People in Egypt Are Like Us

            I have just returned from a long trip to Egypt.  It was my first time in this very ancient country.  Like many people, I had always been fascinated by ancient Egyptian monuments and civilization.  When a tour with everything that I wanted to see came up at a reasonable price, I jumped at the opportunity and the chance to finally realize one of the biggest goals on my bucket list. 

            I found Egypt to be just as enjoyable as I had hoped.  The ancient monuments were as dazzling and fantastic as I had always heard.  The Nile River was even more amazing and important than I had ever imagined.  Exploring the monuments and the river are worth making the trip, but getting to know a nation's people and culture are where the heart of any trip lies.  Egypt is no different.  

            Unfortunately, when one takes the path of a fully guided tour, one experiences a somewhat rose-colored and spoon fed version of the local culture, but, even with that, there is still some opportunity to get to know a few real people.  I always like to learn as much as I can.

            The first thing you notice upon arrival in Egypt are the soldiers and the machine gun emplacement guarding the entrance and exit to the airport.  Then, as you proceed to your hotel, and later on through the country, you will see frequent checkpoints, especially at tourist sites, where soldiers and policemen watch everything from behind steel armor-plated shields.  Other police and soldiers in white uniforms, wearing side arms or carrying automatic AR-15 type rifles, supplement the checkpoints and make note of all movement.  Our tour bus had to pull over several times each day as we progressed from one location to another so that the police could check our bus for bombs, run us through and occasional security scanner, and record our number and country of origin. 

            I was told that a military service commitment of one year is compulsory for all Egyptian men upon reaching adulthood.  I was also told that any active duty soldier has the right to stop any person anywhere at any time to check their identification and travel papers, and to jail or cite them if their papers are not in order, or if their personal appearance and clothes are not clean and respectable.  I noticed that the Egyptian people all seemed to be clean in appearance, with close shaved faces or well trimmed beards and clean, hole free clothing, and I had wondered at this marvel.  There were no slobs or kids with their pants hanging down to their ankles in Egypt.  It appears that the soldiers are doing a very thorough job.                

            The second thing that one notices when arriving in Egypt, at least in Cairo, is the insane traffic.  The main road in the city consists of four traffic lanes in each direction, but the four lanes can suddenly and without warning turn into seven lanes of traffic.  Cars, buses, and trucks cram into every possible available space in order to get ahead of everybody else.  Vehicles are sometimes only inches apart.  Pedestrians walk across the road as if the traffic doesn't even exist and drivers go around them just the same as if both vehicle and pedestrian are surrounded by several feet of bouncy bubble wrap.  Horns honk every few feet.  There are no traffic lights and there are no left hand turns across traffic.  The whole scene reminds one of a crowd in a theater trying to reach the exit after hearing the word "fire"! 

            Every car in Cairo has scratches and dents, regardless of whether the vehicle is new or old.  Most vehicles don't even stop if they bump someone else.  Comprehensive and liability insurance is not required by law, and is not wanted by most.  If one's vehicle is damaged in an accident, regardless of the damage to the car or one's body, one does not usually sue the other driver, even if the accident was the other driver's fault.  One merely accepts any loss, medical costs, and hardship as being one's fate, and then forgives the other driver (ideally) and moves on with his life as best as he can.

            Because of the large amount of cars, garbage fires in the streets, and other pollutants, Egypt has heavy smog from one end of the country to the other.  The smog makes it harder to breathe.  At night, one cannot see the stars because of the smog, even in areas away from the city.

            The people of Egypt, at least the educated people, are very concerned with the election in the United States.  They want to know, and seriously worry about, whether all Americans are bigots, misogynists, and haters of Muslims, as Donald Trump portrays us to be.  They worry that Trump is going to start a campaign of persecution, and even worse, against Muslims if he is elected.  The people who discussed the election with me and my fellow tourists said that they have regarded America as the shining example of acceptance, equal opportunity, and freedom in the world, but now they worry that it may be something worse than they could ever have imagined.

            The Egyptians that I talked to said they wanted to make it clear to Americans that they are not terrorists.  All they want is the same thing in life that every other person wants - a chance to live safely in peace, without fear, and to be able to take care of their families and earn a decent living.  They say that Islam is basically a peaceful religion, but Islam does have its share of psychopaths, just like Christianity or any other religion.  They want us to know that they, and Islam, do not support these psychopaths. 

