Lillian Trasher Orphanage - Assiout

Last week, I had the chance to go to a town called Assiout to the Lillian Trasher Orphanage. I think the orphanage was started 100 years ago by a Christian lady named Lillian Trasher if you couldn't get guess from the name of the orphanage. She came to Egypt in the beginning of the 1900's after calling off her wedding 10 days before the wedding. That is pretty intense if you ask me. So, she is engaged to this guy and 10 days before her wedding, she feels like she is called to Egypt and he wasn't so she broke it off and headed for Egypt. She funded and built this orphange with the help provided by churches in Egypt and around the world. In Egypt, it is illegal to adopt, so there were a lot of children without homes and Lillian started just getting babies and taking care of them. At one time they had 1200 children in the orphanage but now there are only about 200 kids because there a couple more orphanages in Egypt and not only one option anymore.

It was really cool being able to see how the orphanage is run and seeing the amazing facilities they have there. It is really cool because the orphanage is affliliated with the Assemblies of God and is run by Christians and the kids are brought up in a Christian environment. But like all things, the orphanage is not perfect and has its flaws. One of the major downfalls is that the girls in the orphanage are very secluded and are very naive when it comes anything going on in the world outside the orphanage. They hardly ever mix with the boys and are pretty much kept just with each other....and they are starving for attention. When we got there, they just completely flocked around us. Like seriously, there were 10 girls all huddled around each of us and they were all just ask us our names and touching us nonstop. They were all so sweet though and just kept telling us how beautiful we are and that they want to come to America so bad. I actually almost got Matthew married off because I was telling the girls about my family and when I got to talking about my brothers they were like "Oh yes, you have a brother....Matthew!! You must bring him to Egypt!!" Hahaha...too bad he's only 12. Not quite marrying age yet:)

Another thing that bothered me about the orphanage is that these girls don't have very many options for a future outside of the orphanage when they are old enough to leave. Once they turn 18 they have the option to leave (which they are not encouraged to do) or to stay at the orphanage and work there by helping taking of the younger kids, cleaning, cooking, etc. It used to be that pretty much the only chance the girls had of leaving the orphanage was to marry a boy from the orphanage. In Egypt it used to be that if you were an orphan, it was pretty much the lowest class so the orphans would just marry each other. But, now its not the same and a lot of the boys in the orphanage are marrying girls outside the orphanage and so less girls in the orphanage are leaving because less are getting married. There are old ladies still at the orphanage who have never left and they have just spent their lives there. These girls go to school, but most don't try very hard because they don't see the point because they don't see a future outside the orphanage. They aren't taught any other skills that they would need to survive in the "real world" and they are so sheltered that it would be such a culture shock if they were to move to a city like Cairo.

This is one of reasons why Jen brought Azza and Manal to work with her. They had begged her for a long time to come and work with her and finally she agreed and brought them to Cairo 6 months ago. Manal told me that when she was in the orhanage, whenever she heard that Jen was coming to the orphanage for a visit, she would get so excited and she would always go and find Jen. So now Jen is teaching them English and office skills so that after 2 years they will be able to go out and find a real job. Jen has actually been in contact with some missionaries in Dubai and Azza might go work for them and live with them as a nanny. So, this is a really good opportunity for her and a chance to travel and see other parts of the world. This is so awesome what Jen is doing for these girls and the amount of patience she has is amazing! But, she can't hire every girl in that orphanage. What they need is someone who can come in and teach them English, help motivate them to do well in school, and teach them basic skills (like how to use computers). My heart just goes out to these girls because they deserve a chance to live their lives. Please keep these girls in your prayers and that God would just send the right people into their lives to bring encouragement.

computer issues

So, I know...I have been super slow at updates for my blog, but please forgive my sluggishness. So in my flat the second day I was in Cairo, I mysteriously picked up a wireless internet connection from somewhere [I don't know from where, but I think Jesus just loves me a lot:)] and it was really exciting! But this week, the connection has lost....there has been no signal at all...zilch...zero. AND on top of my lack of internet [I don't know how people used to survive without it:)], my AC power adapter to my computer has stopped working. This is due to the generosity of Deborah's dog Keava, who so kindly decided that the cord on my charger looked like a little treat to nibble on during the night. So, she left her mark [a nice set of teeth imprints] on my charger and now I am reaping the results of her philanthropy. In short, I am without a internet and presently without a computer. Oh, I can't wait to go home and give that dog a big..um...hug.

