Prison

Today we went to prison.

It was kind of like a theme park trip. We got off the metro and got in these little tiny moped car things and got carted off to the prison. It was seriously the most Egyptian I have felt since I have gotten here. We were swerving in and out of cars, racing down the street with the wind in your face, and Egyptian music in your ears. It might be the greatest experience of my life. Or, atleast, really close.

Once we got there we had to wait in segregated lines for forever. And then wait again once we got through security to take this tractor thing down to wait again to see the prisoners.

But, all the waiting was worth it. We went in to this cage thing (6 interns, the prison ministry guy and all the other visitors) and the prisoners came in. The ones that we went to see were mostly Nigerian and had been in there around 15 years.

They were all Christians and their lives had been transformed in jail. I spoke to one man for quite a while and he was one of the small group pastoral leaders in prison. He had been in prison for 16 years and he was so joyful. He knew that they had been brought to jail for a purpose to really transform his life to service. I asked him what his favorite verse was, and he laughed and said there are so many, but, appropriately so, he finally answered Matthew 5:3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He said it was really encouraging to all the guys that were in there to really know that they were finally in possession of what they really needed.

They were fantastic men and so encouraged just from our visit to see them. They loved being able to know that they were part of a greater body. They gave us these little trinkets that they made.

All these visits to see all these people who are struggling really put a new perspective on the meanings of joy and hope for me. I mean these people literally have nothing but Christ and they are provided for. They hope in the Lord, and they find joy. If you ever have an ‘I hate humanity day,’ I’d really encourage you to go to jail. You'd be surprised where you can find Jesus and see the purest forms of joy. I know they have some similar ministries over in the states.

And, if you’re reading this and are like wow Katie’s gone off the deep end, ha. I know everyone is not like these people. But, there are people that are. And those are the ones that are inspiring. Sometimes you just have to look a little harder. They’re diamonds in the ruff. Go watch Aladdin, you’ll understand.

Iftar

It's Ramadan here. And, for anyone who doesn't know, Ramadan is where the they fast all day and then break fast at Iftar (I don't really know how to spell that) which is at sundown about 6:00. This lasts for a month. They tend to be tired and cranky all day, and then at 6:00 they usually get together with friends or family and have a party where there is too much food for anyone to eat.

My host family invited me to their company's celebration since a majority of their company is fasting. (They're not, but tons of really good Egyptian food and music is something no one should ever pass up. Especially when it's at the JW Marriott.) I was their orphan child because I wore jeans and everyone else was kind of dressed up. They also introduced me as a squatter.

The JW Marriott is like this magical place. It's outside of down town Cairo and is like a world all it's own. We walked in and one of the girls I was living with was like oh my gosh it's like schlitterbauhn. They had a huge pool, wave pool, slides, and beachy sand areas. All these people on the beach were just with Haliburton. And, this is seriously in the middle of the desert.


This was our table. You can't really tell how much food is there. But they hadn't even brought out the main courses.


This was the main course. We also had tons of this macaroni and cheese type stuff with meat and yogurt or something. More vegetables, more traditional wrapped rice, pitas, and probably some other stuff I am forgetting. It was more than I could ever eat... and I eat a lot here.



And, the Iftar night ended with Kelsey and I getting henna with one of their friends. I'm thinking about permanently getting one. Except for the fact whenever I look down at my feet I forget that it's a henna flower, think it's a bug, and semi-freak out. So, probably not.



Last night we worked the Brian Doerksen concert (a canadian worship band). It was wonderful, I didn't take any pictures except for this one at about midnight when we were just finishing cleaning up the park. But, I know some other people did so I might post some of those later.


If you can't tell this is Brent and Matt sitting on the hood of a mini truck, holding stacked chairs as they drive down the streets of Cairo so that we wouldn't have to come back. Actually, Asha got up there too. We, the people inside the truck, were afraid that the roof was going to cave in. It didn't, but we didn't check for dents.

We're keeping busy here, I think they said we'd be slowing down a bit now but none of us have picked what kinds of things we're going to be working with this year. So, if you want, and wouldn't mind praying for me and my team to find our different niches as we finish up looking at the different organizations, I would really appreciate it! (Oh, and Emily just graduated from massage therapy school and got a job so you should all congratulate her too!)

Found

We finished cleaning the school today. And, just in time, because the kids start school tomorrow. It really is amazing what a coat of paint and some elbow grease can do. (not to mention co-workers with hearts of gold.)

I hope the kids will be excited about learning in their clean school… And that they don't hate the colors yellow and blue because I told them to get those colors… hah.

Here are some pictures of the final product that my friend Curt took.

This is George. He is the principal. We (really the boys did...I think I was scrubbing the floors with fuel to get up the paint) had time to paint their office today so he was really happy


This is one of the painted classroom. Nice, eh? About 20 kids are supposed to fit in these tiny rooms.


Haha. This is one of the pictures before the walls were painted. You can see how dirty they were. And, I think I was trying to make the daddy long leg at the end of the broom attack the boy with the camera.

These were the halls before we scrubbed and painted.



And after, aren't they pretty, sparkley blue halls? (that creative classrooms class I took this summer told me that blue was calming. That's what we were going for since 200 kids are in there a day.)


If this is how the whole year is going to be, then I'm excited. It's hard work, but it really pays off. And, I'm going to be really strong.

Clean

Well this last week was spent running around Maadi and trying to see some of the schools we'll be working with. We also went up to a Sudanese refugee school and talked to them about what they're doing. This one has been here for about 4 years and they're just here to support their community of refugees. They came here with nothing, and have built a school that teaches not only elementary and high school children, but teaches reading and writing to adults.

It's pretty amazing seeing everything that is happening here but it still feels like nothing we can do is enough. But, the hope is to provide resources and help so that they can develop themselves.

Here are some more pictures....

This is the Cario that I do not live in. It's on the way out to a refugee school. It's really a good thing it doesn't rain very much here because none of the windows in some areas have glass in them and a lot of openings in many of the houses are just covered by blankets.


These are my friends and co-workers. They're carrying cleaning and painting supplies because we are in the process of fixing up one of the refugee schools.


We scrubbed and bleached all the walls and floors. I did the bathroom. I almost threw up. But, it is beautiful now.




Just for fun, that little brown door and window is mine. And, that tree is the one growing out of the room next to mine. My host family lives in the house to the right. It is crazy nice.

كاتي

I learned how to write my name in Arabic today.

We've started taking extensive Arabic classes. 3 hours a day 4 times a week I think... It's going to be hard. Two hours of speaking, a thirty minute break, and then one hour of writing/reading. But, we're going to make it happen. There's six of us and so we're going to help each other out. It will be really great when I can actually communicate with people. Even though, one of the girls and I were talking about today, we kind of enjoy not knowing what the men say to us on the street.

I have this one Egyptian friend who is hilarious. One day we were asking her how she liked Cairo, and she went off on a tangent about how she hates so, so, so, so, so, so, so much Egyptian men. Apparently, there are some that are just terribly rude.

Ramadan starts pretty soon, which should be interesting. I've heard it's like a party every night. Everything is really relaxed during the day. Jacqueline said that everyone gets really lazy because they are so tired all the time. She also said when she was in college they would cancel classes like every day during Ramadan (which is like 30 days) because the prof would be so tired.

Everything is going great over here! I hope you are doing well.