was born in Egypt and served in its army as a doctor before coming to the United States in 1970.

Egyptians say the killing of Khaled Said, a young business owner in Egypt, by police in June sparked the eventual revolution — with social media sites driving the country’s relatively young population to organize peaceful protests.

“It’s much easier (with social media),” said Wade Guindy, who moved to the United States in 1979 at age 23. “Therefore, they were able to organize and gain support.”

Discontent, however, had been brewing in Egypt for years, fueled by poverty and unemployment, political corruption, alleged police brutality and the virtual elimination of the nation’s middle class.

Those frustrations created the “perfect storm” for revolution, said Helmi’s son-in-law, Sherif Abdou.

“The gap of the haves and the have-nots had widened to unbelievable proportions,” Abdou said. He moved to the United States in 1985 at age 25.

Abdou jokes that his wife, Nahed, had to lock the doors in their Henderson home to keep him from hopping on a plane to Egypt as legions of protesters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Instead, he spent much of those 18 days existing on two hours of sleep as he kept in touch with relatives and friends in Egypt.

Abdou plans to travel to Egypt in a few weeks, saying he hopes to see signs of progress for arguably the most difficult task of the revolution: organizing a fair and balanced democratic political system.

“We’re proud of these people,” he said. “We’re cautiously optimistic and very supportive.”

Helmi’s brother and sister, who live in Egypt, kept him abreast of developments they could not have predicted two months earlier.

“They are very happy and excited,” he said. “I’m sharing in their excitement, too.”

Above all, members of the Egyptian community in Las Vegas who gathered at Laziza Hookah Lounge want to see peace continue and a democracy unfold.

“Egypt is the mother of all civilizations,” Nahed Abdou said, “so maybe with this peaceful revolution, they can modify it and say Egypt is the mother of all peaceful revolutions.”