But not to worry!! Help has come to this poor soul!! In a week there is another girl coming from the States to Egypt and she is going to be living with us. Her name is Jessica and she is my God-send...literally. So thanks to her generosity and just greatness, I was able to order and new AC power adapter for my laptop and send it to her so she, in turn, can bring it with her. I was really freaking out though before I thought of sending it to her because I did not trust sending anything to Egypt and having it arrive here before I leave. God is so awesome and truly knows my needs. Even in the simple things...He cares enough about me and my need for a computer to supply a way for me. How silly do I feel to freak out about something so stupid just to come to realize that its not silly to God. He really does love me and wants to take care of me and provide for my needs. It makes me realize how important I am to Him and this is how He feels about all his children....He loves us each individually so much and truly does care enough about us to help us with even small things in our lives.

I feel like everyday He teaches me more and more about Himself and I find myself growing closer to Him and loving Him so much more! I have been learning so much about myself being here in Egypt and have been able to grow closer to God, but not because I "have nothing else to turn to" or that I've "hit rock bottom and only have Him to rely on"....BUT because I realize the precious gift that I have been given. I got really convicted when I first got here because I see all these people around me who are trapped in a lie (Islam) which has twisted the truth just enough for it to seem right...and I realized that I have the truth available to me so easily in the States and its so easy to be a Christian in the America, but I was taking for granted my relationship with Christ. This was something HUGE that God showed me and I since then I feel like I've grown so much closer to Him and just so much appreciate that I was able to grow up with the knowledge or Christ and was raised in a family that loves God. How blessed am I? I sometimes wonder why God chose me to be so blessed...and I haven't figured out the answer yet, but when I do I'll let ya know;) So yeah, thats just a little tidbit that turned into me just blabbing my feelings away, so thanks for contributing your time to listen...err....read:) I promise I WILL write soon about actually things happening in Egypt and post more pics SOON!!

Pyramids + Faluka = Maya Maya (very good)

This week has just been pretty crazy busy so far!! Last Saturday, we went to see the Pyramids and Sphinx AND we rode in a faluka on the Nile River. We started bright and early by leaving at 7:30am to get to the Giza by 8:30am because we wanted to be able to get there in the morning before it got blazing hot in the desert. Also, to go inside the Great Pyramid, you have to get there pretty early to get a ticket because they only sell a certain amount of tickets per day to go inside it. I was told this is because they want to limit the amount of traffic coming in and out to preserve the pyramid better. So, I got go inside the Great Pyramid and it was so, so amazing! You have to climb up this tiny ramp thing and bend over because it is really enclosed and not very well lit. So, it is a little eerie, to say the least, partly because it was so closed and tight (if you are claustrophobic I wouldn't suggest going inside the pyramid) and partly because you are like in a giant tomb. You climb up to this big chamber and their is a huge sarcophagus where the pharaoh was buried.

There are three major pyramids in Giza and they are the biggest 3 pyramids of the 8 that have been discovered in Egypt. The Sphinx is by these three pyramids and I was kind of surprised at the size of it. I just thought it was a lot bigger because pictures make it look HUGE. I mean, it was impressive and big, but just not as big as I thought it was going to be. This Sphinx is missing a nose and his little goatee because when Napoleon first saw the head sticking out of the sand, he and his men shot at it not knowing what it was. Then, the British came later and sawed off the goatee and took it to England where is now sits in the British Museum. It was really interesting learning all these fascinating things about Egyptian history as far as how these fantastic structures were constructed and why.

