Newsletter #15 - 14th July, 2004
Hi there,
We arrived in Geneva, Switzerland last night after a hectic last week
in Cairo. Now that our year there is over, how do we sum up the
experience. We've defintely changed in terms of our thoughts and
attitudes about culture, theology, relationships, work ethics etc.
So, here goes at an attempt to sum up our time, in the last Josh'n'Jo
newsletter.
In terms of my racial background: Five days ago, someone actually
guessed Indonesia as my background. After countless comments of Korea
or Japan, it was very refreshing and quite surprising. The day before
we left was hopefully the last time I'll have to endure comments
about looking like Jackie Chan or Jet Li.
In terms of the country: The President has been in Germany the past
two weeks for medical procedures. While my first reaction is that it
shows a lot of confidence in his country's ability to help him, Al
Ahram, the weekly English newspaper had two front page articles on
the subject. To their journalistic credit, their key source for
information was an engineer and a train station attendant
Now, some quotes from Egypt Today a monthly English magazine.
- "10: the number of Egyptian university student who had to leave
their final exams this year to give birth."
- Regarding the Egyptian Museum and the possible theft/loss of
artefacts, "the museum's 'cataloguing' process involves each piece
being branded with a serial number, which is then entered on a
running list - a list that includes the numbers alone. No description
of the item."
In terms of the people we got to know: Our bible study group and
close friends from work joined us for dinner on our last night at our
favourite restaurant, courtesy of a generous couple in Sydney.
Certainly a good time was had by all. We spent most of our last week
saying good byes, from the gatemen at the cathedral, to Omar, our
bowwab in our building, to our landlady, to Egyptian, Sudanese and ex-
pat friends we've made over the year. Hopefully we've got photos of
all of them to remind us of the impact they've had on our lives.
In terms of our work at Refuge Egypt: Joanna has completed her study
on the Arba Wa Nuss clinic and we hope that it will provide useful
feedback based on previous registration figures for the expected five
day a week clinic. I am very confident in the abilities of the
Sudanese guys looking after Tukul Crafts in my departure. They've
pretty much run the show for the last two months with me in an
advisory role only.
With Rachael Gavarotto, another volunteer from Sydney, we had our
Refuge Egypt farewell last Thursday. It was the most enjoyable
farewell we've been to in a while now, with some hearty Sudanese
singing, clapping and drumming at the end. Unfortunately the co-
ordinator of the program didn't bother to attend, citing a bad case
of malaria. However, we were quite offended to see his attendance at
a function later that evening at the church.
Numerous people have commented to me about the lack of description
about our work in the past year, particularly in contrast to the
amount I've written about our travels and culinary experiences. At
the end of the day, for me particularly, working with the co-
ordinator of Refuge Egypt has been the biggest challenge of the year.
Not wanting to write and whinge, I've avoided the issue all year in
newsletters. However, this is also my biggest concern upon leaving,
that Refuge Egypt will continue to provide the services to help
refugees and maintain its reputation with the many 'western'
organisations it has to deal with - UNHCR, TearFund, Bible Lands etc.
In terms of our future: Our plans now are to 'go the long way home',
via Switzerland, the UK and the USA. Not sure of our exact return
date as yet, but around Sep/Oct. We've applied for Moore Theological
College for 2005 - Joanna for one year, me for four. Hopefully
between our return and, if successful in our application, the start
of college, we'll be able to find lucrative contract work to keep us
busy.
More short term, ie the next week, we hope to receive many emails
from you letting us know what is going on, see the Tour De France
race past us, watch the Bledisloe Cup match somewhere in Geneva,
catch up on lost sleep and read a couple of books. After one day in
Geneva the distinct impression is of vibrant colours. I hope to
update our website with some more photos in the next few days.
Thank you for reading all our newsletters this past year, keep in
touch and pray for peace in Sudan.
God bless,
Josh'n'Jo
Email me - joshua at kuswadi dot com
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