Winter 2013
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TOWER
13
where Amie, not particularly keen on teaching at that
point, was living and working after graduation.
“A friend of mine from Kutztown had associates
who were working in Saudi Arabia, teaching English
as a foreign language,” she said. “When they came
back to visit I was inspired by their stories and by
their experiences.”
She did some research and in 1983 started work on
her master’s in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
at American University in Cairo.
Amie had always done well in writing classes at KU.
While studying in Cairo, she began writing stories for
American newspapers. She wrote about horses (Amie
owned four, one being a purebred Arabian) and Bedouin
(nomadic Arab tribes) culture.
“My creativity shifted from canvas and sculptures
to writing,” she recalled.
She also started teaching English classes to native
Arabic speakers at the university, even after graduating
in 1986, and at the U.S. Embassy. In 1987, through an
American company, Telemedia, Amie was teaching
English and developing curriculum for cadets in the
Egyptian Air Force Academy in Bilbeis.
Two years later, she was in Bahrain, now a contribut-
ing reporter for the Associated Press.
A year later, Saddam Hussein’s forces rolled into
Kuwait, and the gravity of war exerted its inexorable
pull on Amie’s life and career.
“I didn’t ask to get involved in conflict; it just hap-
pened,” she said. “My focus at AP shifted from banking,
finance and culture, to flak jackets, chemical suits and
gas masks. The scary part were incoming Scuds (mis-
siles). Many were landing in Bahrain or in the waters
between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.”
Amie points out that while “the Gulf War only lasted
about 100 days, the seven-month build up led to the
largest stress.”
“The tension was more unnerving than the war
itself,” she remembered. “During the war, you’re so
busy. When the conflict finally came to a head it was
almost a relief.”
Nonetheless, post-conflict Iraq was action-packed,
she said, with threats from Saddam, border issues, oil
well fires and oil smuggling.
Her employers varied over the next few years: she
covered Kuwaiti reconstruction for a U.S.-based think
tank, Pasha Publications; she set up and managed a
Kuwaiti news bureau for United Press International
(UPI); Deutsche Presse-Agentur hired her twice to
cover events from Kuwait; and she joined Platts, the
energy division of McGraw-Hill Financial in 2000.
That’s in addition to freelancing for CNN, CNN
International, CBS “60 Minutes,” CBS Radio and
Washington Newsdesk.
During the 2003 Iraq War, she was a unilateral
reporter, as opposed to one embedded with a military
unit. She had more freedom, but ran far greater risk.
At times, Amie traveled with a Kuwaiti oil well
firefighting team, whom she describes as wonderful
friends who would have laid down their lives for her.
It was with them, in Southern Iraq, after the men had
cleared a path through a minefield, where she found
herself scrambling for cover across barren ground when
unknown adversaries opened fire on them.
She still remembers sleepless nights in Iraq when
rocket attacks drove her and others into bunkers.
In 2011, Amie decided to broaden her horizons,
becoming strategic communications advisor for USAID
in what is called the U.S. Regional Platform South,
Kandahar, Afghanistan. Her tasks included helping
mentor government organizations to create broadcasts
for anti-narcotic efforts and for peace and reconciliation
among tribes.
Gender violence, she said, was prevalent, and she met
women who were battered and otherwise abused.
“Part of my job included mentoring Afghan nongov-
ernment organizations to secure U.S. government funds
to further media and gender development,” she said. “I
ended up creating the first-ever gender strategy for
Southern Afghanistan.”
Radio in a box (RIAB) kits, used to set up a complete
broadcasting station, proved useful at penetrating
ancient walls and reaching geographically isolated
populations.
“The women we worked with were always under
threat,” she said. “Some carried weapons. They were
cloistered. But radio is a driving force. It’s the glue that
keeps society together. It makes them feel like they’re
bonded. They can be miles apart but can connect via
cell phone to a radio program and still be anonymous.”
Meanwhile, the war continued in fits and spurts,
with periods of daily and nightly shelling, and relatively
peaceful stretches in between. Nobody was truly safe.
“It was always hard to hear news that your colleagues
were involved in accidents or hit by an IED (improvised
explosive devise),” she said.
In September 2012, Amie left USAID and returned
to Kuwait, her headquarters for much of the past 25
years, where she has been doing stories for Platts.
How does she do it? How does she handle the stress
of conflict and a deadline-intensive industry?
“Wherever I set up my home and my office, home
always becomes my retreat,” she said. “I come back to
decompress, have some downtime and recharge my bat-
teries. I believe that my years of practicing yoga have
helped me cope and maintain stability while working in
conflict zones. I love taking care of animals. That is the
domestic side of me. I had horses when I was in Egypt,
and I have my cats with me now. ”
Amie is happily married to her career.
“My work is my life and I like that. I get up like a
fireman every day, ready to do the job.”
Miriam Amie
1976
Graduates from
Kutztown University
with a degree in
art education.
1983
Moves to Cairo
to work on a degree in
Teaching English as a
Foreign Language.
1989
Becomes a contributing
reporter for the
Associated Press
.
1990
Iraq invades Kuwait.
Amie reports for
CNN and CBS
during the war and the
post-war period
.
2000
Amie interviews Ayatollah
Sayed Mohammed Baqir
al-Hakim in Kuwait.
He was one of the
most influential Shia
Muslim spiritual leaders
with millions of followers
in Iraq and Iran.
2011
Becomes a
strategic
communications
advisor for USAID
.
2012
Returns to Kuwait.
