02-Nov-05

Dear Friends,

     I am very much enjoying the beautiful days of autumn.
Approximately 2 weeks ago the weather changed from summer to
autumn. (At least according to me.) In that time period, the
temperature seems to have dropped 10 degrees from being 30 most
days to now being 20 most days. Some of my Egyptian friends
declare that it is now winter and are already wearing several layers
of clothing! The weather is beautiful! In the evening it is actually
cool enough sometimes to wear a light sweater. And I am no longer
searching through my closet for the lightest, coolest clothes that I
possess that are still considered decent enough to wear. I know, I
know   I am showing my Canadian roots when the most important
thing to talk about is the weather. 

     Exactly 2 years ago today I arrived in Egypt. It has
certainly been an eventful and challenging 2 years. Many things
have happened since I last wrote to you. One of the biggest events
of course was my trip to Canada this past summer. It was good to
escape some of the summer heat (though there was still plenty of
summer left when I returned). But the most important aspect of 
my visit home was seeing family and friends. The short time I was
at home was not enough time to see everyone; however I was able
to see most of my family and many friends. When I arrived home,
I felt I had been in a time warp. Those of you who have read The
Chronicles of Narnia may understand what I mean. It was this
strange sensation as though I had never left; everything was
familiar, and yet everything was a little strange. And in some ways,
my time in Egypt seemed like it took place in another dimension.
Or did I perhaps experience Egypt only in my dreams. Well, I am
back now, and Egypt is definitely real!

     I was very happy that I was also able to attend a
Professional Development course in BC while I was in Canada. It
was rejuvenating to be able to touch base with other Occupational
Therapists and improve my skills as a Therapist. One of the most
important things I realized is that I need to focus my work. I felt
refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to focus more intensely when
I got back. Now if only I can hold onto that for awhile.

     Another "family highlight" was having my brother and his
wife, Sid & Bea, come for a visit in the middle of October. They
came with TourMagination on a MEDA tour (MEDA   Mennonite
Economic Development Association). I was very fortunate to be
able to go with them on the tour and increase my knowledge of
Egypt. (Of course I also very much enjoyed being able to spend the
time with them.) There is so much history in Egypt that it is hard
to take it all in during one or even two tours. I find some of the
ancient belief systems of the ancient Egyptians to be fascinating
and sometimes highly evolved. Some of the things that I remember
specifically from this tour include: (1) Most of the ancient temples
seem to be dedicated to 3 gods  a trinity. (2) One of the ancient
Pharaohs changed the religion from the worship of many gods to
the worship of one God. Also, because this was a MEDA tour, we
got to visit some of the projects MEDA is working with in Egypt.
I was very impressed with MEDA's projects of finding ways to
improve the lives of working children. Because of some of the
things MEDA is doing, some of the children who have to work
have better working conditions, and are also able to take literacy
training and/or continue to attend school. The reality of life here in
Egypt is that some children do have to work. And it was refreshing
to see the difference that MEDA can make in the lives of some of
the children. Sid is the brother that is closest to me in age, and it
was so good to "renew" acquaintance as we fell back into old
patterns of tormenting each other. Seriously, it was definitely a
highlight to see them!

     In the beginning of October, I visited "the Red Sea
Monasteries" the Monasteries of St. Anthony and St. Paul, dating
back to the early Christian monastic tradition, around the 4th
century. The original monasteries were destroyed, and then later
rebuilt. St. Anthony is considered to be the founder of Monasticism
and St. Paul is considered to be the first Hermit. It is said that
St.Paul lived by himself for 80 years existing on half a loaf of
bread brought to him daily by a crow. Near the end of St.Paul's life
it is believed that St. Anthony and he actually met. The
monasteries could be lovely places for a quiet retreat.
Unfortunately these monasteries are not on any tour route, and so
basically the only way to go there is with a church group. And
unfortunately, all church groups seem to like to go at the same time 
during Egyptian holidays. And so there were many busloads of
people at these monasteries when I was there. The monasteries are
approximately 4 hours away from Cairo, and since people like to
go for the early morning mass, this meant leaving very early. One
of the teachers I work with invited me, as well as 2 Swiss girls, and
1 German girl who are currently volunteering at the school where
I work, to go along with her church group. She met us at 9PM and
took us to her house to wait until it was time to go to the church.
I was able to lie down for at least ® an hour before we left. From
her house we then walked to the church, and left the church around
1:30AM, arriving at the Monastery of St. Anthony between 5:30
and 6:00AM. There seemed to be several different chapels in
which they were performing mass. The church had no benches so
we found places to sit on the floor.  Unfortunately after the lack of
sleep it was hard to think of anything besides sleep. After breakfast,
and a visit to the monastery, we climbed the mountain that St.
Anthony climbed every day, only we had stairs to assist our climb.
The climb was hot, but once I got to the top the breeze was lovely
and the view beautiful. At the top there was a little cave where St.
Anthony went to pray. I however decided I could pray better out in
the  open as the tiny little cave was constantly crowded with people
and there was a lot of pushing and shoving going on as people tried
to push their way into the cave along with a hundred other people.
(As I said, I think every church in Egypt was visiting these 2
monasteries that day.) People in Egypt do not understand standing
in line and this can sometimes be frustrating for a foreigner. From
there we went to St. Paul's monastery. Here the "foreign 4" in our
group got a tour of the place by one of the monks who spoke
English. It is a way of getting to see some parts of the monastery
that would otherwise not be open to the general public. We left St.
Paul's monastery around 6PM, and I arrived back home at around
10:30PM, very tired, but happy to have had the opportunity to go.
I would love to go back when there are a lot less people.

