When I first moved to Egypt I was amazed at how the past and the present seem to meet in the city of Cairo. Caireennes consume the west. They like the clothes, the food, the music. The city is loaded with Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Chili's, and these eateries. You can find stores that carry all the name brand western clothing and shoes. The problem lies not in the consumption, but for the ones that cannot afford to make the purchase. Egypt has more than its fair share of impoverished. I always say the poor in America are rich compared to the poor in a developing country. My husband told me the other day he was in the hospital cafeteria with other doctors having a coffee and reading the newspaper. There was a flier inside the newspaper which fell out and it was an advertisement for McDonald's, or Hardees...one of the janitorial staff inside the cafeteria picked up the flier and my husband could tell her mouth was just watering over the picture. He told her never mind, these types of food give you a very bad upset stomach. Unfortunately, probably 60% of the population here could not afford to buy a value meal from McDonalds. To afford buying one of those meals probably would cost him/her a healthy part of their monthly salary. The gulf between the ones that have and the ones that do not is very present here in Cairo. I am sad to say, I have become desensitized to it partially. I can remember when I would walk to school and see the way people lived right next to me and how shocked and sad I would feel. Now, after walking past these folks for over 3 years and others like them, I have grown accustomed to it. That realization about myself bothers me the most. I felt this way when we traveled in Malaysia and Indonesia. The poverty was all too familiar and my reaction was indifferent. It is amazing what one can become accustomed to in this world. Thankfully, I have not become completely apathetic towards the needs around me. What I choose to do is help those that I can. I do things for the ones that are close to me, such as my maid, the ones in my neighborhood, and my school. I hope in time that poverty of this scale will be eradicated.
Until then,
A Woman of Egypt

As a southerner myself, I am saddened by the devastation and suffering of my neighbors in Louisiana and Alabama. What a shame that the United States was so ill prepared for the aftermath. Growing up on the east coast, one develops an innate awareness that we are always one summer away from a major hurricane. We become desensitized to the dangers and are prepared to ride most of the storms out. Hugo's and Andrew's have taught us valuable lessons, and we pick our fights now, evaluating the danger and decide whether to go or to stay. The ones that can afford it do leave and the ones that cannot stay behind. What a shame that the world's leading power, the inventor of the space shuttle has failed its own citizens during this natural disaster. I can only imagine what would happen if it was man made. I read an article a couple of weeks ago that really disturbed me. It seems that Americans are spending more than they make. Not just on a federal and state level, but on a personal financial level. For every 100 USD that is earned by an American, he/she is only saving 1 dollar out of that 100 dollars earned. I found this information incredible. If anyone else knows different, or if I am mislead, please e-mail me and let me know. If this is true, than it seems that we as Americans are just one paycheck away from financial disaster. Personally, I find this frightening. The United States, even though it is considered one of the richest most powerful nation of the world, has a very large under class of poor folks. The lines between the "haves and the have nots" seems to be a bit blurred after this article, and the systems in place to help these folks in times of need such as now, seem a bit suspect. I hope that we as Americans, at an appropriate time, start to self-evaluate from the top down to find out what went wrong during our nations time of need, and if we have our values and priorities in the right place. Perhaps we need to start cleaning up our own back yard before directing others to make changes.
Until next time,
A Woman of Egypt

I returned to work last week. I always enjoy my summer holiday, but I find that by the end of July, I am ready to get back to school. It seems that by the end of the academic school year, I just want to sit quietly on a beach with a book. Once I have completed that book, I am ready to get back to business. I guess I would never be very good at living idly. Perhaps I have a problem in relaxing. My husband says that I am always hoping and jumping around doing something, I never sit quietly. I might have ADD and have never realized it! hehehe The students have yet to return to school as we are having our first major multi-candidate election in Egypt on September 7, 2005.School has been postponed for one week as they feel that it will be dangerous to be on the streets during the day of the election. I am not sure what all one expects, but it seems that emotions are running high here in Egypt regarding this election. There are all sorts of rumors about corruption and rigged polling stations. I have no first hand knowledge of this and cannot say if it is true or not. I do know that I have never seen any campaign commercials, nor speeches, nor live debates. I know that each candidate was eligible for 500 thousand Egyptian pounds from the government to use towards their campaign, and that they could raise up to 10 million Egyptian pounds independently. I just found out today (the election is tomorrow) that there are 10 candidates. I am looking forward to finding out what the outcome is regarding the election results. It seems that many Egyptians are ot registered to vote and/or have no intentions of voting. It should be interesting to see how the whole event transpires.
Until then,
A Woman of Egypt