Egypt – “Like a Knight in Shining Armour”

“I don’t worry about the wounds.  When I go up there, which is my intention, the Big Judge will say to me, Where are your wounds?  and if I say I haven’t any, he will say, Was there nothing to fight for?  I couldn‘t face that question.”     Alan Paton, “Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful”

These astonishing weeks in Egypt, I think have revealed many knights, females and males, young and old, educated in schools and educated by life. Thinking about this great and peaceful revolution, and the struggle ahead to make it real in the lives of everyone, reminds me of what happened in South Africa. Let’s pray that the resolve to create a democracy in Egypt, that is real for all, succeeds, and shines steadily as a beacon for the world.

The quote above comes from a story about an encounter in apartheid South Africa where the cost of freedom was and is so high. Thinking about that situation and Egypt, helps put my own cares in clearer perspective and nudges me into considering more daring action. The situation of South Africa was always for me a portrayal, on a smaller scale, of the situation today, existing in the whole world. A small but technically advanced minority keeping the majority in a semi-slave condition.  Nelson Mandela was a hero in daring to love past all the grievous past.  And there were many other heroes of every color, who struggled and died there. They are shining Knights.  These weeks in Egypt have witnessed the birth of many more!

Alan Paton’s “Cry the Beloved Country”, was important  for me years ago. Anne Hope, a white South African, banned from her home country because she broke the  color line, read the book outloud one September as the rest of us cut up a million apples on a farm in Ohio. One of its lines is the text of one of my published peace posters.

“I have one great fear in my heart, that one day,

when they have come to loving,

we will have come to hating.”

words of an African minister.

Asmaa Mahfouz & the YouTube Video that Helped Spark the Egyptian Uprising

Asmaa Mahfouz & the YouTube Video that Helped Spark the Egyptian Uprising

The role of Egyptian women in this revolution and on the media which reported it seems extraordinary. It totally confounds the stereotypes we have of women in that part of the world. Veiled completely, partially veiled, headscarves, no veils at all – the women were there and in some places seemed to be leading. It was remarkable to witness this and to hear them tell that there was no sexual harassment at all, amid that incredible gathering of thousands and even millions who stood side-by-side in Liberation, Tahrir, Square, for 18, long 24-hour days.

Tonight I looked up on Google to attempt to find the video I found most moving, the one that seemed to spark this vast revolution to free a people oppressed for so long. I am attempting to put it on this blog, but in case it doesn’t work, here is the link. This is the www.democracynow.org version that contains three videos by this remarkable young woman.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/8/asmaa_mahfouz_the_youtube_video_that

May we each have a share of her courage, and stand up for what we believe!

Egypt – a Revolution in Hope – Not Violence

Insha allah! God willing! In the name of God the merciful and compassionate. Let this revolution of hope be a beacon for the world.

Have you ever seen such rejoicing as the scenes today in Egypt? I haven’t, especially among so many, so uncountably many?

As someone who worked in Egypt and loved the people and was sorrowfully evacuated at the end of the Six-Day War in 1967 these days have been very gripping to me.

I’ve been checking on my computer for news as soon as I get up in the morning and again sneaking a peak during the day and again in the evening. It is been an emotional roller coaster. I discovered Al Jazeera for the first time, that’s Al Jazeera English, since my Arabic is very little and not the written kind. What excellent and balanced coverage, not at all like the media here tends to make it seem like. I also have been accessing DemocracyNow.org most mornings at eight and sometimes during the day to see their take on what is happening in Egypt.

These beautiful and openhearted people who managed to keep violence out of their protest and show something to the world that was really never seen before in terms of such a mass of people so peaceful and yet so determined to end injustice and create democracy.

Don’t let anyone tell you this is an Islamic plot. It is a cry of a suppressed people for freedom, ready to risk a lot because of an oppression that began before most of them were born.

The spirit in the streets is the one that I knew in Egypt where a woman at that time was safe to travel alone at night. I have beautiful stories from Egypt. One time I was riding the train from Ramses Station in downtown Cairo to the suburb of Mataria where I lived when not in upper Egypt where I ordinarily worked. A loud whistle indicating sundown and the ending of the Ramadan fast sounded. Lunches and treats in celebration from the fasting people appeared seemingly from nowhere and everyone wanted to share with each other, and with non-fasting me, clearly a foreign woman.

Another poignant memory was during the first week I was in Akhmim the 4000-year-old city I would come to love. Gail, who had already been in Egypt for years and spoke perfect Arabic, was taking me around to visit some families of the girls we had been working with. The streets are narrow with the walls of houses on either side. We came to a small passage and started inside when a young girl, maybe seven, pushed by us with happy flashing eyes to run out into the street. She came rushing back shortly carrying a little piece of paper with something wrapped in it. We’ve moved through the our winding alley and came to a woman dressed in black holding a little tray with two small glasses of tea on it. It was strong, sweet, typical Egyptian tea. I learned that probably that little girl had been sent by her mother when she heard that we were visiting, to buy that little bit of tea or sugar for us for a few pennies.

I was with a generous people who were poor, but willing to share what little they had. I learned much from them.

I rejoice with them today. Let’s say with them the prayer that is the custom to say when beginning so many things from meals to meetings.

” In the name of God, the compassionate and merciful.” May this revolution, accomplished without violence by such an overwhelming number of people bring about a new way to to see what true democracy looks like.

Insha allah! God willing! Let this revolution of hope be a beacon for the world.

Haiti, Prayer, Hope

As the whole world is turned to the tragedy of Haiti, and the poor becoming poorer, wounded or dead – we seek for meaning.

A prayer –

May this people and country be helped to finally live and control their own future.

May help from the outside honor their independence, allow them to raise their own food, mill their own flour, make their own cement, control their own telephone system.

May they have help from true friends and no longer be controled  from those seeking their wealth without respect.

May this tragedy and the outpouring of aid be a hopeful new beginning, making amends for the repression that has been its history.

May God comfort all the wounded and suffering and receive with Compassion those who perished.  Amen

Wow! A blog! Active website! A Hope team!

This has been a very active week for me.  Everything regarding Hope For the Flowers seems to be heating up.  It is a rather breathtaking experience.

I hope I can keep up, and what a difference it is to have help like I now have!

What is most special is the sense that I have some actual support in more than visioning. It is getting practical, facing some of the rooms in my house long since abandoned to chaos, putting up new things on Hope’s website so long dormant.  I look and am surprised at what I find.  I can even see some countertops in the kitchen and this afternoon I discover I have a blog! I need to learn to use it.  This is my first try.  And tonight, my goodness, I discover the interview I did at Bioneers By the Bay up there for the world to see.

Thank you Hope team, especially Leigh and Una.  It seems that everyone on the Hope Team believes the time is ripe to assist those unusually long lived caterpillars and get their message to stop crawling over others further out to the world.

So thank you Hope Team for this fresh beginning.

Hello world!

I discovered that the title on this page — Hello World! — appears on every new WordPress blog. It is generic, but it sure surprised me since it looked like it was just meant for me.  It is what Stripe, one of the main characters in Hope for the Flowers, says when he is born, so I figured someone had really written special.

“Once upon a time a tiny striped caterpillar burst from the egg which had been home for  so long, ”Hello World!” he said.  It sure is bright out here in the sun.” … and straightway began to eat the leaf he was born on.”

I join Stripe in saying, “Hello World!

May this strange wonderful new possibility be a vehicle for good in the world!