And yes, what would more silly then to come to the pyramids and NOT ride a camel. Come one, its part of the whole Egypt experience. The stables we went to get camels only had 2 camels and 2 horses, so since we had 4 people, the owner told us that we could take them and then switch halfway through our ride into the desert. So we set out and this man comes up to us and is like, "I will be your guide and take you to very beautiful view so you can get great pictures" and Jon was like "Well, we don't really need a guide because we don't want to pay extra." The this Egyptian man was like "oh no, I come with these animals....don't worry about the money...I do my best, and you do your best." We thought this was kind of shady, but we just went along with it. So, Jon and I were on the horses to start off with and Jackie and Tara were on the camels. Then this man decided that he didn't want to walk and jumped up on Jackie's camel with her, which is unheard of and she even insisted that she just ride with Tara, but he assured her it was okay and normal (which we found out later, wasn't normal). Our guide led us into the Sahara Desert and we got some great pics of all the pyramids and it was just so beautiful! Then on the way back, Jon and I were getting on the camels and Jon's plan was to get on the camel that the guide would ride on so I wouldn't have to sit with this creepy man, but it undoubtedly, I ended up on the camel with the guide. It was so funny though because when the guide was trying to sit on the camel, it started standing up really quickly and he fell off (we thought it served him right:)). Now you have to understand, when camels stand up and sit down, it is not very graceful. They use their back legs first, so you have to lean way back or else you'll fly forward and possibly off, which I almost did when the camel stood up really fast:) Anyway, when our little riding excursion ended, the guide was haggling us pretty badly and wouldn't take the money we were offering to pay him blah blah blah, but in the end we were able to bargain him way down from what he originally wanted.

So we had some quite humorous and entertaining events happen while we were walking around the pyramids. First, when we got there we had all these guys coming up to us and wanting us to buy their products and trinkets etc. and one man came up to Jackie and was like "Oh beautiful lady, where are you from?" So Jackie was like, "Uh, uh......I don't remember where I'm from!" It was so funny!! So apparently, these men will know how to say the same things in a bunch of different languages so if you don't respond to one they will try all they know until they get a response, so we thought it would be funny to start speaking gibberish to them so they would be confused and not know which language we were speaking:)
Another really funny incident that happened with these men trying to sell stuff happened, again, to Jackie:) She is just the lucky one who provides all the entertainment for us while we just watch:) So another guy came up to her and was asking her if she wanted to buy these postcards that he was selling. So Jackie like panicks and puts her hands over her head and starts running away while saying "NO, I don't want any!" The guy was just like, "Don't run.....why you scared lady?" It was soooo funny and we always do reenactments of Jackie running away from the man with the postcards:)

Later that evening we went sailing in a "faluka" (which is like a big sailboat) on the Nile River. We went in time so could catch the sunset and it was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. It was just so relaxing too, and heck, I was on the NILE RIVER!! I got some really good pictures from the faluka.

The Holy Day...

So the last couple of days have been jam packed with all kinds of activities!! Since Friday is the holy day in Egypt, we went to church. That is actually part of my internship, teaching the children's church for Heliopolis Community Church. Mostly foreigners attend this church because it is an English-speaking service, but there are a few Egyptian families that attend. So Thursday, we went over to the Wommack's house to prepare everything for Friday morning. We have some children's church curriculum, but it is kind of cheesy and the church we go to is not Pentecostal so some of the stuff in the curriculum isn't appropriate. For example, in the puppet skit for this week, one of the puppets was talking about being a "super Christian" because he could speak in tongues. Well, this church definitely does not believe in speaking in tongues nor are they very charismatic so we had to tone down a lot of the material:) This was fine because we had way more fun coming up with our own stuff!
I put to use my stock of camp songs I have ingrained into my memory from working at Camp Berachah for two summers and the kids LOVED them!! It was so much fun watching them dancing around singing silly kids songs...you can even watch the video of one of the songs above. It was about 111 degrees by then so after jumping around and doing crazy motions to the songs, I looked like I had stuck my head in a water barrel by how much I was sweating:) Apparently the children's church is usually not that active and they are just used to hearing a story, eating snacks and doing worksheets. So the kids really enjoyed being able to jump around, be loud, and have fun. We had planned to do a game, then sing, learn the memory verse, tell the story of the Good Samaritan, review the verse and do a word search puzzle, but the service was shorter than normal and we only got the verse. At HCC (Heliopolis Community Church) they have everyone joined together for the first part of the worship service, then they stop in the middle of worship and do announcements. On this particular Friday, there was a baby dedication, so since that took longer than normal we were cut short on time. It was totally fine though and luckily we were able to teach them the verse so they got something spiritual out of children's church besides how to sing silly songs:)
There was one boy who had the "I'm too cool for school" attitude and I went up to him after we were done and he was like "Could we pleeaasseee have a sane teacher next week?" Ha! I told him "Nope, not possible. Plus these other girls will be just as crazy as I am, so you're out of luck." Poor guy. Stuck with crazy American girls all summer. I'm sure deep down, he really does like our insaneness, he just has an image to keep up, thats all:) If he thinks that was crazy, then he doesn't know that this was a mild version of how we will normally be...haha.
So yes, our first church service went very well and I am so thankful for what God has been doing since I've been here. He has proved himself faithful to me and opened my eyes to so many things already and I am remain open for him to use me in whatever ways he deems best.

