July 4, 2003

Today is the Fourth of July. Picnics and wonderful fireworks are my lively memories of this day. I grew up in northern Virginia when the area was still semi-rural. Even though we lived seven miles south of Washington, during my elementary school days I could see the Washington Monument from an upstairs bedroom window. The years that the family Fourth of July picnic ran too late to go into town to the mall to watch the fireworks, we would watch from that upstairs window and cheer every time the “bang” was loud enough for us to hear and the falling colors were especially bright.

The fireworks I watched this past March and April on a TV in the small hotel lobby in Limasol, Cyprus, were of a very different nature. I did not cheer. The Young Adult Volunteers and I were evacuated from Egypt for security reasons during the Iraqi War. I had so hoped and prayed that a non-military solution would be found. Then I had so hoped and prayed that we would not be evacuated. The young adults and I wanted to stay with our Egyptian friends and colleagues. We were worried that there would be anger and maybe even some violence toward Egyptian Christians who might be perceived as being supporters of what was happening in Iraq. We felt we were deserting these people. Fortunately Egyptian tolerance and sense of fairness prevailed and no one was attacked or hurt during this time of tension. I thank the PC(USA) for their concern for the safety of the young adults. If we had stayed in Egypt and anyone had been harmed, that would have been devastating. However, being away and safe was also difficult.

The previous May I attended a conference in Beirut, Lebanon, sponsored by EMEU (Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding). Also in attendance was a delegation of five Christians from Iraq. It was painful to remember the faces of these pastors of different Christian faith persuasions and wonder if they might have been killed.

Victor Makari, our PC(USA) Middle East/Europe Coordinator, ends his correspondence these days with “Solidarity with the churches in Iraq.” As you read, watch, and hear news about chaos and continuing violence in Iraq, please pray for these Christians in peril.

Now I have settled back into my work and life in Cairo. Sherri, Cathy, and Julie, the Young Adult Volunteers, are busy with the St. Andrew’s Relief Ministries’ summer schools for the Sudanese and their other jobs. They’ll be ending their one-year term in less than a month. Then it will be time to prepare for the arrival of Becca, Elizabeth, Renee, and Rob, the new Young Adults Volunteers. My year with this first group of young adults has been full of learning, difficulties, and joy.

Since returning from Cyprus, two Egyptian friends are again part of my life. First I’ll tell you about Ashgaan, my Arabic tutor. Her regular classes are at Dar Caboni, a Roman Catholic missions order school for the study of Islam. Ashgaan is a devout Muslim who teaches foreign Christian church workers to speak Egyptian Arabic. I am one of her poorer students, but we have so much fun and learn so much about each other that the fact that I will never say certain Arabic sounds correctly becomes unimportant. She has patiently listened and corrected my language while I sorted out my feelings in Arabic and then tells me in Arabic how she and the average Cairene feel about culture, politics, and religion. My knowledge of the real life here has expanded tenfold and keeps expanding every week. We’ve begun to do things together socially, and I feel truly blessed by her company.

The other dear friend who remains so much a part of my life is Mrs. Samia Nimr, the former principal of Ramses College for Girls. She was a wonderful next-door neighbor for six years. While principal at RCG she gave her all in service to this groundbreaking school for the education of women in Egypt. Since her retirement and return to Minya in the heart of the Christian area of Upper Egypt, she continues to serve her church through education. The young adults and I are going to Minya in a couple of weeks for their last retreat here. We’ll stay on the early mission houseboat, “The Witness,” and see some of the Christian development projects. And, of course, we’ll have a wonderful lunch cooked by, and in the home of, Mrs. Samia Nimr.

So two of my best friends, one Muslim and one Egyptian Presbyterian, grace my life in Egypt. They met last winter when I had them both for a Christmas celebration. Of course they instantly liked each other. As I mark ten years in Egypt, somehow these two friends are symbolic of my life and service here. Since coming in 1993 as a two-year volunteer English teacher at the Salam School in Tanta, staying on to work in teacher training for all the Synod of the Nile schools, and now facilitating as the site coordinator for volunteers, my life has been richly blessed. I have learned much during these years from Egyptians, both Christian and Muslim, about tolerance and dignity during hard times. May God continue to bless Egypt and the work of the PC(USA) in support of the Christians of Egypt. May the love of God as shown to us by Jesus spread throughout the world.

Carole Landess

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.142