Rotary Medical Caravan

11.14.2008

Hello again! Finally, I am happy to report that I have been able to truly contribute to the benefit of some Egyptians that actually need it. My Rotary club, Cairo Capital, every so often, assists a team of doctors in a medical caravan to remote parts of Egypt. This particular caravan was bound for a farming village just south of Alexandria, in which a large Coptic Church was being constructed and was to be used a base for treatment. Now, if you were like me at first, you are probably wondering just what exactly is a medical caravan. What it is nothing more than true giving of unrestricted aid, attention, and service to those who need everything that comes their way.



The medical caravan that I was fortunate enough to help with, was a group of forward looking doctors, who donate their time and talents, at no cost to those they help. This team provides medical attention and corresponding treatments to Egyptians that are well below the poverty line and are hindered many times over by physical illness or disability. The caravan consisted of 6 doctors who covered a large breadth of medical services i.e. dentistry, OBGYN, general practitioner, dermatologist, optometrist and pediatrics. In addition to this team of docs, several members from Cairo Capital Rotary club as well as myself, two of my friends, Jessica and Graham, and another Rotary scholar Nathan. We all played a supporting role of managing the large crowed of patients that have come from far distances around and using our limited Arabic skills to find out which ailments they were afflicted with. We would then record the ailment, in general terms, and designate a particular doctor in which they would see. Furthermore, we would go back and forth between the mobile ambulance, that the docs traveled in, to retrieve the particular pharmaceuticals needed by the doctors.

I have to say that this was not an easy task, for many reasons. The first being the language barrier, the second the dialect, and the rest for being just utter overwhelming humbleness in which we all felt, seeing our standard of living compared to those that needed treatment. Now, Jessica, Graham and I, are learning Fusha, which is the Modern Standard form of Arabic, used in Media and diplomatic circles, so conversing with farmers who are only taught Amaya(sp?) the local Egyptian dialect, most likely not in a formal school system, was a daunting task. Nathan and I manned the GP, dentist and optometrist station and we had the majority of patients to deal with. To simply put it was difficult to explain in Arabic how the people in need had to wait there turn for the doctors. You could see in the eyes of the children and parents alike the disparity of wanting to be healthy and the urgency in which they wanted to fix it, and hence why the had traveled so far. At time, I felt utterly helpless that I did not know how provide some medical assistance to them, as well as having the language barrier prevent a mutual understanding of patience and our intentions to help them.

After a few hours, the doctors had seen all of the patients and everyone that was still around the church felt a sense of accomplishment and peace. Soon, the children that were around, even though some were sick, started playing soccer with Graham, and also decided to learn how to be a photographer. Nathan and I on the other hand helped clean up and see if anything else needed to be done before we left.



In my opinion, this day was a good one, but really not good enough. The way I see it, is that helping those that need it doesn’t really take much time nor energy. It is so easy to give a bit and help a lot. The magnitude of the impact of the monies invested and the time spent by the doctors and assistants created waves of good in this particular community, and those like it. Moreover, this time and energy significantly improved the day and possibly the long-term future of those that received treatment. It strikes me with the desire to help more, learn the language further, and to always put into thought, the relative position of myself and my endeavors to those I meet. I am very fortunate enough to be here in Egypt and to have one chance to help.

When I return to Reno, and I going to provide a presentation on my experience to raise funds for the completion of this church, who provides services to both Muslims and Copts a like, equally. I am happy to do this in hopes that maybe my Rotary club in Reno, Reno Sunrise, or my community could give a bit to help, and have it continue to make waves here in Egypt. This is the upside of diplomacy and I am happy to help.

Posts to come!

Meshy (Ok), so things have been pretty busy around here for me, with Arabic midterms and some catch up work but after tonight I only have 15 days of school left here. Its pretty insane how fast the semester has gone bye, but that is what one should expect from an intensive language program. To let you know what my posts are for the near future I will lay them out as I feel that my reflective thoughts and my blog have been seriously neglected. I promise no more of that!

My Rotary Experiences
Medical Carvan to Alexandria
Trip to Mt. Sinai, St. Catherine's and Dahab (this weekend)
Trip to Aswan, Luxor (next week)
Departure to Istanbul Turkey, Amman Jordan, and the West Bank (Beginning of Dec)


So, lots to come with more posts in between! Thanks for reading!

Mike

Stomp: The only band that brings its own trashcans…

Today provided a nice surprise for us as we got off the bus before heading to class. We had noticed a large stage erected in the middle of the courtyard by the library with a bunch of trashcans scattered about around it. I was taken aback as I thought that finally the AUC has gotten its act together and had actually bought trashcans for the campus! They were nice and shiny; large enough to hold all the cigarette butts and coke cans that are strewn around the area, and totally empty and waiting to be used. However, to my pleasant disappointment, the AUC didn’t improve in its sanitation priorities, but instead it was a Stomp concert!

We had heard that Stomp was performing in Cairo this week at the Opera House in Zamalek, but the tickets are 900LE per person, or about $180. So, obviously it was out of the picture. The group put on a great show with some great beats, and I would love to eventually see a full performance sometime. I had flashbacks to my drumline experience in high school and all the fun we had banging on drums. Also, I thought the here is living proof that when small kids bang on things around the house; they just might actually have a future in a group like Stomp. So, it was glad to support the arts and see these talented musicians at school… in Egypt!

In closing, Stomp unfortunately took their trash cans with them, back to the State’s where no one really needs them…sigh. Oh well…Welcome to Egypt.

Rotary in Cairo and the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt.

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!