Cairo Update
Dear
friends,
Yes, OK I know it’s been a while since I last wrote. My aim has
always been to write these updates once every two weeks, but in
reality it appears to be once every three or four weeks. Our course
if I *intended* to write once every three or four weeks it would
be closer to every six weeks so I’ll persevere with my original
intention in the hope that one day it will be achieved.
I have been very busy since I last wrote. For one thing I returned
to England by myself to be the best man at a wedding in London.
I’ve always said that I’ve never suffered from real culture shock;
it’s been such a blessing to seamlessly transfer from one lifestyle
to another without adverse mental reactions. One this return visit
I was really taken back by the climate- I think I’ll call it weather-shock
and it was the curse of my life for the duration of my six day
stay.
I took a leather jacket to wear but forgot a scarf and gloves
and it was soon evident that this was a big mistake. When I left
the aeroplane on the Thursday at Heathrow it was five degrees
(the same temperature as a fridge) and I really felt it this time.
The weather-shock seems to get worse each time I return.
The wedding on Saturday went really well- the weather didn’t dampen
our spirits by any means! This was one of the most enjoyable weddings
I’ve attended and along with many others I wish Graham and Diane
all the best for their future together.
By Sunday I developed a real stinker of a cold and I spent the
rest of the time in the UK either in bed, watching videos or buying
things we can’t get in Egypt; I always made sure there was a box
of tissues within reaching distance.
It was really good to get back to nice weather again and my fear
that I would infect the population of Cairo was unfounded. Since
returning a couple of weeks ago it seems that I haven’t stopped.
As you probably know I work part-time in Egypt in my area of speciality
of computers. This gives me a reason for being here as well as
topping-up our financial support. I’ve recently changed my area
of specialisation and now I’m doing a lot more web-page development,
but I feel like I’m climbing up the steep part of the learning
curve. At the moment I’m working for the Bible Society of Egypt,
they need to have their internet site completely redeveloped and
at times I feel that I’m a bit out of depth.
Just in case any of you want to know the web-page address- don’t
bother! It’s all in Arabic and your web page browser will freak
out on the first page. (This gives assurance that only Egyptians
will criticise the work and not westerners)
The work of running the company has been more difficult than I
first imagined, it is quite a juggling act to try and deal with
problems clients are having as well as develop web pages and chase
after unpaid invoices. As a result my time spent on ministry has
suffered so I’ve had to take steps to put this right. The next
six weeks will be difficult as I finish the work with the Bible
Society but afterwards I hope to take on the same number of Children’s
meetings as before.
The Egyptians celebrated Easter last week (the orthodox Easter
is later than the Western Easter) and last week I’ve been taking
meeting with an Easter theme. It’s great to concentrate on the
central theme of our message. In the City of Peace I was able
to give a presentation where three children made first-time commitments.
It is such a privilege to be part of the ongoing work with the
street-children there.
In the past I’ve mentioned about a place called Hagaana which
is one of the poorest places I’ve ministered in. There is no proper
road system beyond the area, the “roads” are impassable for cars
and have to be travelled either by 4-wheel drive or by foot. After
I returned from England at the beginning of March I heard that
the couple who run the children’s project are under a lot of strain
because of its popularity. In two years the number of regular
attendees at the mid-week meeting has risen from 20 to over 180.
The numbers attending the main church service have risen consequently
too. The children that attend the mid-week service have a short
attention span and have hardly had any schooling. There can play
quite rough but their hearts are in the right place. Once or twice
I’ve seen fights started as a consequence of arguing who is going
to begin the meeting with a prayer!
When I attended last week there were a lot of new faces and again
I concentrated on the Easter theme; a handful professed to have
made first-time commitments.
Attending the meeting had its consequences. On the way there I
was proudly driving in my little car- it has been such a blessing
to me to easily transport equipment for meetings without the hassle
of getting into taxis and metros. On the way I noticed that the
engine was overheating, I had previously topped it up with water
a number of times at the beginning of a journey, but then it seemed
to have develop a more serious problem. I was keen to get to the
meeting quickly so I stopped the engine and waited a few minutes
for the water to cool before taking off the radiator cap.
