CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA: Clay Huggins, the American teacher who was attacked Friday near a popular Cairo bazaar, says that despite the traumatic event, the incident has not changed his view of Egypt.
“One person isn’t going to change what I think of Egypt, said Huggins, who has been teaching science at Schutz American School in Alexandria since August 2007. “There were dozens of [other] Egyptians who came to my aid . they are more representative of what Egyptians are really like.
After a long day of shopping and sight-seeing, Huggins and his pregnant wife, Susannah, were waiting for a car to pick them up from Al-Azhar Street with their Egyptian friend Amal Iskandar when 46-year old Abdel Rahman Taher came charging at him with a pocket knife.
“He ran out of nowhere. At first it looked like he was going to steal our bags, but when he was about a meter away he took out a knife and tried to stab me, said Huggins.
Armed with the day’s shopping, Huggins used a newly-purchased foldable table to fend off the attacks and push Taher away. Taher fell to the floor after three attempts to stab Huggins, but only after he had inflicted a cut on the teacher’s chin.
Huggins yelled for help, and the tourist police, taxi drivers and others near Khan El-Khalili bazaar held Taher back and took the knife away from him. The police then took Huggins to a hospital to stitch up the wound.
Huggins says that despite the shock, his main concern was for his pregnant wife. “I was mostly nervous because my wife is eight months pregnant, he said. “I’m a big guy, so I was afraid he would go after her [instead].
Iskandar, however, made sure Susannah Huggins was kept out of harm’s way.
“What I will remember is not what the one man did, but what the other people there were doing, Susannah Huggins said, describing the police, taxi drivers and passersby who came to their help. “Women who were carrying baskets dropped [them] and ran to help. To me, this is Egypt.
According to press reports, Taher told police officials Friday that he hated foreigners because of the Israeli offensive on Gaza. Local papers also reported that he had recently been released from a mental institution.
Susannah Huggins confirmed that Taher “was acting strangely, like he was mentally ill or on some type of drug, adding that his movements were erratic and he was not blinking.
Nevertheless, Huggins says he has “no idea why he was attacked. “It’s so hard to tell. He didn’t say anything to me.
The attack comes less than a week after a terrorist bombing killed a French teenage tourist in the same area.
Huggins, who returned to teaching today after taking a day off, has spoken to his parents in the United States, who, he says, were alarmed and concerned for his safety, but have not altered their plans to visit in April.
Neither was the attack enough to deter the couple from visiting other tourist attractions. “It was a random thing. It can happen anywhere in any country, said Susannah Huggins. “I’ll go back again.
