Some Pictures from Fayoum

I went to Fayoum, an Oasis about 2 hours away from Cairo last weekend.



The pictures I have do not capture the surreal beauty of this place. Maybe if the pictures were as large as they could be, you might be able to see the lush green and diversity.. I just can't explain it.

The landscape is amazing, but the people I met were even more so...







<3
Candiace

Can it happen?

My life has changed dramatically within the last 5 days.

I met a girl (T.) who knew a man (named Y.), who changed my life. I went to an Oasis called Fayoum with him and his friends and they accepted me without reservation. I was told when you have a friend here, they are truly, truly good to you. "Hal toredeen shay?" No, I don't need anything but your company, shokran.

It was silly that I wore the hijab. It was silly that I was afraid to go outside or show my arms. What paradigm are such reservations coming from, because surely it is not Egyptian.

At Fayoum a world was opened up to me that I could only dream of. Everyone I met was over 35, and they had no concerns of my age. Y. said that when he was 15 years old he was befriend by people in their 30's, and he was taken very seriously...

I wasn't a child with them. Me, Y. and Ah. sat on the ledge of a half built artist mecca, talked philosophy and occasionally expressed our awe at the surrounding landscape.

There is a difference between the Muslims and the Arabs. Arabs have been around for a very, very long time. They have their own culture, rich philosophy, music and passions that can not be denied or repressed.

Islam is it's own entity. It is something different entirely from the Arab world.

For example, I was told that a Christian man I met, R., got tipsy the other night and expressed his frustrations with Muslims. He told them that Christians are the natives, and all Muslims are foreigners that think they know about everything... The irony revolves around the fact the Muslims came to Egypt around 1,000 (I don't know the exact date...) years ago.

Yes, some people are still upset. (It's hilarious.)

The concept of time is very, very different here. Coming from an agricultural background, the people worked hard for a short period, and then they waited. There is a lot of 'waiting' done around here even though we're in the city. 10-11 is 'early'. Asking what we're going to do tomorrow or next week is met with, "We could be dead tomorrow, don't ask about next week."

Me - When are we leaving tonight?
Y. - Whenever we leave.

Me - What lessons are we going to go over next week?
My teacher - We could be dead tomorrow, who knows about next week?

Me - I don't want to go to class tomorrow.
Ab. - No one is forcing you. If you want to stay, stay.

I don't hurry to get ready and I do not hurry to leave. I work in the moments I have now, and I've found that actually, I have a lot of time...

It's another world.

What has been fun to learn is that Egyptians love the Pharaohs, Abraham, Jesus and Mohammad. The places where these human beings stayed is very, very sacred to them. It's a matter of pride, you might say. Jesus (who is actually Yusef) came to Egypt to escape being murdered as a child. Supposedly, the place where he and his mother hid is known, and has been kept up until this very day.

What Cairo was I living in? I lived in a fabricated reality that was pushed onto me by Westerners! Oh, silly foreigners think they know whats up...

No, no they don't. They didn't at the time and because I listened I was completely miserable.

I was given many job offers through my friends while staying in Fayoum. One of which, was staying at the ecolodge for free, getting trained to teach the village children art and getting taught Arabic by an Arabic novelist.

Yes, an Arabic novelist.

The other two job offers revolve around working at an art center for traditional Egyptian music (which is amazing, let me say) or working with a local NGO concerning free trade items. There are many benefits to working with either of these places, all of which I have not explored.

What to do, what to do?

There is so much more I want to say, and even more so that I can not write about. Where was this Cairo hiding, right in front of my face?

I don't know, but I'm glad I suffered so I could be in the new world I find myself in.

Beautiful.
My new home.


.Candiace

Up to date!

Hasanan, hasanan! I must apologize to my mother for not posting for such a long time! I still don't have an internet connection at my place, so getting online is such a hassle.

Layset Mooshkela!

Home life has been just amazing since I've gotten my 3rd roommate. We already ate wonderful food, but when S. came, it went up a notch. I'm not losing the weight I thought I would - the food is so delicious!

Within the last two weeks I've:

-visited Mosques that were over 1,000 years old!
-visited an Ottoman home with 115 bedrooms made 500 years ago
-made an Egyptian girl friend!! WOOOHHHH!!!
-stepped over 1,000 year old whale bones seven times for a 'good husband.' (HAHAHAHA)
-saw a traditional Egyptian band called El Tanbura and DANCED with them
-had Egyptian alcohol. (tsk, tsk Candiace!)
-got my eyebrows THREADED for the first time in my life!


