Tuesday 17/10/2006
Check out of the hotel. Interesting to see the final bill is not that expensive (35 GBP per night including food! and this is a 4 star Cairo hotel!)- especially to note that the amount paid for the "trip costs" is likely to have covered all of the different costs (hotels, bus, guide etc) - so all of the donations will have indeed gone to the Habitat projects and not paid for our pyramid vists....
We head off to visit the RefugeEgypt project back at All Souls. The problems in the Sudan mean that there are a lot of Sudanese that come to Egypt. As its not officially recognised by the government as a war zone, there is very little official help for them.
The project is very well organised : they cover medical help, UNHCR form filling, crafts to generate income and a micro finance system to help start businesses. The entire church basement is used for the different craft operations... They operate a cafe during the day which gives contacts and a place to come. The Sudanese cannot offically work in any job other than as domestic servent; very poorly paid and generally only possible for the women....
We have a lunch snack at the hotel, and then head for the airport. My flight is rearranged as Milan airport is on strike or something. We say our goodbyes (their SwissAir flight leaves pretty much at the same time). Very happy to have done this with this team - all very welcoming and good spirited!
Eventually get home at 1am via Rome (with a special baggage inspection just for the 4 of us continuing to Geneva.....).
Monday 16/10/2006
A 2 pullover day. Not feeling at all well, but don't want to miss the Cairo museum and the bazar. We get to the Cairo museum early, to be at front of the queues. Sadly the 2nd metal detector picks up my penknife (and Peter's also), and we get sent back outside to hand it in... Queue is now somewhat longer than the number of workers on the pyramids. We approach the problem in the French manner, ie skip it by pushing round the sides. Look at the Tutunkarmun stuff only (as limited time). V. nice. The jewellry is excellent, and by going directly to this area we get about 15 mins to see it peacefully before the hordes arrive...
Next, we see the earliest christian church in Cairo (the Hanging Church, built over the ruins of a Roman fort) - good trompe d'oeil on wooden panels. Then, the Citadel and the Alabaster Mosque. On a hill overlooking Cairo so great views. Mosque is very nice inside - carpets for a floor is a good idea. Our guide gives us a run down on Islam - much of his presentation appears to be a contrast with issues with the Catholic church but decide not to argue. In general, its very interesting to get the "official tourist" viewpoint on Egyptian religion/life/poverty/land reform etc compared with what we've seen and heard already....
Lunch in a very nice restaurent in the bazar (the biggest bazar, so also the more touristy). Then, 1 hour to shop... I decide I want scarves and a carpet. Scarves are easy enough (I do like the bargaining...), but finding a carpet is more tricky. The shop we find is pretty expensive, and bargaining doesn't appear to work at all! Peter and I head off looking for a better deal - we follow a guy who claims to have a carpet shop 'just down here'. 10 minutes later we arrive at his brother's perfume shop and he disappears 'to fetch carpets from factory'. Talking to another man it seems the carpet factory is "just 5 of your english minutes' away, so we go with him to look for it. After 5 minutes we're at the edge of the bazar - and now we must take a taxi or train! This does not look so good - we excuse ourselves and head back to the first shop - at least there we can see the carpets! Shopping done, we make it back to the bus just in time....
In the evening, we invite the Habitat folk for a meal in the posh restaurent at the top of the hotel - I'm not eating really but apparently the food is nice. Service is extremely slow though! It's Dot's birthday, so she has a cake. Well, 3 actually : one organised by Richard, one by Jen and one by the hotel.... At the end we give Sherif a load of boots, gloves, hard hats etc to use on the projects, and say goodbye to them all. They've been very very good to us, and made the trip work very well. Apparently we've exceeded their expectations (we're their first 'long' work party of more than 2 days) - they thought from looking at the ages of the team that they'd better keep the work load down!! Very pleased especially with the encouragement that it gives to the project teams and local people to have the contact with outsiders.... This is one of the reasons why we felt we kept getting moving from house to house - the interactions with the families involved are one of the main objectives for them.
