Ahmed Maklad is an Egyptian born in America.

Maklad with Davis.

On Friday he was with his friend April Davis in Roanoke Rapids, checking his cell phone for word on the fate of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. At one point there was word on Facebook Mubarak stepped down.

It wasn’t true.

Maklad awaits word on when he can go back to American University in Cairo. He also checks to make sure his father is OK.

Egypt is not the country it appears to be in tourism marketing, Maklad says. “This was bound to happen,” he said of the unrest.

He thought it would happen years ago. “The government is corrupt and it is denying the rights of the poor.”

Police take bribes because they are underpaid. Maklad paid a cop about 30 pounds to get out of a seat belt ticket and noticed other crumpled bills in his wallet from other presumed bribes. To process an insurance claim for a crash takes three months.

College graduates can’t find work and if they do they are low paying jobs. “If the wages are less than your rent how do you pay?”

The Police Day holiday where the protests started was Mubarak’s way of honoring them instead of paying them, Maklad said. “He gave them their own holiday so they could be glorified. The police in Egypt are not to be admired.”

Now, Maklad waits for news on when the university will be reopened. His father has armed guards at his gas station.

While some media say the unrest in Egypt will lead to Sharia Law, Maklad disagrees. “They want Democratic elections. This isn’t about Al Qaeda, this is not about terrorism. This is about 30 million students who want to find a job.”