| April 12, 2003
Dear Friends,
I am quite late with this letter. So many things have happened
in my life since I last wrote, just before Christmas. I did go
to Cairo for Christmas, and like last year we volunteered our
day to feed the Sudanese refugees a Christmas dinner, which they
really enjoyed. Then that evening we had our own dinner at Dawson
Hall: roast beef, and it was delicious.
That was Western Christmas. Eastern Christmas was January 7,
and I was invited to Alexandria by Dr. Nabila, our pediatrician,
whose family had a flat on the fifth floor of an apartment building
just across the Cornish from the Mediterranean Sea. I had my own
bedroom, bath, and balcony. I went out onto the balcony, and there
was that beautiful sea laid out before me. It was breathtaking.
Nabila's family is just as nice as she is, and they made me feel
very comfortable. What a nice second Christmas.
In the meantime, between the two Christmases, I had phone calls
from an attorney and two doctors in Honolulu, telling me that
my sister-in-law Helen had a tumor on her brain, and that I was
the only one who could give permission for an operation, since
I had her power of attorney. I was able to give the permission
over the phone to two doctors, and the operation took place on
December 31. The tumor did turn out to be malignant. By the time
I got back from Alexandria, I was receiving calls and emails,
pleading with me to come to Honolulu, as there were so many things
that had to be done for Helen, and I was the only one who could
do them. I was reluctant to go because of the situation in Iraq
(afraid if I left, I couldn't get back to Egypt). But one morning
I went into my kitchen, turned on the radio, and the Cairo radio
station was playing “Aloha, Oe.” I left two days later.
When I went to pay the hospital driver who took me to the airport,
he refused it, saying I could pay him when he came to pick me
up three weeks later. That never happened, of course, because
when I was within three days of my return flight, I received three
emails from the PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries Division telling
me not to go back to Egypt, but to return to my home in North
Carolina!
So now I do a little volunteer work around here while I wait
and pray for the war to be over and Egypt to be considered safe
for me to return to work with Mr. Ramses on the history of the
hospital and on the "Aims of the Hospital," which we
have started and need to finish. I also look forward to working
in the Dialysis Department and handling emails that need to be
answered in English, etc., etc. I daily get emails from friends
in Egypt telling me how much they miss me, but it couldn't be
half as much as I miss them.
Please remember our servicemen in prayer, along with the Iraqis.
And please say one for me that I may get back to Egypt soon.
May the Lord bless and keep each one of you.
Shirley Birth
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page
142 |