Tonight I'm going to the AUC campus to attend a concert by an Iraqi drummer. She is supposed to be AMAZING... I'm really excited.

Also, I should start working in an NGO very soon, hopefully working with AIDS awareness in my neighborhood.

I might be moving from Medinat Nasr! I'll let you know how my apartment search is going in a couple of weeks...

FYI - My birthday is coming up on April 6th!! I'll be turning 22. Wow, eh? It might be shameless to say it, but I would love it if any of you sent me money for my birthday so I could go visit Luxor. I'll send more info out later.. a trip to Luxor would be amazing to say the least!!

Alright (Hasanan), I have to get ready to go Downtown.

Wish me luck! I'll post pictures sometime soon, I promise!


Much love,
Candiace

Ciara

This is a video that was playing on an Egyptian music channel.

Ironic, no?


(Isn't she an amazing dancer?)

Justin Timberlake, Madonna, (of course) Celine Dion and Shakira are quite popular here, too.

The School & Attention

This afternoon I took some pictures of the school playgrounds in front of my apartment windows. The grounds were strangely barren; there are usually tons of boys running around in the Elementary school.

They are playing, of course, football (soccer). These kids can ROCK that field with great skill. Throughout the day different age groups cycle playing here. After school a large group of men around 25 - 30 years come and play very competitive games.

All of these playtimes for every age group seem to be unsupervised. The only time I have ever seen adults with the children was during the Egyptian pledge:

The pledge picture was taken many weeks ago.

Kids seem to do what they want at this school. On busy days kids that aren't students here tease those inside by climbing over the wall and throwing sand. Sometimes, they will climb completely over the wall and chill in some trees inside the school grounds.

This kid decided to get on the roof. No big deal.


I don't usually see girls around, but when I do they are in this area. These few little girls in the school next door to the Elementary school are playing hopscotch. I got one right as she was jumping!

At this point, my presence on the porch had disrupted the flow of the children. I was taking a series of pictures of the girls to get a good photo, and while this was going on someone noticed I was there.

I got the beginning of the commotion in this following picture:


The boys stopped their game to climb over the wall and tell the girls I was photographing them. Great. After this, all of those boys you see on the right and girls on the left starts congregating at that corner, waving at me and saying things in Arabic I didn't understand.

I waved back twice, got some smiles and then went back inside.

They probably waited for me to come back for at least 10 minutes. After 15 minutes I saw the boys trying to start their game back up, but they were entirely to distracted to cooperate with each other. 20 minutes after they saw me, the boys had gotten into little groups and were wrestling with each other.

I had NEVER seen them wrestle before this.

So, we know what these 'little men' were doing. I felt a little bad that they knew they were being watched, and felt they had to impress me or prove whatever sense of dominance they needed to prove...

I probably won't go out there for a couple of weeks during that age group's play period. They were super, super cute though, let me say.


Always,
Candiace






PS - These are what precious Egyptian bananas look like when you have them on a plate and bend over.

Arabic words....

....that you didn't know you knew.

admiral adobe alchemy alcohol alcove alembic alfalfa algebra algorithm alkali almanac amalgam aniline apricot arsenal arsenic artichoke assassin aubergine azure barbarian? bedouin benzine(?) Betelgeuse bint borax cable calabash calibre caliph camel camise camphor candy cane cannabis carafe carat caraway carmine

carob casbah check checkmate cinnabar cipher coffee copt cotton crimson crocus cumin damask dhow dragoman elixir emir fakir fellah garble gauze gazelle ghoul Gibraltar giraffe grab guitar gypsum halva harem hashish hazard henna hookah imam influenza jar jasmine jerboa jessamine

jinn kafir khamsin khan kismet kohl lacquer lake lemon lilac lime lute magazine mahdi marabout marzipan massacre massage mastaba mate mattress mecca minaret mizzen mocha mohair monsoon mosque muezzin mufti mullah mummy muslim muslin myrrh nabob nacre nadir orange ottoman

popinjay racket safari saffron saloop sash scallion senna sequin serif sesame shackle sheikh sherbet shrub sirocco sofa spinach sudd sufi sugar sultan sultana syrup tabby talc talisman tamarind tambourine tarboosh tare tariff tarragon Trafalgar typhoon vega vizier wadi zenith zero

Cool, eh?


Love,
Candiace


Source

circumcision

I. am. flipping. out.

I've read about it. I've cried about it.

