U.S. Student Spends Summer Holidays in Libya to Help Rebels Oust Gaddafi
Unlike most college students that stay home to work or intern over summer, Chris Jeon decided to take the “vacation’ of a lifetime and go to Libya to aid in the rebel movement against Muammar Gaddafi.
Jeon, a 21-year-old math student at UCLA, bought a one-way ticket to Cairo where he caught a train to Alexandria, Egypt. From Alexandria he caught a bus to Benghazi and then finally hitchhiked across the country to finally make it to Tripoli.
Jeon didn’t make it in time for the liberation of Tripoli but he is having an authentic experience being housed and fed by rebels. The rebels also gave him a shotgun and a new Libyan name. They call Jeon, “Ahmed El Maghrabi Saidi Barga.”
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Jeon’s parents do not know where he is as the adventurous student told them that he was taking a different trip.
Jeon says he came to Libya because he thought "it would be cool” to join the rebel movement that he believes is “one of the only real revolutions” in the world.
He bought a one-way ticket that cost him $800. Jeon didn’t want to spend the extra money on a round trip ticket in case he “got captured or something.”
However, the young student isn't worried about getting hurt, and he says that he "believes in destiny."
He claims to be aiding in the rebel movement effort, however, has admitted that he does not know how to shoot a gun and he doesn’t speak any Arabic.
Evan Hill of English Al Jazeera, signaled that perhaps the rebels are done taking care of Jeon when he tweeted, “Our team in east #Libya said rebels fed up with Chris Jeon, US kid who tried to join, told him 2 go, last seen on pick up going 2 Benghazi.”
Jeon’s story was discovered by journalists once he made it into Tripoli. He asked journalists not to out him saying, "Whatever you do, just don't tell my parents. They don't know I'm here."
