Another Perspective

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Two blogs today. This is the first.

I wrote the other day about the frustration of being a woman in this male-dominated culture and environment. But let me share another story so you can see another perspective.

On Sunday the students and teachers traveled to spend the day at an orphanage in Cairo that has a pool. This was intended to be a day of fun and relaxation. We would go swimming, have lunch, hang out and just enjoy the day. I was here last year, but I came with just two students and it was fine. But I had heard stories last week about this same excursion in earlier years when the female teachers from America got into the pool, everyone else got out. They were incredibly uncomfortable and it made for an awkward day.

Having heard this story I was understandably a little nervous about yesterday. But I was determined to act like this was no big deal and just try to have fun. I spoke to a few students ahead of time and asked them to be leaders and to show their respect by not making a big deal of my swimming. My colleague, Stephen, was also prepared to be an example for the other students.

I can report that all went well. I had a great time. If the students were uncomfortable, they did not show it. Today they commented on what a good swimmer I was. The only bad part of the day was a horrible sunburn that I got from spending too much time in the water and in the Egyptian sun.

Today in one of my classes we were talking about what we enjoyed best from our day at the pool. When we had gone around the class they asked me the same question. I told them the things I had enjoyed about the day and then I told them that I know that in their culture it is unusual to see a woman swimming, but I was grateful for their respecting our differences and accepting that it's okay for me to day that and thanked them for not making a big deal out of it. The students all said, "No. No. This is good." And one of the students looked at me at said, "You are our sister."

Little by little . . . .

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