Exchange student starved while in Egypt?

Question

Jonathan McCullum was in perfect health at 155 lbs when he left to spend the school year as an exchange student in Egypt.

But when he returned home to Maine 4 months later, the 5'9" teenager weighed a mere 97 pounds and was so weak that he struggled to carry his baggage or climb a flight of stairs. Doctors said he was at risk for a heart attack.

Do you think this was intentional? And what recourse does he have?

Answer 1

probably, unless he was so home sick that he became anorexic

Answer 2

he would have wanted to go home if he was starved

Answer 3

Well...this story does not make sense.  First, you can buy a sandwich in Egypt for 20 cents us.  So, why did this kid not have any money?

Second, I am Coptic and I have never met a Copt that starves themselves during fast.  Even the monks who are the strictest eat better than the description of this family's eating.

Finally, as an American, you can always leave.  I realize this everytime I visit my family in Egypt.  I can do what ever I want, even though I am Copt, because I can just leave.  They on the other hand have to deal with the discrimination.

Something is missing in this story.

Answer 4

Have you ever been to an Egyptian Restaurant?  You can order Chicago Pizza and hot dogs on line and delivered FedEX....that's what I would do

Answer 5

I seriously doubt it was intentional.

I have been to Egypt more than once (I just got back in November, and I am going back in a few months for another visit), and food is a big deal to Egyptians. Any family with enough money to host an exchange student would have enough money to feed him, and would feed him, since that's part of being a good host or hostess.

My guess is that he didn't like the food. Most of it is delicious, but there are some things which folks from the US might not want to try. I know there are certainly things which my dad's cook fixes which I just won't eat because I don't like it. If he wasn't prepared in advance for the different diet, he may have not eaten much, which would account for his weight loss. It's also possible that he didn't get all the proper vaccinations, and that he had severe stomach problems while there which made it hard for him to eat.

Whatever the cause, knowing how much Egyptians value being good to their guests, I am betting it was not intentional at all.

**EDIT**

Someone mentioned that Egyptians are selfish with their culture. That is not the case at all. I have been all over the place, and lived in various countries for extended periods of time--Egypt was one of those countries. The Egyptians are not selfish at all, and hospitality is so important to them that they would never willingly let a guest starve. They are generous to a fault, so that information is inaccurate.

**SECOND EDIT**

After reading the article in the link, I can see where the problem came in. The Copts do fast a lot. And unlike the Muslims, they may very well have expected him to fast along with them. I have been in Egypt during Ramadan, when they don't eat during the day, and I was still fed to bursting because Muslims consider their fasting to be a personal thing, and don't expect others to fast as well, just because it's Ramadan. They'll fix you food that they cannot eat until later, just to make sure you don't go hungry. It's too bad he went to a strict Coptic household. He would have been better off with a Muslim family.

Answer 6

I'm sorry, but I think its just as much as the students fault.  I'm going to be an exchange student and I know that if my host family was starving me I would go home or find food.  It is required by exchange students that they have at least $100 per month for spending money.  Is there a reason why he couldn't use that for food?

Answer 7

well the hosts that he was living with might have not fed him or let him eat or was poor or he was really depressed and didnt feel like egypt and although egypt is suppose to be beautiful it can be awfull as well

Answer 8

I think he lost it from the heat or something

...

I know somebody that was a foreign exchange student... they GAINED weight, but then again, they did go to France.

Answer 9

mayb he jux ddnt lyk tha food.....

Answer 10

I am Coptic and i fast the same amount of time each year that this family fasted and there is no way to say that we starve ourselves. we consume the same amount of nutrition and protein as we would if we weren't fasting. And when it comes down to hospitality, Egyptians are the nicest people there are and we would never even think of doing such a thing.

something big is def. missing from this story.

Answer 11

Why in the world did he go to Egypt in the first place? He should have went to Europe or South America, someplace where they actually have FOOD, not to mention better sanitation, less widespread illness, etc.

Answer 12

There's no way to answer your question without knowing what the given circumstances were.

Did he SAY that they starved him?

If not:

He could have contracted a disease or parasite (common in these situations).

Did he simply hate the food there, and refuse to eat it?

Who exactly do you think is to blame?

We would have to know more about the situation, to assign blame.

To assume that it was the host families fault, without any more info than you gave us here, would be absurd.

Answer 13

can you provide a link where you got this info from? i'd like to read it myself....thanks

EDIT: oh my god!!!! it was definitely intentional!!! no one loses that much weight if they are eating 1 1/2 hours a day. those people need to be put in jail

Answer 14

It should be noted that Coptic fasting involves eating no animal products. That means no meat and no dairy, basically a vegan diet. Add to that the fact that the dishes served would have been different from what he was used to, plus he may have gotten sick simply because the stomach flora was different, and I am inclined to believe that the problem was not so much that they didn't give him enough food but that he just didn't eat what was served. However, he should be prepared for that. What do exchange students who go to India do? We also have to consider that he may have had psychological issues. Anorexia is not only a female disease, some men have it too.

He had the option to change families and refused to because he didn't like the neighborhood where they lived. What a snob! The program was being flexible but he wasn't. He chose to stay in the situation he was in, and now he is complaining?

And as someone said, he had 100 dollars to spend a month, the fact that he still resorted to stealing food shows he had a low character to begin with and he is lucky the store owner didn't report him to the police because AFS probably would have sent him home. It's shameful and brings a bad idea about Americans to Egypt, and his subsequent behavior upon returning home brings a bad idea about Egypt to Americans.

This kid should never have been allowed to leave the US. He doesn't know how to take care of himself, has no ability to adapt to a different culture, and simply hurt American-Egyptian relations.

Answer 15

well, i learned that Egyptians, who live in Egypt, are very selfish with their cultures, they really don't like outsiders so i would say yea, it probably was intentional, but maybe we should find out from  McCullum himself