            It is true that Islam does require Muslims to practice jihad, or holy war.  However, jihad originally means that one must protect himself and his religion when he is attacked, not go out and attack others.  It is not permissible to just go out and attack whoever is different from you, and it is not permissible under jihad to kill or harm women and children, unless they first attack you.  In fact, the Egyptians told me, someone who violates these tenants will go to hell, under Islam, instead of getting 70 virgins in heaven.  The 70 virgins story is a myth, told for the benefit of those who are ignorant and easily manipulated.

            I was surprised to learn that everyday Egyptians seem to know, and take it for granted, that Saudi Arabia is mostly responsible for the current terrorism spreading throughout the world.  They say that many rich Saudis financially pay for many of the terrorist attacks throughout the world.  Saudi Arabia also requires a book from a radical Islamist, written hundreds of years after the Koran, to be taught in their schools.  The book teaches that Muslims must kill anyone (ANYONE!) that is different from them, making terror acts and murder the official policy of Saudi Arabia.  The Egyptians that I talked to made it clear that if we want to bring terrorism under control, we have to first deal with Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia is not the friend that many in power in our government claim it to be.

            Another very important thing that one will notice in Egypt is the condition of the public restrooms.  I only used the mens' restrooms, of course, but I found most to be filthy, in poor repair, occasionally lacking water, always lacking paper, and in general, always disgusting.  Egypt wants to build up their tourism industry, but, in my opinion, Egypt should be ashamed to offer such restrooms to those visiting their country. 

            One interesting thing about Egyptian restrooms is that you will find outside each restroom entrance, a man, woman, or child who will hand you four sections of toilet paper to use for any and all purposes while inside.  In return, you are expected to hand them at least one Egyptian pound coin, which is about 10 cents U.S.  Egypt is a poor country and this type of begging is the only way some people can make a living.  I suspected many times that these people stole the paper from the restrooms early in the day just so users would have to give them money for the paper.

            Ask for coffee in Egypt and you will get Nescafe instant coffee, not brewed.  The food is somewhat bland, but includes plenty of lentils, local fruits, vegetables, pita bread, Tahini and similar spreads, and stews, at least where I ate.  

            There is no middle class in Egypt.  You are either poor or you are well off.  There is no welfare or government support system for the sick, poor, or aged.  Each person has to work or depend upon their family to live.  The oldest able bodied male is responsible for the well being of the women in his family.  Our tour bus drove by a large cemetery one day.  Our guide informed us that over 500,000 people lived with the dead in the cemetery because they could not afford to rent or buy a house or apartment and they did not have any family to take care of them.  We have homeless people here in America too who live in cemeteries, so I guess the practice is not all that unusual.                                      

            Most average Egyptian people live in apartment buildings which they either rent or buy.  The apartments are as plain as a cardboard box on the outside and made of concrete and brick.  They have no decorations and no attempt is made to make the exterior look appealing.  The buildings looked like giant bee hives to me.  I wasn't able to go inside one of the apartments, but I was told that the interiors are decorated nicely, just like any other home. 

            I was privileged to attend a wedding after-party at my hotel while I was in Cairo.  In the after party, the bride and groom come out into public view to dance to live music so as to proclaim their marriage and joy to the world.  The bride in her white wedding gown, and the groom in his new dark suit, descended the decorated hotel stairs, and led several dances in the hotel lobby.  A live band with drums, a saxophone, and other instruments preceded them, playing Arabic music all the while.  Other women were dressed in beautiful and colorful Arabic clothing.  The dance lasted for about a half an hour and then the wedding party and guests went back upstairs to feast and party some more.  Our tour guide explained that if a couple cannot afford to rent a building for their party, they sometimes just hold it in the middle of the street.  Traffic automatically and courteously just diverts around them.  I felt very privileged to be apart of this couple's wedding celebration.

            In general, I found Egypt to be fascinating.  I enjoyed every minute of the trip, even though it was physically exhausting.  It took more than a day each time to travel back and forth between the US and Egypt, my visit was not long enough to fully adjust to the time differences, our schedule was very full and hectic, and we had to get up several times around 3:00 a.m. in order to get to our destinations in the cool part of the day, but the trip turned out to be worth it.  I had always felt an unexplainable tie to ancient Egypt, and it was good to finally be able to satisfy my curiosity.