Cairo Update
Greetings
from Cairo!
Yesterday was our family day- a day in which the children order
us around and tell *us* what they want to do. The power of suggestion
is very useful since if we suggest what we want to do, they often
agree anyway! Yesterday Alison and I preferred to stay in since
we have both had busy weeks, so we suggested to the girls that
we stay in and have a pancake, bacon and roast potato day- they
thought that it was a great idea and I think that they will suggest
this many times more in the future! Pancakes, bacon and roast
potatoes are their favourite food and are amongst the items that
Hannah is guaranteed to eat now. Not only do the children like
this arrangement, I do as well since they are my favourite types
of food as well!
The Muslim world is in the middle of the month of Ramadan at the
moment. What this means in practise is that it is best to avoid
travelling before sunset (about 5pm now) because the traffic is
chaos. It is bad at the best of times, but during Ramadan there
are many more cars on the road and most of the drivers are in
a foul mood from fasting all day. Between sunrise and sunset they
are forbidden to eat, drink and smoke, many people spit in the
streets in fear that swallowing saliva will be a technical breaking
of the fast! At sunset the streets have cleared and people are
at home in their family units and are breaking the fast together,
children under the age of about 13 are not expected to fast, neither
are pregnant women. An amusing factor in all of this is that more
food is consumed during the month of Ramadan that any other time
of year! There is excessive consumption during the hours of darkness
to counter the fasting during the day. Despite all of the excesses
it is still a fast which almost all Muslims observe, and it is
a complete contrast to the often over-indulgent secular Christmas
celebrations in the Western world.
During the month of Ramadan no beer is allowed to be sold, unfortunately
for me I have been prescribed it by the doctor for my kidney stones
(something about the combination of malt and alcohol helps to
pass the stones) so I had to buy an excess of cans before Ramadan
started. I noticed in the shop that they were well stocked for
the pre-Ramadan rush, this is rather confusing since the consumption
of alcohol is forbidden to Muslims any time of the year!
The rest of my time during the last couple of months has been
going well. A few weeks ago I did a service to a group of about
80 deaf people in sign language. Afterwards I felt this was probably
a bit ambitious to do it to a large group for the first time without
a translator but it was well received! Since then I've given messages
in sign to a few other groups and I think I've gained more confidence
as a result. Many of the regular attendees are from a nominal
background, so I hope to give a direct message there sometime
in the near future!
A couple of days ago I went to a group of deaf people in on the
opposite side of the city, it took over an hour to get there.
After I arrived I saw that it was an orthodox church. Fortunately
now I am becoming familiar with Orthodox customs (kissing the
hand of the priest, facing East when praying, making the sign
of the cross ... etc.) so I didn't make any major gaffs. The group
has requested many return visits, great! If they don't have problems
with my theology I'll be happy to preach it to them! (There is
a lot of potential in that group.)
Since I am not using a translator for sign language I have decided
it was about time I didn't use a translator when I speak Arabic
to groups too. Before my agenda gets filled with engagements next
year I have fenced off the first three months for me to concentrate
solely on Arabic and sign language. I have had determined efforts
in the past to learn Arabic better, but the time I take to plan
and prepare meetings always eats into learning time. The big problem
with me is that I don't like learning Arabic, so I will find any
excuse to put it off; maybe if I have nothing else on my agenda
I won't have any excuse NOT to learn Arabic . . . we'll see.
On the 7th of December I'll be travelling by myself to the UK
for ten days. The trip has been paid for by others, I hope to
visit many friends during this quick visit!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!
Toodle pip,
Jason
PS The attatched photo shows some of the deaf people I taught
on Friday. I think the priest was there to make sure I was teaching
sound doctrine!
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It's
a Fact!
Facts
about Egypt:
- Egypt's
population is 66 Million
- Egypt
is four times the size of the UK
-
Only 3% of the land can be used for arable crops
- Cairo
has 18 million people and is growing by 1 millon each year.
- Cairo
is the Largest city in Africa and the Middle East
- Official
literacy rate is only 45%
- A
total of 11 languages are spoken in Egypt
- Public
Debt per person is $790
- Average
annual income is $630
- Unemployment
is estimated to be 17%
- Religion:
Approx. 85% Muslim and 15% Christian
- Most
Christians are affiliated to the Orthodox Church, less than
1% of the population are Protestant
- There are
an estimated 100,000 street children in Egypt
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