Update

May 14, 2005

We finally had to run the air conditioner a bit today. It is 35 most days and when the air is still it gets hot. Chris and Elisabeth spent a day at the Red Sea, snorkelling and playing in the sea and having a great time with friends in the youth group. They have met many neat people from all over the world, from Sudanese refugees to Norwegians, Dutch, French, Belgian, British and they enjoy them.

Elisabeth took toys that Stephanie brought to the orphanage today and she said the babies loved them. She'd show one a toy that made a sound and they'd try hard to figure out how it was done. It was hot and the babies are on an upper floor so they were too hot to eat. Elisabeth said they just stretched out on the floor and tried to get cool from the linoleum. I wonder if we could donate a fan, but I fear that their homes don't have fans and so they wouldn't want them to get used to it and them go home and find home less pleasant than the orphanage. (The orphanage won't accept a washing machine as they don't want to live in a way superior to the people around them in the village.) Maybe they could spray the babies with spritzer bottles to cool them down? at least they were in shorts and t-shirts. Egyptians believe in being sure that their little ones are not cold, and the poor little things are wrapped in many blankets when taken outside, even when it is warm. At the leper colony a few days ago when it was almost as hot there was a new baby in a swinging cradle in the kitchen (extra hot room) under a mosquito net, wrapped in two heavy blankets!

May 11, 2005

The weather in Cairo is in the mid-30s most days, but there is often a breeze, it is not humid and the in the shade it is comfortable. Everyone tells us that it is an unusually cool spring! We don't run the air conditioner yet anyway.

Today I went to a leper colony near Cairo. A short little nun from Lebanon and her short little nun friends from Italy showed us around. The nun from Lebanon spoke only Arabic and French, so my rusty French got a work-out. Fortunately a lady from Acadian Nova Scotia is on the committee and went with us, and translated when we needed help!

A van from the leper colony met us at the metro stop and took us out, a 25 minutes drive. As we drove through numerous villages on dirt roads on our way there, the little nun commented on the number of leper families in each village that they care for. Seventeen in one, five in another, ...she cares for 270 orphans who aren't real orphans, but have leprous parents so need care from the nuns. Most of the lepers, if not all, were Muslim, but they loved their nun!

The colony itself had, she said, over 500 families, ninety in the hospital for active cases, if I understood correctly. We saw the men's area and the women's area but didn't get to the nursery and family area. She said when she first came, 25 years ago, she wrapped her legs in a big plastic bag and got down on her hands and knees to dig through the dirt to see if there was cement under the filth. She has cleaned the place up and loved the people up and is making a lot of difference in their lives. We saw people getting their sores washed and bandaged, many with deformities and missing limbs and fingers. I hadn't realised that leprosy affects their eyes. Sometimes their eyes just looked very odd. The people we saw were not contagious, but many choose to stay there as they aren't accepted in the broader community due to their deformities and they tend to have injuries requiring help due to their loss of sensation. One lady had only 1/4 inch stubs for fingers on both hands and no toes. She smiled broadly and got her knitting to show us! She is ten years older than me and has been there since she was 4 years old. She has a room of her own with cement walls and floor. There were flies everywhere - in the operating room and recovery room and kitchen as well as the dressing rooms and bedrooms. How hard to keep things clean!

The nun was full of ideas. She needs a new washing machine as they do so much daily laundry. (In the past the charity I went with has refused to pay for a new washing machine as they tend to "disappear" but they think they have a better director now.) She mentioned that the Spanish women buy them laundry soap, the Evangelicals buy them sheets, some Belgians provided money for lockers and mosquito nets for one women's ward. (There was a girl there, peeking from under the sheets who looked Victoria's age, a beautiful little girl!)

She also mentioned that money given with a designation always goes to the purpose specified, but that without specification goes to buy the nuns clothes. She pocketed a few bills handed to her for that purpose by one lady on the trip with us!

She showed us the stack of blankets and said that she hoped to have a blanket for everyone some year as it gets cold in the winter.

She suggested that if we had any old wedding dresses they'd be glad for them as they loan them to girls in the nearby villages and she had nine to circulate, but 3 are worn out from washing. (To our amazement the veiled women of Egypt marry in white western wedding dresses with plunging necklines and no veil!)

She has incredible patience in waiting for money to help those in need, and a great love for those people and they love her back.

We met a young German lady who has married a leper, converted to Islam I presume as she had the head covering on, lives at the colony and spends her days planting flowers and beautiful gardens in the compound.

We also met a girl, Mariam, an Egyptian who is a novice and wants to work with the lepers like Soeur Helene. She was always laughing and will be a great asset there!