I have finally made contact with my Rotary Club here in Cairo after some difficult communication via email this first few month or so that I have been here. I am happy to say that after last night all is well and that I look forward to working with Cairo Capital Rotary Club and the service projects that they do for the time that I am here.
I had spoken with Atef my Rotary Counselor here in Cairo last week on the phone and he had invited me to attend the weekly Rotary meeting to be held on Wednesday nights at the World Trade Center Building in downtown Cairo. However, yesterday while I was sitting in my Arabic writing class I received a text message from Atef informing me that the Wednesday meeting had been changed to tonight (Tuesday) instead. The reason for the change was that the Rotary Club of Zamalek, which is on the island that I live on, had invited the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt to speak at the Al Gizera club over dinner. I was very excited to attend this meeting! One so that I could finally get to meet my Rotary Club, who turned out to be an amazing group of people and two maybe have a chance to speak with the U.S. Ambassador.
My roommate Graham and I suited up and headed down to the Al Gizera Club, which is very famous, Gatsby-esk, and prestigious. For an Egyptian to gain membership there they must pay over 300,000 LE (Egyptian Pounds) or 50,000+ dollars a year. It was an honor to even walk in the club as a foreigner, as the famous Ali soccer team practices there. With in the club there is a massive swimming pool that is probably the nicest in Cairo, many full soccer fields, a horse track, running track, tennis courts, restaurants and more.
When we arrived in style to the club, where we were ushered in immediately in very professional manner, as the security knew that we were attending the Rotary meeting. Upon going into the restaurant I introduced myself to Atef and some other wonderful Rotary members from Cairo Capital, and we sat down among a larger group of about 70 to 100 Rotarians and guests, and we proceed to chat and get to know one another as we waited for the U.S. Ambassador to arrive. About 45 minutes later the Ambassador arrived and gave a basic speech that defined an outlined U.S. Foreign assistance policy, and also the foreign policy objectives that the Bush administration was pushing in the Middle East. It was a good speech, in the sense that it gave a lot of basic information about history of the relationship between Egypt and the U.S. and had a focus on the USAID goals and the military assistance budget that now tops over 1.25 billion dollars. The speech was positive and friendly but left no room for any tough questions afterwards. Smart play I thought by the speechwriter, however I feel that the Rotarians wanted a little bit more sustenance and honestly, so did I.
After the speech the Ambassador took questions that were fielded by the president of the Al Gizera Rotary club so that any aggressive inquires could be avoided to keep the Ambassador off the hot plate. Soon after that the Ambassador was open to introductions and interviews by the local Egyptian media and I thought it would be a great time to introduce myself. As I went to the line that formed to talk with the Ambassador, Mrs. Salwa Hadid, another one of my awesome Rotary counselors, grabbed me by the hand and rushed me to the front of the line. Soon, I was talking about U.S. Public Diplomacy and my experience with the IVLP program with the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Mrs. Margaret Scobey. I was very happy to have this opportunity and I am thankful my friend Graham offered to take my picture just in case I was successful in talking to her. All and all it was another great night in Cairo and one for the record books. Graham and I met some amazing Rotarians who were very friendly and helpful to anything that we might need and I hope to stay in close contact with them. I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying it here, and I look forward to many more memories of this great experience in Egypt!
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