The Next Chapter: Cairo 20 July , 2008

After an enjoyable weekend in Amman while basically living out of Book@Cafe, I took a bus to Aqaba and ended up waiting 10 hours for a ferry across to Noueba, which left at 4am, and unloaded at 1pm.  That was the worse experience of the trip so far, and if wasn’t for the fact that a friendly Syrian (who also happened to be a Druze from Souada, go figure) helped me out, I may have just totally gone nuts.

Cairo has been an enjoyable experience, as after spending some time here each summer I am finally mentally prepared for the insanity that is Cairo before arriving.  Cairo is essentially the same size as New York, only you take away the infrastructure and add heat.  

My host last week was the morning DJ for Nile FM, the largest english radio station in the Arab world.  After a few days, she invited me into the studio to talk about the hospitality club we are in for such hosting (www.couchsurfing.com), and I also got to talk a bit about the chapter we are working to start in Cairo for World Faith.  It was funny to do an interview on the radio that wasn’t focused on World Faith, but rather talking about someone else’s project.  The interview will be posted on the World Faith website soon.

So after getting settled here, I met with Mustafa Abdullah, the leader of the World Faith chapter in Winston-Salem, and with Catherine Manfre, who is going to be our new Regional Director for Egypt.  After some meetings we came up with our plan of attack, and are hosting an interest meeting for the chapter this Tuesday at Pottery Cafe, across from American University of Cairo (Where Catherine had studied).  We already have quite a few interested people, and I think it will be a very interesting meeting… these sort of things get me re-inspired and remind me why I even do this in the first place.  More to report as afterwards.

Finally, after going to the Sudanese Embassy, I found out that my application for Sudan has to be personally signed by President Bashir, who was indicted by the ICC the same day I applied… I have no idea if I am going to get this visa or not.  Furthermore I have spent most the money I set aside for this trip already, so I am digging a little deeper than I feel comfortable with, but c’est la vie.  STILL reaching out to funders and seeing if we can get some real funding behind World Faith, as we still have done all that we have on less than $20,000 in the past two years.  I apologize that most of my blogs right now are commentary, but I hope to expand into more exploratory discussions when I am not traveling… Right now I am using the blog to keep people updated that I haven’t been able to single out and update.  More to come, as usual…

Meet the Druze 9 July , 2008

Well the past few days were a prime example of when things go quite differently than you expect.  Upon leaving Beirut towards Damascus, I got held up waiting for the Syrian visa, which is par for the course.  This time however, rather than taking two hours (as it was in January) they took five hours.  By this time it was 10:30 pm, and there were no cabs in sight.

 

Then that’s when things get interesting.  A woman had heard me talking to another man there about finding a taxi, and recognized that I am not native (my broken Arabic is a bit of a giveaway), and told her husband that they should help me since I am a foreigner.  After looking around he said he saw no foreigner, but she ensued and he invited me in their car to get a ride to Damascus.

 

Rather then following old adage of “stranger danger,” I took a chance and accepted.  On the way after our introductions we all discovered that we were heading to Amman, them two days later, and me the next day.  Maen, the husband, proposed, “How about this, why don’t you come to Souaida with us, join us at my parents home, meet my children, and then come with us to Amman.  You can be our guest.”  I accepted.

 

Souaida, a town of Christians and Druze, is a decent-sized town complete with a market, but show no signs of foreigner presence.  Being Druze, they shared with me stories of their prophets and traditions.  One in particular that stuck out was that of Nafs al-Kulliyya.  He told me about how Nafs al-Kulliyya was a prophet before Easaa (arabic name for Jesus), and he was arrested, and eventually beheaded, having his head put on a platter.  That’s when I made the connection and told him that in english we call him John the Baptist, which ended up being the same name literally translated.

 

I told him that John the Baptist is burried in Damascus, in the center of what was once a church, but now is the Ummayad Mosque.  In another part of the mosque is where the head of Hussain, a Shiia leader from early Islamic times, is kept.  Finally, just outside the Ummayad Mosque, is the tomb of Salah-Ad-Din, known in english as Saladin.  Saladin, a Kurd, led the Mamaluks against the Crusaders.  So essentially, the Druze have a shrine to a Christian messenger who is burried in a Mosque, betweeen a Shiia leader’s head and a Mujjahadin tomb.  You can’t make this stuff up.

 

It is hard to encapsulate the intensity of being a guest to Arabs.  No opportunity to give abundantly is left unexploited, as I am overfed, rested, and they took care of me as my health turned and my sore throat became a flu, complete with coughing, sneezing, running nose, and the works.  Also, they brought me to their holy sites, as Druze, that were in their area.  It was such a great learning experience, both about their culture and religion, as well as how to be a guest that accepts hospitality (those of you who know me well know I get uncomfortable in these type of situations, as I usually do things for myself).  Today we drove together from their hometown to Amman, where we parted ways.  Whether informed by their faith, culture, or intuation, their hospitality will always be remember.  This gave me a chance to see a different side of Syria.  More to come as my travels progress.