Sunday 15/10/2006
We go to the Anglican cathederal All Souls in the morning - our group probably doubles their congregation... Lots more folk for the Sudanese service that follows though! All very friendly - apparently the english service varies greatly in numbers depending on who's around - lots of people are there for short periods only.
More present buying in the Refugee Egypt craft shop - we're going to visit the project itself tuesday. Lunch at the Mariott hotel just down the road - very classy. You could well believe you weren't in Egypt....
In the evening, we have a Nile cruise with entertainment. All this is organised by the wife of the Habitat architect - impressive! The boat is a floating buffet - we churn up the river for about an hour and then back down. The entertainment is belly dancing (luckily we got a table right on the edge of the dance floor eh?) and a guy
who's speciality is "whirling round and round with a round cloak thing". Actually very impressive, as he does it for about 30 minutes!!!
Something takes its revenge in the night though....
Saturday 14/10/2006
Long day of tourism but very interesting. We go to Memphis where the original royal palace is (just foundations), and see large statues of RamasII. Guide gives us a quick run down on statuography : curved beard + legs together == representation of king in afterlife, straight beard + legs striding == king in this life. Sphinx = kings head + lion body (strength and power). Statues impressive, but no sign of the King. Souvenir stalls but they're not even selling his greatest hits CD.... Buy 3 bronze pyramids with genuine sand in them (!). Peter and I get told off for leaning on a granite sarcophogus : just as well we didn't do what we were discussing (try it for size....).
Next to the nearby bit of desert where they practiced on pyramids (Sakara). First known pyramid with stepped sides and small bricks but still pretty large. Can see at least 6 or 7 others off in the desert. Each one is over a big hole dug in the rock where the body was put. No possibility to go into the excavations as apparently not safe....
At the edge of the site, we find several camels and horses with local entrepreneurs offering camel/horse rides. Immediately decide that there is no way I'm getting on a camel - vicious looking beasts. Of course, 10 minutes later I'm doing my Laurence of Arabia impression.... Blame Judith, she started it and then everyone had a go. Richard's impression of a desert warrior was probably the best....
Moving on to the Giza pyramids, where one can go into the 2 of the 3 (the biggest Cheops one is very restricted as it as nice hyroglyphics which get degraded by moisture etc). Only 4 volunteers : Peter, Margarite, Richard and myself. Forgot to bring torch, which turns out to be a major error; the queue goes into a steep decending tunnel, very low, and no lights! In order, we are myself, Peter, Margarite and Richard. Pitch black, following the guy in front, and at the bottom of the descent the handrail runs out! Very very hot, sweaty, airless. Keep going; eventually get a vaguely lit staircase... Don't know what the fuss is about these pyramid builders - the facilities are rubbish... Get to the chamber in the middle (large pitched roof stone room), and behind me : Peter, followed by a load of strangers! Ooops.... However, turns out that Margarite decided to turn back on the descent, and Richard went back with her. Not a lot to see in here, we escape pretty rapidly...
Down to look at the Sphinx, beating off the tourist tat sellers. Interesting to see it has a tail.... Sadly not allowed to climb on it or on the pyramids....
Lunch at a place called "Barry's", in the Cairo suburbs : ie about 100m from the Sphinx.... The terrace where we eat has a great view directly across to the Sphinx and pyramids....
On the way back to the hotel we get taken to a 'papyrus maker' (or tourist trap) - actually quite interesting, and good for presents! Could make own papyrus - cut it into strips, beat it flat, soak for 7 days in water changing the water every day, then weave and press the result flat for 7 more days. Sounds like a good Sunday School activity....
Back at the hotel, some of the ladies decide some shopping is required. Myself and Peter decide to go for the fun.... We order 2 taxis, go to a shopping area called Roxys. Buy some socks and an ice cream, and then come back to the hotel in 2 more taxis. Of course, the decrepit taxis, with no lights, no map, no idea of where we're going or where we are, the half blind taxi driver, etc all make it more interesting than a shopping trip in most places.....
