Eid Saieed

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The Greater Eid feast was on at the end of November, a 5 day public holiday which celebrates both the completion of the pilgrimage to Mecca and the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son. We decided to spend at least the weekend in Cairo, as it is difficult to find things to do in Sadat at the best of times, let alone when nothing is open. Adel tricked us into minding the hospital on his behalf while he started his journey back to Asyut. He is going back for his long-delayed wedding and we would have been quite happy to mind the hospital, so he didn't have to pretend that his replacement would be there in 15 minutes, especially when he had just told us that he had only just boarded the bus. About 2 hours later, we were told that our new flat was ready for us to move into, and the suggestion was put to us that we move in now instead of rushing back from Cairo. After packing up and moving to the new flat, we found out that it wasn't quite ready and had to put all our things in a store room. Then it was suggested that we stay in Cairo until such a time as the flat was ready. While it is nice to be in Cairo around friends, it isn't so much fun when its a long holiday and nothing is open. Especially when you are hungry. Cairo during Eid is a bit like Auckland at Christmas: the city clears out while everyone goes away. The streets are strangely quiet and empty, apart from sheep and cattle tied up in back streets or being butchered. The butchering isn't so bad, it's that little attempt is made to tidy up the mess promptly. On the first day of the feast Erin went for a walk and said the stench of blood and animal viscera everywhere was sickening.

Then there's the acknowledgement of the Christmas season. Unlike some Western countries which are ashamed of Jesus Christ and their Christian heritage and try to water down the Christmas message, Muslim countries are quite happy to celebrate Christmas, and there are shops in Cairo selling Christmas trees! There are real trees, and fake ones, and there are flash fakes ones with pine cones and snow on them! However most of Egypt's Christians are Orthodox, and they celebrate Christmas on January 7.

After two weeks of hanging around, we decided to try and do some sightseeing. We got the metro to Ain Helwan, which is the southern extreme of Cairo, because there was supposedly a wax museum there. Well, now there is absolutely nothing there, it looks like there used to be a large factory but now it is just a large empty site, and everybody was staring at us wondering why we were there. On the way back, we got off at Old Cairo to look at the medieval Nilometer at the southern end of Roda Island. It would have made a nice photograph from the shore, but now there are floating restaurants lining the bank and the police wouldn't let me down there even to take a picture. This week the weather has been miserable. It is almost like UK weather - cold grey and raining. At least when it rains it only rains for a few minutes, and it doesn't blow at the same time. We also found out there was a multi-level shopping mall in Zamalek, but when we went there, we only found 3 shops open, and one of them was a LE2.5 shop (cf. $2 shop). It was great for buying small gifts, and I even found some underpants.


While in Cairo, I got the opportunity to visit another of the "garbage cities" in the metropolis. This one, like the Muqattam one, is well established, and there are permanent dwellings with electricity and running water. In fact, once you get past the piles of garbage, you find houses and shops and if it weren't for the smell, you woudn't know you are in a dump. Unlike Muqattam, there are no visible foreign-run facilities here and the government is not keen on foreigners being in the area. So we kept our heads down and didn't take pictures. We were surprised to see a newly built mosque, and asked if it was a Muslim area. We were told no, it was 100% Christian, but since a church had been built there it had been decided that a mosque was needed too. Apparently the worst slum in Cairo is the garbage city at Helwan, where there is no running water and the cement factory pollutes the air.

Another highlight of our time in Cairo was the visit of the Grand Mufti of Al Azhar, the foremost authority of Sunni Islam. The visit was largely a question and answer session for local students, but a number of us foreigners rushed down just to catch a glimpse of the Mufti.

There has been a lot of activity at the hospital, the windows have been put in and the doors are being installed. It makes quite a difference to the look of the place to have the windows in, as you can see from the pictures. We went back up again, but our new flat still isn't ready so we will be going to a temporary flat in a different area. I have since been told that I will be helping with the hospital wiring and data cabling, which will be a nice change from steel work. The new flat is really nice and in a much more interesting area, so we are looking forward to going back up.

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Photos

Eid 2009
Butcher shops and calf waiting to be slaughtered.

Eid 2009
More animals awaiting slaughter beneath a flyover.

Eid 2009
Medieval Nilometer inside this enclosure on Roda Island, Cairo.

Eid 2009
Footbridge to Roda Island.

Eid 2009
Windows are in now.

The Grand Mufti
Sheikh Ali Jumaa

Eid 2009
Looking down from hospital roof.

Comments

[Kiri]

Happy New Year
Hi Guys, I've been thinking about you and meaning to check your sight .... Good to see that you both are still exploring and finding new areas to explore. I've never heard of the grand Mufti, what do you think of him. The hospital is looking great! It must be great to complete something that will benefit so many people. Take care xxxx