Cairo, Monday May 2

Cairo Monday, May 2, 2011

My day got off to a very early start. About 3:30 in the morning, the Muslim call to prayer, the adhan began, but in Erick and Alicia’s expatriate neighborhoods with an abnormal for the Middle East concentration of dogs, the adhan was quickly drowned out by the canine accompaniment. While I was familiar with the adhan, it was right around sunrise; this was the middle of the night, so I do not know how they figure the time. Interestingly, this first call is followed by a second call known as iqama (set up) which summons Muslims to line up for the beginning of the prayers. The main purpose behind the multiple loud pronouncements of adhan in every mosque is to make available to everyone an easily intelligible summary of Islamic belief. The dogs also joined in with the igama. For the vast majority of people all this is pretty much background noise. We heard the afternoon call while on a busy street in Amman and saw absolutely no change in the hustle and bustle. Most people do not even hear it anymore; it is sort of like living next to a railroad line and getting used to the sound of the train at specific times. Between the muezzin and the dogs I was wide awake, and so I spend a good chunk of my morning praying; praying for all the believers I had met, praying for the Coptic Church and other believers in Egypt; praying for our team and those we would meet in Amman. I finally fell asleep again, slept through my own cell phone alarm and was awakened by Erick knocking on my door.

We planned to meet everyone at the Giza pyramids at ten so my oversleeping through us a bit behind schedule. We walked to a nearby restaurant where once again the economic price of revolution was evident as at 8:30 in the morning we were the only customers in the eatery with country-western motif. Who would of thought Johnny Cash would fit so well in Cairo? After exchanging some US dollar for Egyptian pounds to sightsee and shop for the day, Erick had his driver tooke three of us to Giza. We beat the team there and since security would not let us wait in the bus zone, when they arrived I was unable to get my overnight bag on the bus before it left and so had to leave it with Erick’s driver to retrieve later in the day.

After passing through the ticket booths we were immediately set upon by Bedouin vendors. I allowed myself to get isolated from our group and quite literally was having “gifts” stuffed in my pockets and on my head and in trying to beg off I foolishly pulled out my money clip and had the top note, which I later discovered to be a 200# note (about $35 US) , ripped out of my hand. Having on sunglasses and not my regular glasses I did not know what was taken, I demanded the return of my money and the vendor cleverly produced a 10 EP note. Valuable lesson learned as I later in private shifted small bills for tipping to produce and leave larger bills safely tucked away. I soon learned not to make any eye contact, for in tourist’s area any interaction is taken as opportunity to be tipped. I understand that they live off tips, that many Americans spend more on lattes that many Egyptians make in a day (though not necessarily these vendors), that tourism is off significantly, but I did not like what the whole interaction did to my normally friendly demeanor. As we moved through the pyramids, vendors followed our group like a flock of vultures.

Adam had a group of camel drivers he knew from prior trips and made arrangement for us to ride back from the pyramids to the entrance near the Sphinx. The head driver spoke something like nine languages; I am sure in good times they make a very nice living. We all enjoyed our camel ride. The experience of being on such a tall creature when he stood up or down was pretty extreme; you would have to lean back sharply to avoid falling off the front of the camel. Otherwise it was similar to riding a horse…… except you were way further from the ground.

Near the entrance to the pyramids was a KFC where we ate lunch. A tip got us access to the fourth floor roof with some nice views of the pyramids. After lunch our bus driver, Mohammed, took us through Garbage City which is a world unto its own and which was the subject of a recent PBS documentary: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/garbage-dreams/film.html. Garbage City is home to 60,000 Zaballeen — Arabic for "garbage people." The Zaballeen have survived for centuries by recycling Cairo's waste. Members of Egypt's minority Coptic Christian community, these entrepreneurial garbage workers recycle nearly all the trash they collect, maintaining what could be the world’s most efficient waste disposal system. But adjacent to Garbage City is the largest church in North Africa, The Church of the Cave. http://cavechurch.com/home/index.asp We were warmly received at the church and learned a bit of some of the traditions of the Coptic Church, particularly a miracle circa AD 979 when God moved the mountain where the church is now located to gain favor for the Coptics from the ruling caliph, and the appearance of a finished Madonna and child sculpture on the cave ceiling while excavating for the church. Later on in private on the bus we had interesting discussion about the validity of the miracles and the wisdom of putting faith in such things as the Shroud of Turin. My character defects of skepticism and being opinionated were clearly on display but I still respect their beliefs. I regret we were not there on a Saturday night when 5000 believers would be within the walls of the cave worshipping.

From the Church of the Cave we headed back into Cairo for an hour excursion at the shopping market. Again the shop owners were extremely aggressive, at least the first fifty meters or so going into the market. At times they would literally grab hold of your person to try and pull you into their shops. Accompanied by Adam and several of Wahid’s MELTI staff we fared well and I negotiated for T-shirts. Erick and Alicia called it a day so I went with them to retrieve my bag from their driver’s card. After affectionate good-byes, I put on sunglasses and my game face and barreled through the gauntlet of aggressive vendors at the market’s entrance. Catching up with our team we visited some quieter shops deep in the market where Adam knew the owners. At one I bought a large number of small Coptic crosses made of camel bone to give to my support team.

After shopping it was back to the Fowler House for a quick shower and then off to Wahid and Laila’s house for a dinner which was attended by both their mom’s and other family, Adam and some others from MELTI, their leadership ministry, and some missionary friends of Adam. At dinner I discovered Adam and I had a mutual connection; the pastor of his home church in Tulsa is Alex Himaya who I knew quite well from when he was youth pastor at First Baptist in Springdale. To underscore how small the world can be, one of his missionary friends has a degree in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Arkansas. Apparently, thanks to Bill Clinton’s connections with the Saudi royal family, that program is well endowed.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal thanks to Laila. We also enjoyed visiting with everyone. One of the aspects of this trip I enjoyed was getting to know Wahid much better. In Syria I spent so much time with the young people I had limited personal interaction with Wahid, but with every new opportunity on this trip I have grown in my love and appreciation for him. While Wahid is going to be with us for a while in Amman, much of his team and all his family was not so the evening concluded with many hugs and kisses and good-byes. We returned to the Fowler House tired but well-fed and loved, and knowing we would have another early morning to be at the airport by 8 a.m.