Newsletter #3 - 17 June, 2003

Hi there,

This is a brief note to let you know we have arrived, what our contact details are and some of the initial impressions we have of Cairo. We are sharing a three bedroom flat with Kristian a Danish volunteer also working at the church. He will be heading home in August which will be a great loss for the Refuge Egypt program.

If you want to ring us, you can do so at +20 2 735 1027. However, please consider the time difference before you ring. This is also a plug for my website http://joshua.kuswadi.com which has the current local time in Cairo on the homepage :-)

So, what are our initial impressions? Everyone who had been to Cairo described their first impressions as crazy traffic, dirty, polluted, lots of noise, including the call to prayer.

We were lucky to have been met by Mark Bennett, once of the workers in Cairo, who drove us from the airport to his place in Maadi. It was very early in the morning and so the traffic wasn’t odd or strange, except for the lack of lanes on the road and ignoring of traffic lights.

The dirt and pollution so often mentioned was surprisingly less that what we were expecting. In fact Cairo doesn’t come across as dirtier than Bangkok, if you’ve had the opportunity to visit.

The noise again wasn’t an issue. Sure Maadi is a particularly rich part of Cairo, relative to the rest, but it wasn’t overly noisy. Again, in comparison to Bangkok, the major difference is that there is a surprising lack of motorbikes which dramatically lowers noise levels. However, there are two things we need to wait on before giving a final verdict on this issue. Firstly, the call to prayer, in particular the early morning one and secondly we are yet to have arrived at the flat where we will eventually be staying.

For this and a lot more information, I've updated the web site. (http://joshua.kuswadi.com)

If you are willing and able to support us by praying, some things to consider are:

• Adjusting to the climate of Cairo and sharing a flat with someone else, both new experiences.

Thanks,
Josh'n'Jo

Email me - joshua at kuswadi dot com