Sudanese Refugee School

While I was working

in the Cairo American College, my son was volunteering at a Sudanese refugee school in the city. He read to students and tutored in basic math. He had one pupil who loved to add but got upset when he was asked to subtract. I suggested that maybe he had lost so much he didn’t want to see anything else taken away – but in reality he was probably just a kid who didn’t like subtraction. The last day of his stint I went by and did some poems with the kids.

Seems no matter where you go in the world, if there are kids around there are going to be stubborn teachers who think they need schooling. This school reminded me of one we visited in China, where the staff was (illegally) teaching the children of undocumented workers lured to Shanghai from the countryside by the construction boom. The school was unheated and the children were bundled in their coats, but the lessons were being taught. Eventually the authorities relented and just turned a blind eye on the operation. But it is a tribute to the dedication of these rogue teachers.

Similarly this Sudanese refugee school was not equipped with computers or reading programs costing tens of thousands of dollars. No Smart Boards or LED projectors, there was no budget for consultants to come in and assess for adequate yearly progress. This place, like the one in China, is flying just below the radar cobbled together by volunteers and donations. There is still a fair bit of prejudice against the Sudanese in Egypt. But, they are keeping their heads down, their noses clean and they are teaching there.

I was told by the woman responsible for getting my son into the school that the Sudanese have a real respect for education and that the kids are eager to learn. I’d be inclined to agree with her from what I saw there the day I visited. Here’s some pics and a short vid.

Cairo American College

It's Official

Cairo American College is one of my favorite schools that I have visited - ever.

I had a rotten cold for two of the days I was teaching here and even that couldn't put a damper on my enthusiasm for the students, staff and parents who populate the campus.

We based our operations at a round table in the library outside of curriculum specialist's Peter Ducket's combination office and coffee oasis. From this vantage we deployed into elementary, middle and high school classrooms for five days. In every single class we found interested students eager to learn and engaged teachers. We worked hard, but with participants like the crew we met here in Cairo one can really say, without fear of hyperbole or cliche, it was a labor of love.

Every evening was filled with excursions into the city or to the campus book fair which was running in conjunction to our visit. Special shout out to Sue and the rest of the parent volunteers at the book fair - you made us feel like rock stars. As long as I'm naming names Shy-mar (my phonetic attempt) Peter's secretary couldn't have been more helpful, knowing what we needed before we did. If Ann the librarian is not one of the nicest persons walking the face of the earth I'll eat a bowl of sand from in front of the great Sphinx.

I can't thank Seamus Marriot, the elementary school principle whom we first met while he was Shanghai, enough for facilitating our visit here. And of course, I would be no better than a mummy eating jackal if I neglected effusive and babbling kudos to our gazelle gaited guide to all things Egypt, Peter Ducket who went above and beyond the call of duty making us feel welcome, wanted and in some cases happily weary.

Thank you Cairo American College - 'til we meet again.

In a state of De-Nile

Today after school a couple of the librarians from the Cairo American College took us out on a falluca ride. A fallucca is a sturdy sailboat that plies the Nile. We drifted up the river with the tide and then sailed back as the sun set behind the pyramids. It was a perfect way to end another busy and productive day at the school. The staff here is making sure we are getting a rich Egyptian experience.

Part of that authentic Egyptian culture included mooring the boat to a dock a block or so from a TGIF restaurant where we all had hamburgers. The menu was pretty standard fare - but I would hazard to guess that not many of the franchise restaurants stateside have hookahs next to the tables.

Afterwards, near our apartment, we stopped with one of our host librarians at a local grocery where we bought some staples for the apartment, eggs, milk, bread that kind of stuff. We also bought a couple pomegranates at a quarter of what the price would have been back home. The librarian explained to the owner of the market that we were visiting poets and I ended up giving him one of my books. He in turn gave me a story.

He said that it is written that within the pomegranate only one of the juicy and tart seeds is blessed by god so that when one is peeling the fruit - it behooves one to be very careful not to lose a single seed because it is impossible to tell by looking which is the blessed seed.

There are a thousand lessons one can take from this parable - but I know I will never peel another pomegranate without remembering Cairo.

Cairo - day one

Well,

I was happily surprised by how impressive the pyramids were. I had heard from several folks that one could be underwhelmed by the size of the tombs in real life. I disagree - they were wonderful on the seven wonders of the ancient world roster definition scale.