I knew this happened.

... I did not know it happened here.



97% of women in Egypt are circumcised. 97% have had FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION. I am in the middle of a busy, semi-modern city and THEY DO THIS HERE!?!?

It's sick. sick. sick. sick. sick sicksicksicksicksick.

Systematic oppression. Systematic abuse.

I am shaken to my very, very core. 97% of women.

To any girl that reads this and has had it done.. jesus, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry.


The Egyptian government only outlawed it LAST YEAR.


I don't agree with getting boys circumcised and I do not agree with getting girls circumcised. None of this is right. How could you cut off, remove and destroy the healthy flesh of a child?!

I can kind of handle things when the truth is far away and I'm just reading about. Kind of. I am really quite unsure about how to handle the fact that most women I see walking around have had this done to them.

Do they not know the physical and psychological affects of FGM? In effect, it's like being raped.. by your family, strangers and entire community. Girls scream out for their mothers, to find that they are one of the women holding them down....

The medical repercussions are severe. INFERTILITY happens to be one of them. Besides post-operative shock, damage to organs and infection, a woman probably suffers from:

-pain in general
-chronic infection of the bladder
-chronic infection of the vagina
-pain during menstruation
-pain during intercourse


It's not because of Islam. It's a cultural habit. The intensely religious Saudi Arabia and Iran do not have female genital mutilation. Some try to justify it through Islam, but essentially they can't. No one is allowed any bodily modifications through the laws of Islam. The Coptic Christians here practice a very severe form of FGM.

I'm so shaken. I can't believe parents will do this to their child. It's appalling circumcision happens to boys in the United States under sanitary conditions, and it's barbaric that circumcision happens to girls under unsanitary conditions.

How odd that in America, a little under 90% of the men I see everyday have had their genitals modified.

What happens to a little boy:

Medical Procedure
Usually, the procedure for circumcision in America involves the baby being strapped spread-eagle to a plastic board, with his arms and legs immobilized by Velcro straps. A nurse scrubs his genitals with an antiseptic solution and places a surgical drape - with a hole in it to expose his penis - across his body. The doctor grasps the tip of the foreskin with one hemostat and inserts another hemostat between the foreskin and the glans. (In 96 percent of newborns, these two structures are attached to one another by a continuous layer of epithelium, which protects the sensitive glans from urine and feces in infancy and childhood.) The foreskin is then torn from the glans. The hemostat is used to crush an area of the foreskin lengthwise, which prevents bleeding when the doctor cuts through the tissue to enlarge the foreskin opening. This allows insertion of the circumcision instrument. The foreskin is crushed against this device circumferentially and amputated.

Anesthesia was not used to alleviate infant suffering until recently because it was believed that babies do not feel pain. Additionally, it was recognized that anesthesia was risky for the newborn, thus contributing to the medical reluctance to use it for painful procedures on infants, such as circumcision. Currently, some doctors use a dorsal penile nerve block to numb the penis during infant circumcision. While not always effective, this anesthesia may afford some pain relief during the surgery, although it offers no pain relief during the recovery period (which can last up to 14 days) when the baby urinates and defecates into the raw wound.

http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/milos-macris2/ow


97% of women here. 88% of men there.

I know the reasons for both sides, and neither are good enough. If you support either of them you do not have the right information, bottom line.

I'm going to be working with a local NGO here very soon to help women affected by this heinous cultural habit. If you are as equally disgusted that it also happens in America, please tell people about it.. especially if they are expecting.



.Candiace

Links on Female Genital Mutilation
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/first/badawi.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm
http://www.state.gov/g/wi/rls/rep/crfgm/10096.htm
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/32/018.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm3.htm
http://www.amirahsvoice.org/about_fgm.html
http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/fgm-prov-m.htm
http://www.feminist.com/violence/spot/fgm.html


Links on Male Genital Mutilation
(& why the foreskin is very important)
The Number of X Chromosomes Should Not Matter - Part One
UNAIDS Needs to Rebuild It's Ethical Framework - Part Two
http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/milos-macris2/
http://www.noharmm.org/zoske.htm
The Effect of Male Circumcision on Sexuality
http://www.circumcisionandhiv.com/


You'd think we would know better by now. We have so much growing to do.
One day children will not be abused. One day adults will be healthy. Until then,
the lucky ones who are privileged have the obligation to speak for those who can not
speak for themselves.

We can continue to fight the injustices by not abusing our own children....