Friday 13/10/2006:
We only have a half day today, as we're due to go back to Cairo this afternoon. This is the end of the work party part - it seems like it was far too short... As it turns out, not actually too disappointed to have just a half day. Bit under the weather, but not ready to state I need a pullover.... We go round to a space where a house used to be, to help dig foundations. Today is "mosque day" ie for Moslems its kind of like Sunday - lie in and then mosque at 12o'clock. The Christians on the other hand are hard at work on the foundations.... Two trenches are already nearly 1m deep (the Sherif-mandated depth to be in firm clay) so we start on ones that are marked out but not started. Very hard, hot work! The first layer is packed soil and rubble from the demolished house, that was packed down to raise the ground level to be above the street level. This means we're trying to dig through all sorts of rubbish, bricks, etc without even a pickaxe! Basic tool is a sort of adze like thing.... not very efficient at cutting thru rubble. We rotate digging and carting away rubble as its too hot to keep at it for more than 5 mins at a time. The house will be for 5 families(!) so there's no shortage of labour...
I show round my photos of home - especially of digging the trench in front of our house to install a damp membrame which gets a lot of interest! The photos disappear rapidly round the neighbourhood! They all come back though.... People like Alexander's name - Eskander (sp?) the Great is a of course a well known figure in Egypt.
We stop at lunchtime, totally worn out. Our trenches are down to the old house floor level, so there's still a lot for them to do....
Back at the local office, we go off to the orthodox church with the priest. We get sung at by the assembled sunday school (which happens on Friday...) and then shown round. They have a 6th century baptistry.... and a sort of rock bowl used for foot washing on Maundy Thursday (I think!) While we were hard at work, Richard, Joan, Hugh and Wendy were off meeting the local bishop, and got presents! For BibleLands theres a historical bible stand and 2 icons, and we all get a presentation card with a papyrus painting signed by the bishop - pretty good! We offer our felt tip pens etc for the sunday school in a Sainsburys bag..... Hmmm.... The priest puts on a brave face though!
We take our leave to go back to the hotel - it feels like we were here for a lot longer!
After a washup and some lunch, we pile everything into the bus and head for Cairo. On the way, we stop at a monastry which they assure us has walls made by bees from wax over the last umpteen centuries.... A certain amount of sceptism is felt... When we get there, it turns out to be (approximately) true! In fact, its a type of wasp that glues together 'cells' from clay and sand to put its eggs into. These wasps have been doing this on the walls of the monastry for the last 1000 or so years, so in places the result is anything up to 2m thick! The mixture ends up like concrete, so its not actually wax.... The monastry also has the preserved arms/hands of a 3rd century martyr in a case - can't decide if thats interesting or horrid.... The neon icon of Mary/child is certainly interesting though, and the WW2 ex-army generator wagon in the courtyard has a certain style (well, I liked it anyway). Only 2 monks in the place now - at its height there were 5000.... kind of sad....
In Cairo we're back in the Baron hotel, which is very nice! (although it seems like cheating somehow).
Thursday 12/10/2006
While waiting to go to our house today, I examine a motorbike outside the local committee office. One of the guys notices my interest, and it turns out its his... A CK 150cm2 import, with local mods for transport (decoratif wrought iron "shelves" like paniers on the back...). He produces the keys, and indicates I can have a go.... It starts ok, but isn't exactly eco-friendly. I cautiously engage 1st, and move off to great amusement and a shouted warning 'watch the brakes, they're not very .... good....". Not that I'm going to go very fast along a dirt bumpy road with people, children chickens and donkeys on all sides..... I make it down the road and back alive.
Peter appears (and of course has 3 or 4 classic motorbikes) so has a go also.... Street entertainment for the entire place - we could have sold tickets! I manage to explain I don't really want to buy it...