I had a large bottle of water with me which I poured into the
radiator which responded with a loud hissing sound, this confirmed
it WAS hot- very hot but since the destination was only a 10 minute
drive I continued. On the way back from the meeting I spoke with
one of the leaders of the group, who just so happens to be an
engineer.
I explained the problem with the car and he told me that in no
circumstances should I add cold water to the radiator of a hot
engine without first starting the engine. I explained that this
was exactly what I did and I asked if it would cause problems.
He evaded the question by saying that he needs to see the car
first.
When we reached the car his fears were realised! He poured water
into the radiator tank and we watched it drain way. I looked under
the car to see if the water was dripping from somewhere underneath,
but it wasn’t. This was a mystery to me so I asked where the water
was going. He took the dipstick and showed me the colour of the
oil- a nice sandy colour. He explained that the water was mixing
with the oil in the engine. Even my limited mechanical experience
told me this was not good.
He went on to explain (if memory serves me correctly) that adding
cold water to a hot engine causes heat shock if the engine isn’t
running, and this ruptures the gasket and causes the oil and water
to mix. Basically the car was a dead duck until the problem was
fixed. I asked the burning question- how much was it going to
be. He said he needed to ask a mechanic friend to come and tow
the car away and do the fix. He wouldn’t commit himself to a price
until he phoned the friend (I think he wanted to get the bad news
straight from the horses mouth.)
Fortunately his mechanic friend was at home, and so was able to
get me an immediate quote. It has to be said that labour costs
in Egypt are very cheap. Car parts are also made in Egypt and
again labour costs keep the cost of parts to a minimum. The mechanic
gave the following quote: Tow the car away, replace the gasket
set, change the oil and water, perform a thorough check on the
engine and return the car- four hours work plus parts costing
a grand total of . . . the equivalent of just over 18 pounds sterling.
I explained to my friend that he would get a shock if he went
to Britain to get his car fixed!
In the end I told him to get the mechanic to re-tune the engine
while he was at it and fix the original problem (which turned
out to be a faulty fan switch)- the final bill was about 23 pounds
sterling. Remember that we don’t get the same amount of money
as we did whilst living in Britain, but still a bit different
from what I’m used to. I had the assurance that my engineer friend
would oversee the work (there mechanics can sometimes cut corners!)
I’ve spoken to a number of people since then about the problem
of adding cold water to a hot engine- i.e. making sure the engine
is running at the time. It seems that EVERYONE knows about this
except me. How come I’ve missed out on this essential item of
knowledge? I hope to be in a position one day to pass this knowledge
on to some other ignorant non-mechanically minded person with
the same degree of certainly and self-assurance that it is VERY
obvious. It reminds me of the definition of an ignoramus- someone
who doesn’t know what you learnt yesterday.
Actually, I had a different mechanic to look at another problem
on the car the previous week. A connection between the gear-stick
and engine had snapped outside my house, since I couldn’t get
any gears the car couldn’t be driven to the garage. The mechanic
came with an Egyptian friend and first went underneath the car
and lodged the car into third gear. He then drove me for about
20 minutes through Cairo traffic to his garage using only third
gear (I hate to think what it did to the clutch!). He did the
repair and at my request also changed the spark-plugs, distributor
cap and petrol filter. All of the parts plus over three hours
of his time cost me a total of about 13 pounds sterling.
It’s nice to know there are some real advantages to living here-
cheap car repairs is something I will always be grateful for.
As I close this update I would like to wish you all a belated
Happy Easter!
Jason
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Update Index
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It's
a Fact!
Facts
about Egypt:
- Egypt's
population is 66 Million
- Egypt
is four times the size of the UK
-
Only 3% of the land can be used for arable crops
- Cairo
has 18 million people and is growing by 1 millon each year.
- Cairo
is the Largest city in Africa and the Middle East
- Official
literacy rate is only 45%
- A
total of 11 languages are spoken in Egypt
- Public
Debt per person is $790
- Average
annual income is $630
- Unemployment
is estimated to be 17%
- Religion:
Approx. 85% Muslim and 15% Christian
- Most
Christians are affiliated to the Orthodox Church, less than
1% of the population are Protestant
- There are
an estimated 100,000 street children in Egypt
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