I knew the sphinx was not very large – relatively speaking so I did not expect too much from it so I was not disappointed. Frank and I did go into the second pyramid – taking the claustrophobic, steeply downward angled, nearly airless and stiflingly humid tunnel into the depths of the monument along with busloads of screaming elementary school aged children. Definitely not a trek for the asthmatic or easily spooked as the average height of the route I guess was around four foot. Luckily halfway down the passageway it opened up into a small chamber where the ceiling shot up to lofty level of five foot or so – allowing me to uncoil my back a bit. The burial chamber at the end of our journey was of course empty and about the size of Winnebago. I’m glad we did it, but it is definitely one of those did it once – don’t need to do it again experiences.

From there our guide took us on the obligatory separate the tourist from some cash destination. Now I don’t know for sure – but I think it is a pretty safe supposition that these guides supplement their income by steering their clients to certain opportunities to spend money. For example, in Bali a tour we took included being taken to an artist’s house who was selling his pen and ink drawings. His work now proudly hangs in our house. Here we were brought to a perfumery where we watched glass being blown and received a thickly accented treatise on the advantages of Egyptian herbal extracts and then maneuvered toward the purchase of three hundred dollars worth of various unctuous concoctions. We demurred – opting to pick up a much less expensive bottle of eucalyptus oil. We also let our guide know we felt we could skip the papyrus factory and instead headed directly to the Museum of Antiquities.

Two hours are not enough time to really see the museum – but that was all the time we had. Realistically – jet lag was beginning to swim around our skulls and two hours was most likely all the attention span we had left. Even in our foggy states, the collections impressed. The King Tut exhibit was literally breathtaking. Seeing the gold death mask ubiquitous to all things Egyptian for every westerner just four or five inches behind a glass display case was much more moving than I had expected. What was amazing though was the sheer quantity of the artifacts that came out of the tomb. I was very impressed, especially since I worked for a moving company almost three decades ago and can appreciate expert packing. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed inside.

To be cont…

pics from pyramids

like a whirling dervish

Today blew by like a sandstorm - no time for a real post have to get some sleep in order to be able to be on my toes at school tomorrow.

sara me and frank

Waking in Cairo

Well,

The trip here was fairly uneventful. Long and somewhat grueling - but nothing compared to going to southeast Asia. We did have a lost wallet scare for an hour or so in Rome - but somehow - miraculously - we were able to get it back. My son Franklin, of the lost wallet, has started a blog to chronicle his side of the trip -

http://frankiesalinger.blogspot.com

Today we tour the pyramids and the museum of Egyptian antiquities. Sunday we start school - the week here runs Sunday through Thursday so Sunday is their Monday.

to be continued...

What Sphynx in here?

Okay,

Our next overseas adventure is waiting in the wings like an antique bathtub (sans overflow escape) filling down the hall. I can hear the water running, the sound changing pitch as it gets closer and closer to the brim but I am stuck on an important phone call and the cord won’t reach into the tile floored bathroom.

I can’t hang up, but I can’t ignore the looming flood and now the cat just ran by with a still alive chipmunk in its maw and there’s a kid in full marching band regalia straining with boxes of smoked almonds at the front door.

So much to do that it’s easier to ignore it all and post a blog.

This coming Thursday we head to Egypt! Sara and I are teaching at the Cairo American College for a week and then we are going on a three day cruise (sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…) down the Nile! We’re taking my younger son Franklin with us. He will be enrolling in the school we are teaching during the day and volunteering at a Sudanese refugee school afternoons – this should put a different perspective on some things for the young man

I’d be even more excited if we hadn’t crammed our every hour of the week before we leave with gigs and obligations. This is the rip the band aid off in one quick pull approach to overseas travel.

I am confident that muscle memory experience will pull us though this one – once we whip out our passports at the ticket counter we will transform and mesh into lean mean traveling machines. Shuffling forward in lines of humanity, dragging our Sisyphysian bags, eating whatever is provided in compartmentalized plastic platters by smiling flight attendants ‘cause ya don’t know when you’re gonna be fed again, boarding passes being the one constant as the surrounding environs become more and more foreign.

Yep – less than a week to go and we’ll be rocking in the cradle of civilization – but first, I’ve got to take my shirts to the cleaner.