Five University of Northern Iowa students are among the thousands of foreigners waiting for a flight out of Egypt. Marco Trujillo, a U.N.I. senior from Webster City, is one of the students who started teaching in Cairo on January 2. His mother, Dawn Trujillo, says her son and the other U.N.I. students were teaching at the American International School of Egypt.
“He really was enjoying his stay there and had intentions of possibly working over there after he graduated,” Trujillo said. However, due to the recent chaos in Cairo, U.N.I. officials have been working to bring the students back to Iowa. They were moved to a remote location outside of Cairo on Monday. Trujillo says Marco and the other U.N.I. students should be home this week.
“He was teaching fourth graders, they were English speaking but Egyptians,” Trujillo said of her son’s job. “He was very happy with his placement there and the living quarters. It’s just too bad that this all had to come about.” Trujillo has relied on officials at U.N.I. for updates on her son’s whereabouts. She hoping, of course, that Marco gets home safe – but also that he can return to Cairo before long.
“I would think that, once they can get things to settle down, they will allow students to return,” Trujillo said. The five U.N.I. students are scheduled to arrive at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids sometime on Thursday. Five U.N.I. alumni, also teaching at the school in Cairo, were granted transfers to other schools. Hundreds of thousands of people in the capital of Cairo and several other cities have been taking part in protests aimed at getting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to leave power.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City