Bring Maryem Home

On January 8, 2006 I gave birth to a 6pd 8oz baby girl. My husband,at the time,and I named her Maryem. Since she was four months old, she has been living in Mansoura, Egypt with my ex-mother in-law. During the first few years of Maryems life, I was traveling back and forth from the States to Egypt to see my daughter. My ex husband was making all these empty promises about bringing her home and like always, I believed him. I was brought up believeing marriage was for life, through thick and thin. I married Amro on May 24, 2004, because I believed with his culture and religous background, I would be married for life. The way marriage is suppose to be. Now the first year of our marriage was GREAT, actually up until the day I found out I was pregnant, everything was wonderful in our life. On June 8 2005, my birthday, I discovered I was with child. At this point I began to see a change in Amro, aka Alex, a change I just knew was only due to becoming a father. We were both only 24 years of age and although I was extremely excited, I could tell he was not. Around my second trimester, Alex began stating he wanted our daughter to be raised in Egypt with his family, culture, and religion. At this point I stood my ground and told him that was not going to happen. When I was one month away from delivering, Alex decided to go see his family in Egypt. I begged him not to go but, he decided too anyway. I was admited in the hospital on January 4,2006 due to preeclampsia. After four long days of labor, Maryem was born. Alex made it back within twenty-hours of her birth and he looked so proud. After two more days in the hospital, we finally bring Maryem home. Jaundice was the only problem we had to handle the first week of her life. Alex was so nervous, he watched her like a hawk. We were both up every two to four hours feeding and just watching her sleep. I tried to breast feed, but Maryem would not latch correctly. Next was colic; although Alex was there, I still felt as though I was alone. My whole life was my husband and Maryem. Then I was told that Maryem was going to Egypt with his mother when she came for a visit. I refused to allow this to happen. We were having some financial problems at the time, but who doesn't? Alex swore to me that she would only go for a month. I still said no. Then he threatend me with a divorce. This scared me because I had never wanted to have a split up family. after about a week of fighting and crying, I caved. I stood at JFK airport and watched as his mother took my child down the walkway onto the plane. A month later, I flew to Egypt with the thought of bringing my baby home, little did I know this was not the case. According to Egyptian laws, anyone who has been in Egypt more than thirty days and whose father is Egyptian is therfore considered to be Egyptian as well, reguardless of what nationality they come from. With out the fathers permission, no one is allowed to take their own children out of Egypt. The last time I saw Maryem, she was three years old. As of January 8, 2012 she is six years of age. I have asked multiple times to talk to her and see her but for the past three years, I have been ignored. After my last trip to Egypt I realized that Alex was not going to bring her home and so I began looking for a way out of the marriage. The only way I knew for sure to get a divorce was to commit adultry.I also began drinking and smoking marijuana. This life style became who I was. The alcohol numbed the pain and the marijuana made me forget. I believed I was never going to see her again, and life became to hard to bear. I am not proud of what I did, but I cannot change the past. The one good thing about my new way of life, was my new precious little girl I delivered on July 15, 2010. Her name is Diana, and she changed my whole world. As I watch her grow, I see just how much I have missed with Maryem. Now I was not a "perfect" wife by no means what so ever. I made mistakes and done stupid things, but that gives Amro El-Sayed NO right to play judge and jury. He has even told Maryem that I was dead. I have tried compromising with him. Still no results. I am now letting go of all the fear that I have towards him and fighting to bring my baby home. I am her mother and nobody can change that. I have been so scared of Alex for so long, I am now using that fear to push me towards doing the right thing. With all the fighting happening in Egypt today, I fear for her safety and I need to BRING MARYEM HOME!!!!