College student from LI stuck in Cairo chaos

When 20-year-old Kyleen Burke of Port Jefferson left for Cairo on Jan. 11, she was looking forward to an exciting semester abroad as a junior in the Middle East program run by Gordon College in Massachusetts, her father Jim Burke said Saturday.

But recently spending the night in the Cairo railroad station was not likely what she had in mind, he said.

Kyleen had to stay in the station after police declared a curfew to stop widespread protests bordering on anarchy against the nearly 30-year administration.

"I just want her out of there," Burke said in a telephone interview. "You got to have faith that things are going to work out."

Burke, 51, said Kyleen is one of about 35 in the program waiting for the curfew to be lifted so that they can go to a retreat house about an hour outside of Cairo until Tuesday, when they plan to take a side trip to Istanbul. The semester abroad is scheduled to last until the end of April.

Making the situation more difficult for Burke and his wife Maureen is the lack of contact with their daughter since last Wednesday, when the Egyptian government shut down the Internet. The Burkes had used Skype and e-mail to stay in touch.

The last time he talked with her, he related, "She said everything is OK. Don't worry about what you see on TV."

But he added, "I haven't spoken with anybody from Egypt directly since Wednesday. That's when they shut down the Internet."

Kyleen assured her parents she was fine and out of the way of the protests where they were staying in Cairo, in a community across the Nile from where most of the action has taken place, her father said.

Gordon College President R. Judson Carlberg did not return a phone call Saturday night.

Burke said he had heard from his friend Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), who called the State Department to try to help the class get out of Cairo. Burke lost a brother, firefighter William F. Burke Jr., in the response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack.

"We're just waiting to hear from them," Burke said of the college and semester abroad program directors.