An Excursion

Hello again,

Last weekend one of the teachers involved as volunteer with an organization called Resala, organized a trip to a small village on the delta.

Resala is a completely volunteer organization which renders aide and assistance to people who are in desperate need.

This was a small farming village. It appears, from all I could make out, that the farmers live in the town/village and go out to the fields which are quite close by. It was along one of the many t

ributaries in the Delta that flow into the main Nile.

Resala, the charity organization, visits a village twice. Once to assess the needs and the second time to actually do the work and distribute the food and clothing,

We collected the teachers going and proceeded to one of the Resala buildings in Cairo to check in and collect our guide for the day--Karem. In the Resala building the organization collects donations of any kind; furniture, clothes, appliances, heaters--you name it and they refurbish ,recycled and reuse. The Resala volunteers spend their time cleaning these things up, refurbishing them and re-distrubuting them to those who are in great need.

Our task on this day was to repair roofs and distribute food and clothing to needy families. The men would do the carrying, lifting and building and the women would distribute the food, etc.

So off we go to the village of Elmanshia, in the governante of Gharbia. (There are 27 governantes in Egypt.) It was well down the delta, more than an hour from Cairo.

The lushness of the delta was surprising to me. There was green eveywhere. You could see bananas growing, vegetables galore, sugar cane and everything else one could consume, growing on the delta. There were orchards full or oranges. I saw my first water buffalo working in a rice paddy---lots of rice paddys. Egypt, like Turkey, is a food producer and can feed its own population. The fruits and vegetables available for purchasein little stalls all over Cairo, attest to that. They also prduce some grapes and make some Egyptian wine. Now you may wonder about that, but it is produced for the foreigners and it isn't too bad, really. It is eminently drinkable, especially with food.

A tuk-tuk

Along the way we stopped for various train crossings which created traffic snarls, with the little Tuk-tuks. These are not allowed in Cairo. They are a three-wheeled motorcycle rickshaw affair. They operate like taxis. They are everywhere in the country. Can you imagine the traffic congestion is they were permitted in Cairo??!

Another train crossing. You can see lots of the tuk-tuks in the congestion. The red and black vehicule just in from of us is a tuk-tuk, and next to him and in front as well.

We arrived in the village in time for prayers. So off everyone went to pray and we non-muslims waited for their return. The children were facinated by us, and very curious. Their image of us comes from television and is often inacurate.

Facinated children--all trying to talk to us in English--Miss, Miss, what is your name." That was all they could say. But I answered them very slowly, telling them my name was Cristina. They know that name.This is one of the teachers from school, Debora, and some of the children that followed us all day.

Work began in earnest with the men carrying beam material and corregated roofing material out to trucks that then took it to the house being worked on. These roofs were not elegant affairs. They were simply beams set on the mud walls, with corregated roofing material nailed to it. There is little rain here, so it is more for the sun than anything.

One of the teachers, Ray, on the tote and carry detail.

Some of the men from our group as well as Resala, beginning repairs to the roof of one of the older buildings.

A bedroom under repair

The bedroom, now completely covered over. Notice the three beds in this room. It is the sleeping room for the family. There is a chest cooler (blue) in the foreground. I am not sure, but I think it was used as a refridgerator. Also note that this room, as did the rest of the house, has a dirt floor, with a rug near the bed.

This is the mayor of the village and a Resala worker. The Mayor is the older gentleman in grey. The Resala worker is a young volunteer active in the organization, from Cairo.

While the men constructed and repaired, The women went around the village with the mayor, who had a little list, and passed out bags of non-perishable food and bags of clothes. Here is one of our teachers with the mayor and a Resala worker checking the bags before giving them to the little man. Here is one of the teachers getting ready to give the bag of goodies to the little may with the mustache. You can see the mayor and some of the Resala workers giving the goodie bags to the old woman in the doorway.

The group of teachersalong with guideand interperter, far left in black t-shirt, who went on this incredible outing.

I saw parts of Egypt I never would have seen otherwise, experienced things I never would have otherwise and I learned a great deal.

This type of outing makes one realize how incredibly lucky we are. We had the opportunity to look through a window at another way of life, alien to ours. Yet these people were not sad. They were all happy to see us, and delighted with their gifts, but not one of them seemed saddened by their circumstances. This is their life, beginning and end of discussion. They are content. The children played in the streets and had a grand day following us around asking our names. We told them. We peeked into their homes and learned how they live. As in all villages, some do better than others, and it with the help of organizations like Resala, that a little relief comes into the lifes of the most needy. I enjoyed my day, and hope to do it again sometime.