06/01/2003

Jeena Santos and Dr. Wesam Ahmed

The Biltmore Hotel, Providence

4.11.03

In Egypt, the zaffa, or wedding march, is a musical procession of drums, bagpipes, horns, belly dancers, and men carrying flaming swords. Tonight, in Providence, it has been only slightly modified at the wedding of Rhode Island native Jeena Santos and Dr. Wesam Ahmed, originally from Egypt.

In place of men with drums and flaming swords, Santos and Ahmed will be preceded into the Grand Ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel by four young girls wearing frilly pink organza dresses, carrying candles.

And then there is Najmat: She prefers to call herself a Middle Eastern dancer rather than a belly dancer. She's Brazilian, lives and teaches dance in Cambridge, and has been performing in clubs and at private events for some 10 years. Tonight, she will dance with a chandelier of lit candles on her head. Earlier, concerned about clearing the doorway into the ballroom, she did a test run.

Inside, the entourage is greeted and encircled by the guests, clapping to traditional Middle Eastern wedding songs in Arabic. Many of the female guests produce a strange howling/clucking sound. It's called zagruta, and, according to Santos, Arab women do it to signify happy occasions and celebrations. "In Egypt, that's how you can tell a wedding procession is coming." The bride and groom are all smiles as Najmat undulates with the rhythm.

Jeena Santos, 23, is of Portuguese and Italian heritage, the only child of a single mother. She has lived in Rhode Island her entire life -- born in Providence, later moving to Warwick. During her college years at Simmons College in Boston, she studied abroad, in Spain.

"I love to travel, and one winter break I went with some girls I knew from college to their home in Tanta, Egypt. There aren't many tourists there -- it's more of a rural place. I fell in love with the country and made it a routine to travel there a few weeks every year for vacation. Although I could have visited many cities and tourist spots, I preferred staying in Tanta with my girlfriends."

Dr. Wesam Ahmed is 36. "He's an oncologist and super smart," says Santos. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in biochemistry, and an M.D and Ph.D. in hematology/oncology. He came to the United States as a Ph.D. student. Now, he is researching drugs for leukemia at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

It was here in the United States that Santos met Wesam -- through a mutual friend. "When we were introduced, I asked him where he was from. He replied 'Egypt' so I asked him which city. He replied, 'A city between Alexandria and Cairo. You wouldn't know it.' I asked him again and he said, 'A place called Tanta.' I told him I had been there and he thought I was joking. I had to prove it to him by naming streets and landmarks."

Santos converted to Islam three years ago. "I had always been curious and open-minded, had studied Middle Eastern politics and culture. I had Muslim women friends, read the Koran, visited a mosque, then started attending weekend classes there for women. I realized I had been living my life like a Muslim for a long time without knowing it -- my moral traditions and values are part of Islam."

"How could I have known, when I was bargaining at the bazaars and drinking tea in the cafes in Tanta, Egypt, with my friends, that I was walking in the city that my future husband was raised in."