“We are equal in everything!”

Written by : Rowan Elkhouly

Jomana ElKholy the Second Egyptian Captain in the Middle East, studied at Arab

Academy for Science and Technology at the College of Maritime Transport. She

faced some difficulties as a girl who entered a male field, which led her to sign that

she is responsible for herself inside the college and in her career life.

credit: AAST public relations

“I was thinking to leave the college at this moment.

But it was hard, because I was in the middle and my

energy was 0%, but I stood again and here I’m!”

said Jomana at a period that is considered a climax

of her journey at the Arab Academy.

Jomana Elkholy in the show queue

One of the difficulties that she faced was to adapt to man’s life, and to be in a college that was full of boys and it was hard for them to study together,

because they met only in classrooms. She also met

some hard moments while studying and these can

be classified in two categories.

The first difficulty was her first time to stand with 300 boys in the show queue,

being the only girl, the second was her first trip on the ship, the first time to face

the sea and the rolling of the ship, which is the hardest part in sailing.

But there were beautiful moments too. The system in Marine College is different,

the college holds two graduation parties. The first one is after finishing the basic

studies, and the second one is after finishing the BA degree. Her happiest moment

was when she graduated from the basic studies as the ideal student. She said “I’ve

proved during these years that I am equal to boys ‘We are equal in everything’ “

The difficulties she faced were not only in her college life. People’s look was one

of the difficulties that she faced. Some people frustrated her and started to say that

this field was not suitable for girls, she faced a lot of negativity, about which she

commented “I was thinking to leave the college at this moment. But it was hard,

because I was in the middle of the road”. But many people encouraged her and

loved her field. At the

end, there were two different views of people. The first one

was that of people who appreciated this field and started to support her, and the

second was the disappointing one, people who started to say that this field is not

made for girls, and she will not succeed in it!

Jomana Elkholy in the show queue

She chose this field because she loves travelling and she wishes to travel the world.

And she wants to be equal to boys. She said that “I’ll feel satisfied when I take the

BA in shipping with the ticket or degree of a second officer”. And she does not

want to stay at the sea, she wants to reach the rank of a Captain, then she will

move to the academic side and teach at the college.

The journey ended by her overco

ming all the difficulties that she faced, and she

graduated from her college and now she will face the sea again to reach her dream,

the rank of “Captain”.