     I guess it's time to talk about my work. (I do work you
know!) I began doing workshops for the teachers at the Seeds of
Hope Centre during the last week in August. Despite my good
intentions when I arrived back in Egypt to focus and not try to do
everything, somehow I found that I had agreed to do workshops
every day from Monday through Thursday! And some days I was
doing more than one workshop! Oh well, I survived. I still need to
learn to focus! This year started better than last year with the
number of teachers who remained.(If you will remember from last
year I was very discouraged when we were only able to keep a
handful of teachers with any experience.)  Though we still lost a
few teachers from last year, we had a higher percentage of teachers
that stayed for another year. That means this year we are able to
have at least one teacher in most of the classrooms that have a year
of experience. And I don't feel like I have to start all over with my
training. Unfortunately, since school started, Tasony Parthinea quit
working at the centre. She was trying to do 2 jobs at the same time,
and with her health problems, she was not able to manage both. I
certainly could understand that it was too much for her. However,
she added a real presence to the school and so when she left it was
again a discouraging time for me as responsibilities were shifted
around again and some things ended up just falling in the cracks. 


     A new year brings new challenges at the school. This year
I have tackled the task of trying to create a chair for a boy with
deformities and poor muscle tone   meaning he has difficulty
maintaining an upright position. It was so much handier when I
worked in Prince Albert and could refer children with special
seating needs to Saskatoon, and I merely needed to check to make
sure that everything was working for the child. The chair is not yet
finished. Right now I am waiting for a carpenter to do some work
on the chair. I hope this will not take as long as a previous chair
that was taken to a carpenter to fix. (That chair was taken to the
carpenter at the beginning of September and I still haven't seen it.
I was not the one to take it to the carpenter, but I guess I will have
to be the one to make sure it comes back!) I also helped restructure
the program slightly for the lower level children and spent some
time in the classrooms trying to make sure the program was
working. This too has stretched me into somewhat new areas of
experience. Currently I am spending 1 week at a time in a
classroom to observe the children and teachers. At the end of the
week I provide suggestions and recommendations either for the
class or for the individual children. As I enter the last year of my
contract with MCC I do think I have been able to accomplish many
things. I know that I certainly have learned a lot! However, I also
feel a little frustrated that I have not been able to accomplish some
of the things I had planned to accomplish. Pray that I may have
wisdom to know what will be the best use of my remaining time
here. There are so many things I can see that need doing, but I am
only one person, and it is hard for me to prioritize. By necessity
saying "yes" to one good goal means saying "no" to another good
goal and that is something I have a hard time doing. 

     The new hospital here at Salem Centre looks pretty good.
I think it is close to being completed. 

     The past number of months have also had some difficult
moments. My Mom's brother died just before Canadian
Thanksgiving. My uncle and his wife lived just a few miles away
from me during my growing up years. It is of course difficult not
to be with the family at a time like this.

     As some of you are aware, my niece Renee was diagnosed
with Leukemia in June. She was touring with a mission group in
the United States when her leukemia was discovered. Her
condition has been complicated by the fact that she had a bone
marrow transplant when she was a baby. She had her initial
transplant in New York City and therefore the physicians felt it
advisable to do her current treatment there. This of course has its
own difficulties in that my brother and his wife live in Manitoba as
does most of the rest of my family. Now they juggle between
spending time with her in New York and continuing with their
work and being with the rest of their family in Manitoba. Their
youngest daughter is in High School. Renee has undergone several
rounds of chemo and as a result has had periods where she has
been very ill. It is hard to not be with the family at this time. I was
so thankful Renee was able to come to Manitoba the last weekend
that I was there and so I was able to visit with her at that time.
Initially a bone marrow transplant had been contemplated, but now
it appears that they are planning to give her several more rounds of
chemotherapy to put her leukemia into remission. She is expected
to remain in New York for several more months. Your prayers for
Renee, her parents, brother, sisters and of course the rest of the
family is much appreciated.

     I would also like to ask you to pray for my mother's eyes.
She has macular degeneration which seems to have gotten
somewhat worse in the last few months.

     Since my last letter we have again had some changes in
MCC Egypt. We have two new SALTer's (1-year terms: 1 man in
Beni Suef, and 1 woman in Fowler House, Cairo) as well as a new
3-year-term single woman who is teaching English at the
Cathedral. And tomorrow a couple is supposed to be arriving to
begin their 3- year-term! I also had a new little friend who was
camping out by the light outside by door for awhile. He seems to
have deserted me now.

God's blessings to all!

Gloria Dueck
gd@dueck.ca
http://www.dueck.ca/gd/
011 2 (012)456-5320