We move off to a new house, by taxi (not because its far, but to avoid ending up in a big procession!) Brick wall building today. On the 2nd floor of a house, they're building a new story to house the son and his wife (as far I understand it!). Professional brickie already hard at work - we start off carrying up bricks from the ground level, and washing them ready for use. I get promoted to brickie and invited up on the scaffolding... same concept as yesterday, but 2 stories up next to the half build outside wall. One false move and I'm likely to find myself and the wall on the ground below... Not sure that health and safety have made it to Egypt yet, but its amusing enough.... I get on with one end of the wall while the pro is working on the corner at the other end. I think its not so bad, but he keeps making me straighten it up....
I think its leaning inwards because its frightened of falling to the ground..... Anyway, we live thru that, and then start on the wall on the other end of the house - this time its against an existing wall of the neighbour and its a double thickness, so I don't feel so exposed.....
We break for lunch, and when we come back, no problem, he has his assistant doing one end and immediately get me up doing the other while he has a fag break! With Dot and Bill washing bricks, Joan mixing cement, and me throwing it all on the wall we get it finished! I write our initials in the cement on the top! Not sure if Google Earth will be able to pick them out.....
While waiting for the taxi, we're watching the guy carrying bricks up. He piles up 20 bricks in a particular way, and then upends the pile onto his shoulder. I can't even lift 20 bricks..... let alone carry them up 2 flights of stairs. I can build a pile in the approved manner though, and it even survived him putting it on his shoulder!
Wednesday 11/10/2006
Bill not so well today so decides to rest up. Our team down to 3... At breakfast we decide we need a way to discuss how well we're feeling without actually going into the disgusting details, so in the spirit of 'you got a cold coz you went out without a pullover' we decide that a 'pullover' day means you're not so good, and a 2 pullover day is one where you're not going more than 20m from a proper toilet.... (I'll blame that discussion on Peter....).
New village, new style! THe local organisers here have been going since 1966, according to the 1 1/2 hour powerpoint presentation we get to sit thru. First time I've actually seen someone use EVERY SINGLE FEATURE of powerpoint in the same presentation..... They are very organised - only been working with Habitat for 4 years but they've managed to do over 300 different house projects (mostly renovation also). They do a lot of other work - micro finances, training, education, anti-smoking/drug campaigns etc. Here its the local coptic orthodox church thats running the organisation - the priest gives us a quick run down on the origins of the orthodox church in Egypt (no, actually it was quite interesting....).
Finally we get allowed to go out and bash some bricks. Our group are allocated for plastering. Bit tricky when we get there, as there are already a team of 3 professionals getting on with the job (cement plastering of the raw brick walls in 2 rooms), and our allocated guide doesn't actually speak english.... Confusion reigns, as the pro's don't really understand why these foreigners have arrived and interrupted them.... Finally understanding is achieved, and we get a go at putting cement on walls. Sadly, we're really not that good at it - although I proud to manage to do a vertical segment on a corner that didn't actually fall off.... Joan and Dot decide to concentrate on preparation : sand sieving, and I persevere with the plastering. Eventually I'm up on their 'scaffolding' (or 2 bits of wood held together with twine as we'd call it), doing corners on the ceiling.... only takes me about 20 times as long as the pros, but it seems to amuse them.
We break for tea (I figure its boiled so I'll risk it...) - and at some point in a discussion about the family I get handed a pigeon from a cage in the corner of one of the rooms. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with it! Then I get handed another one!! Not easy to hold two birds (even in two hands). We all go up to the roof, to discover this is where they keep their poulty - I throw the pigeons in with the rest (mix of ducks and bantam chickens I think).... I explain I also have 2 chickens at home, which causes a certain amount of amusement....
After lunch (back at the committee room) we come back, and more of the same. I gather there's a lot of amusement as to the quality (or lack thereof) of my plastering, but at least it stays on the wall.... Dot's not please - the plaster she had put on the wall at the start has been scraped off while we were away......
