(Worcester, Mass.)—Mohamed Bayou, who earned a certificate in advanced English from Worcester State University’s Intensive English Language Institute (IELI) in 2008, will return to campus to speak about his involvement in the overthrow of 42-year dictator Maummar Gaddafi on Wednesday, April 11 at 11:30 a.m. in the Student Center’s Blue Lounge.
Bayou enrolled in IELI in 2007 to learn English. He returned to Libya in 2008 to continue his university studies in geology and to work as an interpreter. When the uprising against Gaddafi started in February 2011, Bayou was working in the capital city of Tripoli and joined the protest against the regime.
Bayou was involved in the battles to retake Tripoli, and lost a brother and many friends in the fighting. He was present on August 20, 2011, when rebels re-entered Tripoli and liberated 75 percent of the city. He witnessed the downfall of Bab Alazaizya, Gaddafi’s main headquarters.
Bayou was injured five days later when he was shot by a sniper in the Abu Saleem area of Tripoli. He was first treated in Tripoli, then Tunisia, and then at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital in Worcester, where he has family. He now walks with a prosthetic leg.
Bayou plans to finish school in the United States before he returns to Libya.
Bayou’s appearance, which is sponsored by the Intensive English Language Institute, is free and open to the public.
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