(Written: 10-24-08)
A couple weeks ago we had the amazing opportunity to go to the Arab League and meet with Hesham Youssef (Chief of the Cabinet of the League’s Secretary General – Amr Moussa). We were very warmly welcomed and had a very informative “conversation” with him.
The other halls of power we visited were in Luxor where the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom built their kingdoms. Among these, Tuthmose III, Queen Hatshepsut, Tutankhamun, Seti I, Ramses II, etc. We visited: Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, another lesser-known temple (which I have currently forgot the name of but which had exquisite hieroglyphics), and the Vally of the Kings where we entered three tombs and went to look at Hatshepsut’s Temple. For those of you who know my love for history, you can imagine I was soaking up every minute!
Being in Luxor I felt like I was in the Egypt I imagined. The construction of the city of Luxor itself is much more spread out than Cairo, dusty vs. filthy, very closely linked to Pharonic history, on the lush banks of the Nile, etc…That said, the hassling from the salesmen is beyond what you can imagine and CONSTANT. I think we were all somewhat relieved to come back to Cairo.
A theme I’ve been wrestling with at times and to varying degrees while I’ve been here is the feeling that I “fit” – I look the part and can play the part but the cold reality of it is that it’s pretend. I look like an Egyptian and can play that card (I’ve taken to saying that I’m an American with an Egyptian mother because it simplifies things :o) but the truth is I’m not Egyptian my roots are not here. Similarly, at the Arab League I could be comfortable and again “fit” in these halls of power but I left with more of a sense that, for me, politics is not it. Again, I look the part and could act the part of a political figure but I don’t feel the drive it would take to make that happen.
Understanding myself in relation to my experiences has thus been a challenge as I wrestle with why I’m here, and where the responsibility of having all this new information/experiences poured into me will lead. I don’t know.
I do know however that God is faithful and I feel that in subtle ways I’m not even fully aware of he is shaping my mind and my heart for his purposes. One-way I felt this pretty clearly recently was when we had a documentarist show us a new documentary he is working and discuss the issues it focused on with us. The film and his interest pertain to the Israel/Palestine situation. Engaging in that conversation again, after spending much of the semester to this point on other aspects of the region, made me realize that any future involvement I may have in the ME will likely pertain to that issue; because I feel something inside me come alive for it, even if it’s just a broken heart over the seeming futility of the situation. Again, I can only wait and see how God develops this in the near future.
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