Back to the hotel, Bill feeling much better. Apparently no ill effects from the tea I drank (despite dire warnings about only drinking from our bottled water!!). Certain people (you know who it was) manage to get Sherif/Sherif to obtain some beer from the local market and we drink it discretely on the balcony...
Tuesday 10/10/2006
Up at 8, bus back to village. Our team is going back to the 1st house we did the roof for, to help with the tiling of their new kitchen/WC. When we get there, the tiler is already advancing well. We take a look at the roof - since yesterday they have put down the polythene and a layer of concrete, and moved into one of the rooms underneath.... Bill starts helping the tiler with grouting, the rest of us are on sand duty : moving a large pile of sand from the ground floor where it was delivered (in the living room!) up to the corridor upstairs (to be used for the tiling). Eventually, we have pretty much the entire family in the bucket chain... My attempts to learn arabic words are not a great success - much laughter.... Can't manage to carry the sand buckets on my head either like the women of the family. Not enough hair perhaps?
Then, we have to sieve all the sand. It comes pretty much as-is from the Western Desert, stones and all. To use for the cement we have to sieve it. Easy enough at the start, after 10 minutes the muscles are aching.... We press gang the young lads into helping!
Have a go at grouting the wall, using powdered grout (not ready mixed like at home). The moisture from the fresh cement is absorbed to make it into a paste. The tiles are applied to the wall on a cement base, which is pretty thick as the wall is very rough an unevent brickwork. Hard to get the tile wall to end up straight/flat! I have a go with a couple of tiles - not too bad, but about 1/10th of the speed of the pro! Back to grouting.....
Over snack lunch we learn the other groups have been plastering, and digging foundations.... Hotter work than us!
We're leaving to a different village tonight, so we get a tour of the local church (prespyterian evangelical - looks a lot like a church in Scotland!) We get a talk from the pasteur; a strong hint of request for funding for their new building which is to house their nursery and church halls.... Hope he's not too disappointed in the felt pens and other stuff we give to the sunday school! We decide to do this rather than give directly to individual kids, which is likely to cause problems!!
In the bus we head along the road to Beni Suivf, a university town about 1 hour away. More exciting driving.... The hotel is the university conference center - pretty basic but ok. Some disappointment when we find out they don't serve beer..... Nice cake for a snack though. Time for a walk along the Nile edge - there's a nice park / walkway being installed for several km along the river edge. Some people are swimming, and other families are coming down to eat at sunset. We get several invitations to join them to eat! However, we head back to the hotel for our own dinner. No police seem to feel a need to follow us here - much more relaxed....
Monday 9/10/2006
Transfer by bus to first village, near El Minya. Have to go by bus as trains are currently in a state following an accident last month. Plus, for tourists its even worse as government policy means that tourists must travel in special trains only, and groups must be split between carriages..... So, up at 6am to leave very early on our minibus. We go with the H4H local staff: Hany (the boss), Sue (communication), Rebecca (local liason?), Sherif (architect) and Sherif (area coordinator).
Leaving Cairo we go on the main roads, which seem to be all raised flyovers through the center of town. Traffic is interesting, and confirms the impression that the horn is the most essential component.... Past the pyramids at Giza, half hidden in the haze.
Rather than go up the Nile valley itself, we go via the Western Desert : only the edge but that's wild enough. Interesting looking west - sand until you get to Libyia...
Nonetheless, some green patches around; apparently an irrigation pipeline runs along beside the road and allows some farming. Due to expand soon (a big pipe can be seen waiting to go in a hole!); government projects to create new villages in the desert...
Stop at a cafe once we're nearly there for a briefing from the H4H staff. Hany gives us the low down, and name badges. We're going to work in 4 separate groups.... At the cafe we also pick up a police escort : outside of the Nile delta its obligatory to have an escort at all times.... We go on our way with a Toyota truck full of armed police following.
