Egypt 2010: Coptic Cairo & The Garbage City

My last day in Egypt was spent visiting Coptic Cairo, in particular the famous Cave Church & the Garbage City.  The Garbage City is a Coptic section of Cairo that is basically the recycling factory of Cairo’s garbage, only the recycling is done in people’s homes! As we drove through the streets you could see piles of garbage ready to be sorted, while storefronts operated as warehouses for the latest truckload of delivered garbage. In the midst of all of this refuse you see children playing in the muddy streets, while the men sit around drinking tea and playing cards. And of course there are the cats rummaging through the junk… cats are just everywhere here in Egypt! Our teams in the past have been able to reach out to the children of these garbage streets & I pray that next month God will allow the coming OnCall team to continue to serve them & show them how precious they are in God’s sight!

Amged, my incredibly skilled driver, then managed to negotiate his way through the narrow streets & past a gated checkpoint. One minute we were in a junk yard, the next minute we were in paradise. I found myself amazed as we drove up the winding street that takes you to the “Cave Church”. In fact this dead-end street is dedicated to several Coptic churches that are built into the side of an overhanging cliff. We stopped by the largest and the most famous cave church, which seats up to 3,000 people. As you listen to how it began & the stories of survival in the midst of the unbearable Islamic oppression you can’t help but stand in amazement.

After a quick trip downtown to do a little souvenir shopping & enjoy some great Turkish coffee, Amged & I made our way to KDC, the largest evangelical church in Egypt. It was Sunday night and they had guests from Brazil leading the service. It was quite a treat for me as the worship & message was in English. This church of 7,000 is one of the largest and most influential churches in the entire Middle East. Earlier in the day I had the chance to meet with the Missions Director to discuss ways that we can get involved in reaching the Arab world & some of the most unreached people in the world.

My time in Egypt had now come to an end but there was one more thing I desperately wanted to do… sail down the Nile River. It was almost midnight, but I had heard about these sail boats that you could hire for about $10 an hour, it even included your own helmsman. So here I was on this 30 foot sailing boat all alone with an Egyptian helmsman that spoke zero English… but it was perfect! The night was cool & a soft breeze gentle pushed us along as I laid flat on my back gazing at the stars.  

Good night Egypt, I hope to see you again soon!

Egypt 2010: Cairo – The Essentials!

I was able to see Cairo properly today (Saturday), well at least from the tourist perspective! To my surprise it’s a massive city of 20million people, which was obvious as I peered out the window when I flew in. My first impressions gave me the feelings of an ancient, yet sprawling and fascinating city, with the bustling energy of New York. I spent the day with Ps Ehab, who has hosted three teams from TSC that have served his Lighthouse ministry in reaching out to the Sudanese refugees through acts of compassion.  We started the day, however, by visiting the African Hope School, which has over 450 students, primarily from war-torn Sudan whose families have fled and found refuge in Egypt. I met the new director of the school who happened to be an Australia, who grew up in the same city that I did. We both share so much in common, including wives named Sarah & parents that served as missionaries in Papua New Guinea!! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the school in full swing. I managed to stop by the school kitchen and witness the cooks preparing the students a hot breakfast, thanks to the support of ChildCry. An OnCall team will also be serving the African Hope School next month by providing medical screenings and basic treatment of every student.

I then got the chance to quickly visit the Cairo Museum & of course, the great Pyramids. It definitely was a breathtaking experience that left me thinking about all the great men and women of the Bible that had stepped foot on this same ground and like me, gazed up in wonderment at these incredible Pyramids. After being told by a good friend that I had to go inside a Pyramid, I lined up outside where we eventually warned that no-one could go inside because they had lost electricity and there was no light. I was rather disappointed until they said that they would still allow people to enter as long as you had a flashlight. So I managed to convince the security guard that my cell phone had a flash light and in I went — Praise God for the iPhone and its dodgy flashlight app!  I have to admit it was just hilarious crawling through the tunnel in pitch darkness, taking photos every so often in vain hope of capturing something somewhat important. At least I can say I went in!

Ps Ehab and I then went for an early dinner for some really delicious Egyptian tucker! It was a great time to relax and talk with him and hear about the journey that God is taking him on. In August he moved his family from New Jersey to Cairo to live and serve fulltime in reaching the poor. His is another inspiring story of a family completely surrendered to the will of God and to serve those who have no helper. We look forward to serving alongside him & the Lighthouse ministry with many more short term trips!

The Middle East 2010: 42 Hours

I’m not too sure how much blogging I’ll be able to get done the rest of my trip. I’ve had a ridiculously long couple days with little sleep, beginning Friday 1am with a 4hour drive from Pune to Mumbai Airport and then two consecutive flights; first to Bahrain and then to Cairo. After checking into the Madi Hotel which oversees the Nile & the Pyramids (fancy that), I was picked up by a friend of TSC to visit the local Church. Most churches have Friday & Saturday services as that’s the weekend here. From church we went out for a bite to eat & then back to the Hotel for some much needed rest! If my memory serves me correct, I think I was awake for 42hours straight!   

Tim