Tuesday, January 20, 2009 3 PM

I am typing this as I sit on the balcony of our flat. We live in a neighborhood, Agouza, right on the Nile. My view from the 6^th floor consists of the rooftops of the hundreds of apartment buildings around the city. Most of these rooftops appear to be unfinished apartment buildings but really the apartment is finished but ready for another level to be added if needed. It is quite incredible when thinking of how many people occupy this city, Cairo. About 20 million. We have begun to get our bearings as to how the city lays out… which doesn’t mean we don’t get lost about once a day…

It is difficult deciding how to explain everything we have experienced so far and how much to include, especially this first week or so when experiencing all of the different sides of Cairo. It is my desire to do this in a thoughtful and descriptive way. Perhaps I will begin with today and work backwards…

Tuesday, 20^th : Prison

Today was the first day of our service projects. Classes will be S, M, W, Th; with service projects on T. F & Sat will be the weekend. Kendrick, Sam, Ashley, Laurie, Dr. Holt, and I will be going to the local prison every week throughout the semester. The day began with meeting Nuvene at the All Saints Church nearby in downtown Cairo. Her husband was a pastor at the church but died of a heart attack in his 40s. Nuvene is a free spirited and loving woman, every where we went people greeted her with huge smiles and hugs. We took a station-wagon taxi (perfect for getting large groups of us around!!) 30 min out of town (where they began to drive even more similar to Indians!) and stopped in a village to pick up more food and materials the men at the prison had requested. Nuvene was met with great enthusiasm here also, many of the vendors just so excited to see her. Then we drove on to the prison. However, with the speed at which we were going it took a little longer… because Dr. Holt was with and requested the cabby drive at a more normal speed (SLOWER)… or else we would have made it there in a jiffy!!

It took about 2 hours to get into the prison… getting through security over and over again, and then waiting in a larger outdoor room for the men to be allowed in. In this room were about 10 other families, speaking with or waiting to see their loved ones. Children, babies, wives, mothers, and fathers. Upon arriving a young inmate was allowed into the room, where his young wife & son, mother, father, and 3 brothers were waiting. To see their excitement and joy upon seeing this man, to see their sorrow at the same time, to see what separation for many months or many years can do to a person.. brought such sorrow to my heart. It was embarrassing trying to hide tears, especially in a situation/country where all men’s eyes are already on us.

This prison is a lower security prison, most men are finishing out their sentences here. They are from all over the area: Cambodia, Cameroon, Sri Lanka, Nigeria. Many of the men are sub-Saharin and are there just for immigration difficulties. One example of how human rights in Egypt is tucked under the table.

Our group’s job is to just talk with the men, who Nuvene meets with almost every week, and be a listening ear. These men are all Coptic Christians and have come to Christ sometime throughout their prison stay. I had the amazing opportunity to meet Daniel, a middle-aged man from Nigeria, who has been there for 17 years. I can’t even begin to describe how Daniel’s words spoke straight to my heart and I really believe God was speaking through him, crisp and clear. Daniel’s faith is something that is difficult for me to grasp, so real and unwavering. He was very obviously gifted with the power of words and expression through them. I cannot say much more if I am to put this in a blog, but I will learn much more as we meet throughout the semester.

While we were waiting through the whole process of checking-in and for the men, I met another small family who was visiting with their father. Hannin, a spritely 6 year old came over and grabbed my hand, then just stood there shyly. How easy and straightforwardly children give their love!! Her plan was to give me many kisses (as they greet some places here) her mother, Rania, later explained. Hannin’s brother, Joseph, is 5 years old and was just excited to be running around and to see his papa.

Monday 19^th : Garbage City

Yesterday was absolutely amazing!! The whole group went to Garbage City. It is very difficult to describe all of the characteristics and even emotions from the day. GC is an entirely different and fairly separate part of Cairo. The government does not want outsiders, let alone tourists, to know about GC. However, this is difficult for them to conceal because of vast size and because everyone must drive through GC to get to Church of the Caves.

Most of the people of Garbage City are not Muslim, though there is a separate Muslim section. Many are Coptic Christians, and there abouts. As the name pertains, a majority of the citizens of Garbage City make a living off of garbage. The city pays very, very little to some of the citizens to collect garbage (from other parts of the city), and others just collect garbage on their own. We are talking about a very large amount of garbage, a city looking as if it were built in a garbage dump. Garbage is everywhere, many of the bottom apartments/stalls were just people sorting garbage, sitting beside huge piles of bags of garbage. At most of the places their children were sitting right in or near the garbage, to be near their parents. It was a holiday, so children were not in school, but there are a few public schools (no private schools, which are of higher quality) for the children to attend.

The garbage is sorted through and organized into piles of what can be recycled, plastics, metals which can be re-fashioned and then sold to stores. The recyclable materials are then sold to recycling stations. This is how a majority of the people make their living. GC did smell a bit, but not too much in the 60 degree weather.

The people here just seemed to be a bit more lively, maybe due to many not being Muslim and the children not in school. There seemed to be a different kind of hope alive in GC. It was amazing driving and walking through the streets.

We went to the Sisters of Charity Orphanage when we arrived. First off, I cannot even fathom how these women have such love and commitment to love these children & elderly they are caring for. It was very obviously exhausting and life-consuming. Stepping of the street into the courtyard of the orphanage was like stepping into another world, a cleaner, quieter, more serene world. The elderly live on the bottom floor of the large and complicated complex. There were about 15 elderly women we met. Most were very excited to shake our hands, though none spoke English. It appeared that most were not mentally there, some were very disfigured, and one was just a token of the heart. She was smiling and laughing, and kept making a very active swimming turtle with her hands and sound effects to go with it. Then she would make an elephant’s trunk with her hands to her nose, with the appropriate sound effects also. It was heart-warming and she certainly laughed more when we laughed.

The second floor had, oh man, maybe 14-18 toddlers and babies. They were so precious, as may be expected, and so quiet also, maybe not so expected. Some people went back with the elderly, some stayed here, and some went on to the handicapped/infant floor. Arriving here was heartbreaking, it was obvious that love and appropriate materials are direly needed. There were 4 handicapped girls, ages 5-7 sprawled in baby carriers on the floor. The infants were laying around on bed mattresses. One very tiny girl was Miriam, such a beautiful name to a beautiful smile and eyes. Matina was across the room from her, and she had such a difficult time even laying there. She loved to be held by warm arms. Heidi was next to Matina, we pulled her out of her carrier so she could be in my lap. They fear she is blind so it was best to sing to her and to cause sensations on her limbs with a bumpy ball. She would smile at this and her big brown eyes opened even more widely at the touch.

Sunday 18^th : Roaming Cairo on the Metro

Sunday morning we went to the embassy here to finish our visas and then we spent the day roaming Cairo on the metro (subway). It was an adventure, an exhausting but good one. There are men’s cars and ladies’ cars. The women rode some on both. It was very uncomfortable riding in the men’s car when it was busy, worrying about men brushing up against you in appropriately and the eyes are everywhere. But we explored the city, from the universities (which we spent much time trying to get into and met 2 Lebanese chemical engineers) to the outer poorer suburbs, to the wealthy suburbs. So many people everywhere!!