Another learning experience

Working at EACID I’ve been able to learn a lot about working directly with those receiving the benefits of international development assistance. Last week I was able to see another side of the development system when two representatives from CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) came to visit the project. Richard and Reem were up from Cairo and we spent most of the morning on Saturday with Dr. Mamdouh, EACID’s director, and the CIDA reps. After that they heard from the kids who had put together a puppet show about the project and got a demonstration of the computer game that has been developed to teach kids business ethics before we all got into a taxi to visit some of the business that are receiving loans from EACID and who have children working there who participate in PPIC Work programming.

The evening had a more relaxed feel to it, we took a felucca ride at sunset which, even thought it was my third time, never disappoints. The difference this time was that the water level has dropped considerably and we had a small problem getting upstream at different points. One time we had to back the boat up and taking a running start but we made it with a little extra work from the motor.

The next morning’s meeting was more forward looking at the plans once the current project ends in June. I was also able to share the work I’ve started here with the photo documentation with a presentation from some of the kids and then an explanation of some of the steps were trying to take now. The visit ended on a very positive note and was quite successful. After all of the preparation I think it was a relief for some to hear the positive response. The principles of the project were really well received and continue to push into areas that many organizations don’t believe are possible to do with any level of success.

It is looking like I'll be around to see some of our activities through a little longer than expected.  Project activities will be wrapping up in June and the details are coming together for me to stay on a little longer than the original plan of finishing up my work at the end of January.

A weekend in Cairo

Two weekends ago I took a little trip to Cairo for a change of scenery and to see friends. It still blows my mind that I went to Cairo for the weekend, and talk about it like it is nothing out of the ordinary. While I went for the weekend, it is by no means close by. It took a little over 13 hours on the train, which probably sounds long and uncomfortable, but the sleeper trains that travel over night are quite comfortable and you can get a half decent sleep while saving a lot by not flying. Dinner and breakfast are included in the ticket and the beds were comfy. All in all, a good experience.

I arrived in Cairo, known as a chaotic, dirty, polluted and crowded, and found almost none of these things. The haze I remembered was still hanging over the city, and is a little worse at this time of year when the fields nearby are being burned, but the city had a feeling of relative calm and quiet. This is the beauty of a Friday morning in Egypt before noon time prayers after which the city really comes back to life. As well, the trip on the metro after leaving the train station and the short walk to Rachel's flat was familiar, lessening the feeling of chaos I often felt in my first few weeks here. After making a tentative plan for the day Rachel and I met Reem (another colleague who lives in Cairo) for breakfast. Reem took us to a little diner where we had an 'american' breakfast...bacon and eggs with hashbrowns and toast, and free refills on the coffee. Our next stop was al-Ahzar park for a potluck picnic for Carolyn, Akino, and Rike, friends who by tomorrow morning will all have left Egypt for the foreseeable future. Round two of the goodbye gatherings happened on the rooftop terrace of a downtown hotel, after which I fell right to sleep (the sleep on the train was good, but not that good).

Saturday we mixed a little work into the weekend and went to Doweika, where a week or so of training for new staff was wrapping up, but by Sunday I was back to exploring more of the city. Carolyn, Rachel and I visited the home of two of the n

ew staff in Doweika who later took us through their neighborhood to an amazing amphitheatre church carv

ed in to the mountain. The community in the area is about 80% Coptic Christian and it is also home to a group called the

 zabaleen, the community of people known to be some of the world's best recyclers, making it their daily work to collect the garbage of the city of 20 million, bringing it back to their home where it is sorted and recycled. While they do provide an important service to the city, they are often sorting decomposing materials in or just outside of their homes and they also have to live with the smell on a daily basis. Once we finished there I left Rachel and Carolyn and took the metro to Coptic Cairo to visit 3rd and 4th century churches in old cairo. It was the most hassle free tourism I had experienced so far I Egypt where you take a set of stairs down below street level and wander narrow passage ways finding small churches around corners and in small doors in the wall.

The last stop of the day before getting to the train station for my ride back was the grocery store, supplemented by Rachel’s fridge, for things that I haven’t been able to find in Aswan. Those of you who I traveled with in South Africa will understand why peanut butter has been a highlight of the week.

A better picture

So my last few posts have been less than visually stimulating, mostly because my the internet connections I've been using haven't been strong enough to upload pictures...even at McDonalds (it's the only remotely western establishment here, it opened last spring...and offers free wireless and delivery). Hopefully this gives everyone a better picture, literally, of life in Aswan.

A shop in the market selling a variety of things 

including spices, dates, pumice, etc...

                                                             

One of the many horse and buggy combos around 

town, used for tourists and weddings

A man smoking sheesha from a water pipe...extremely 

bad for your health but a permanent part of cafe life

The produce stand where I buy 

my fruits and vegetables

Natasha, Reem, and I on a sunset felucca ride...normally

 I'd be smiling with my teeth but I've got a mouth full of cookie

Playing the Menno Game

For the most part, as I go about my day here in Aswan I don't expect to have many conversations in English, never mind meet people who know my grandparents or who went to high school with my parents and their siblings.  But, as I'm learning to anticipate here in Egypt, you have to expect the unexpected and the unexpected happened last Friday when the MEDA tour group came to town.  The fact that it was a MEDA tour group kind of takes away from what would otherwise have been a chance encounter but it was somewhat ironic anyway. And, as always happens when you discover you're in the company of another Mennonite from the same city, you have to find out whether you know any of the same people or if you might even be related.  I found no relatives but the rest played out as it usually does.  One of the couples knew my grandparents, and the tour leader went to school with my Uncle Herb and knew both my parents.  It's a small world after all!

The MEDA tour is an opportunity for MEDA supporters and friends to experience another country while visiting MEDA supported projects around the world.  The group that arrived last Friday morning to visit the EACID office and meet some of the children involved in programing were a combination of first time and repeat visitors to Egypt.  The children presented some of what they have been learning and the key components of the program, followed by a Q&A time for tour members to have their questions answered by both the kids and staff.  At that point all but two of the group headed off to get some sleep.  The couple who had been on the tour last year stayed for another hour or so to share some photography skills with the kids who have really taken to using the cameras that were donated with funds brought along with them during the previous tour.  The kids had a blast, including Mohamed who had the chance to use Delmar's professional quality camera.  Hopefully they will be just as excited when we start trying to help them document their stories through pictures in the coming weeks.