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| Roads like this lead into the heart of the rural Egyptian Sayeed, where many Serve to Learn volunteers spend their journey |
An Egyptian who had never been to Egypt; isn’t that ironic? From the second I stepped off that plane it was one culture shock after the other, and that was just in Cairo. Three days later I was off to the Sayeed (the mostly rural southern region of Egypt) and the culture shocks continued! The smell of taameya in the street, crazy took-tooks (auto rickshaws) zooming past and missing me by a hairline fracture. The people yelling “robobekyaaaaaaaaa robobekya!” in the streets, [door-to-door junk collectors and recyclers] and last but not least…. the donkeys: I think I saw more donkeys than people!
My senses were going wild, overwhelmed with such weird and wonderful things and although it was all so new to me, I felt a distant connection, some familiarity, to all of this and I hadn’t even gotten to the most important part… I still hadn’t met the wonderful people I had come to see.
The night before classes started I sat on my balakona [concrete balcony] and contemplated the three weeks to come. What would the children will be like? I wondered what the houses would look like? I wondered how many lives I could change… I wondered how many people I could help….. The wondering continued until words that were so blatantly obvious became a glorious epiphany …. I am here on ‘Serve to Learn’. The words drummed in my head over and over…. I’m here to serve and in serving I’m here to learn…. That doesn’t make sense on paper but trust me, it made sense to me…
Looking back on that night and my whole Serve to Learn experience I think, how foolish could I have been? It was I who did all the learning; it was the children who taught me. On this trip I became acquainted with the true meaning of service, the true meaning of giving, and the true meaning of poverty. I was put to shame by the loving nature and generosity of those who were less fortunate than myself but had a capacity to give an inner peace of thanks and faith beyond my comprehension.
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| Children from rural families pitch in to help with the work to be done in the same way they have for centuries. Serve to Learn helps ensure that never happens at the expense of attending school. |
Late one evening we left for home visitations which were in a village about an hour from where we were staying. Traveling deeper into the Sayeed, crossing bridges and train tracks, farms and ter3as we arrived at a very small town where there was a church and homes surrounding it. It looked a lot poorer than any of the other areas that we had visited; the buildings looked like they were old enough to have sheltered the Holy Family.
As the rocky journey almost came to an end, I noticed a small group of children watching us from afar. I couldn’t see then too well and full of curiosity, as I always am, I decided to go and speak to them and play with them.
With each step I took, I noticed the missing shoes, the torn clothes, the bare legs, the older ones, still children themselves, holding the hands of the younger ones in the group. The eldest boy, no older than ten, looked at me as if deciding whether or not they should run or stay. I smiled at him, hoping that they could see warmth and love in my face. Surely enough they smiled back.
I wanted to do something for these children… anything, I didn’t know what to give them with no food or lollies in my bag… the marbles had run out…. All I had was some money… just some pocket change, so I pulled it out and gave it to the eldest and told him to take it, and buy what he needed for himself and his siblings.
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| Boys from the site of our Serve to Learn volunteer relish the opportunities for fun learning that the program brings. |
With no hesitation whatsoever and with the smile of an angel on his face, he said, “No thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank God we are not in need, but there are many other families in this area who need this money. God Bless you!” The response shocked me, and it was like someone had slapped me across the face.
I looked at them and felt smaller than a centipede and hoped that one day I could have the faith, gratitude and satisfaction that they had. Looking around that village that evening and visiting homes, some of which had no electricity and broken roofs, would expect to see the faces of sad and disappointed people. My eyes only met the faces of happy people, thankful people. People who were so happy that the ‘aganab’ [foreigners] had come to visit them. Their attitudes really put things into perspective for me.
-signed, A Changed Forever Serve to Learn Volunteer
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