Eventually we get to the village and the local committee office, via several other villages and narrow roads thru the fields. We seem to have a lot of narrow escapes and near misses with everything from buses down to a convoy of 2 camels and a donkey so loaded down with corn stalks they could barely be seen! Bus driver gets a round of applause.... This local organisation is run in partnership with the local church, which has a nursery school downstairs.
Because of the time (gone 11) its decided we'll work in just 2 groups today, on 2 separate houses. Job is to put on the wooden planks ready for a concrete floor, so the rooms below can be used. We're all keen to get started. Walk thru the village to the house. Dirt streets, lots of rubbish, but people seen cheerful and well fed enough.
Some houses are solid (limestone blocks/bricks and concrete), while others are mud bricks that are falling apart at ground level. Sherif tells us the problem is high ground water table means that there's a lot of water infiltration, and mud brick walls just fall apart because of the humidity. The only way to deal with it is to demolish and rebuild on a concrete/limestone block foundation with a waterproof membrane (polythene sheeting).
At our house, we eventually get up to the roof. Half of the roof is in place, and the 2 rooms we're to do have the beams in place. Job is easy enough - cut thin planks to length, nail down, repeat! We organise into 2 groups as there are 2 rooms and get on with it. Gradually it seems like everyone in the house and half the neighbours are up there with us! At the end, we're running out of planks and are joining odd bits together to make do.... Very hot work; totally exposed and sun beating down. Good atmosphere, very friendly!
We finish the roof, and badger Sherif for more work! Quick confab, and our group head on to another house's roof. This is very simple and its just one section, and the planks are exactly the right length already. With 3 of us up on the roof, and the other's passing up the planks, it only takes about 1/2 hour to nail them all down...
Felt a little like a stage managed event; almost like the villagers had been told to wait until we got there before finishing....
Back to office, and we take the bus to the hotel in El Minya. Only 45 mins says Hany : we decide that Egyptian minutes are obviously a lot longer than British ones....
Possibly the fear factor on the roads makes it feel longer. Interesting overtaking technique : pull out and go for it no matter what's coming and hope they'll move over. Not so good when someone coming the other way has the same idea....
We get settled in to our hotel, and have a 'snack'. More like a 5 course dinner... and far to much for us.... After, some decide to go for a wee walk down the Nile which is only a block from the hotel. However, while milling around outside before setting off we seem to cause nervousness in the policeman sitting outside the hotel. As we start, this turns into shouting, waving and much talking into walkie-talkies. Hotel staff rush out and general mayhem develops. Seems like they didn't anticipate the weird foreigners deciding to go walk about, and don't have anyone to accompany us!
Eventually, some decide to head off anyway, ignoring the fuss (they shall be nameless...). Dot and I decide we'd better not get the hotel guy into too much trouble and wait. After a couple of minutes, we're allowed to head down to the river, accompanied by someone from the hotel with a walkie-talkie. When we get there, a police van pulls up, and a policeman replaces the hotel guy... We walk along the coniche, with our shadow 2m behind, and the police truck chugging along the road... Eventually we turn up towards the town, intending to head back to the hotel. Policeman is not impressed, thinks we're lost! We assure him we're on our way back, and we head along a street back towards the hotel. lots of local character, and we pass almost unnoticed; apart from our escort of a curb crawling poorly tuned diesel police truck!!
Back at hotel, "team time" from Richard. Dinner and bed!
Sunday : up at 3h30 to get to the airport. Far too early to do anything.
Geneva to Milan uneventful, but at Milan airport a passenger goes a bit nuts just as the plane is preparing to leave - runs down the aisle and 'attacks?' a guy halfway back - takes over an hour to get it all sorted (him and his fellow passengers get off with the police and their luggage also! Sighs of relief from around the plane....). 1 hour late to Cairo....
Richard the team leader is waiting at Cairo airport - rest of team have gone on to the hotel. Hotel minibus takes us down to the Baron hotel - first experience of Cairo traffic is exciting.... The car horn appears to be the most essential element of any vehicle here....
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