Maadi

I got my first lesson in Arabic yesterday, which was fun, but a little difficult. On Sun-Thurs I go to Maadi to work with AG missionary Jennifer Day who is an RN and does medical missions. She has an Egyptian man who works with her named Moody and his father is an AG pastor in Assiout and helps run the Lillian Thrasher Orphanage. Anyway, he is giving us "survival" Arabic lessons twice a week while I'm here. It is really good and I learned a lot. Jennifer also has two Egyptian girls who work for her who are also from Assiout and both just got out of the orphanage there. Their names are Menal (24 yrs) and Aza (22 yrs) and Jennifer has taken them under her wing and is teaching them English (which is now currently my task) and also teaching them skills to use so after two years they can find jobs on their own. They are the sweetest girls in the world!

On Mondays, Jennifer does a clinic in a city called Kozzika. So, I was able to help out at the clinic by getting charts, weighing the patients, and playing with the kids while they were waiting. It was so funny because we told the kids that we wanted to practice our Arabic and they were tougher on us than our teacher:) I think I was forced to count to 20 in Arabic at least 20 times, and one boy even taught me how to write the numbers from 1-20. But it was so funny because they were so intent on teaching me Arabic and even the Muslim mothers were helping us...and laughing at us as we kept ranting off 1-20 and "hello, how are you?" conversations. It actually helped a lot and it was just so great how eager they were to help us. Apparently, they love it when foreigners try to learn their language and make an effort to communicate in their first language. These are some pictures from the clinic.

Finally, in Egypt

So...I have finally arrived in Egypt! Well, actually it was at 2:00am two days ago that we actually arrived....after many hours of flying and layovers, but everything went really smoothly and we had not problems whatsoever. All those months and hours of praying really helped:) It was such a relief to see Craig and Joy (Wommack) waiting for us after we got off the plane in Cairo.

It was really ironic because the first day we were here (the 4th of July), we went to a 4th of July party hosted by the American Embassy here in Cairo for all the American, British, and Canadian citizens at a British private school. I thought is was funny that my first experience in Egypt was celebrating an American national holiday:) It was really fun though and I was able to meet a lot of people I will be working closely with during my stay here. It was really awesome because I got to meet a group of 5 American girls my age who are in Cairo too with a missions organization working with children. They live pretty near me and are going to be here for another month and they are amazing girls, so hopefully I will be able to connect back up with them.

So, I am living in a "flat" in a part of Cairo called Heliopolis. It is about 10 minutes away (driving time) from the Wommacks and is a really great, safe area to live. There are three of us girls living here, which is really nice and they are both so great. I am so lucky to be able to live and work so closely to these girls! Our mean of transportation is by taxi which is really cheap and convenient ALWAYS! But, I have to say, I don't think I'll ever get used to Egyptian driving! Basically, there are no rules for driving ANYWHERE at anytime which is very frightening about 75% of the time. There are just so many cars and people and people not caring about how close they are, how fast they are driving, or who they could possibly be running into. It is quite an experience and there is NEVER a dull moment. I like it though, its kinda the same thrill you get from riding a roller coaster:) Just kidding mom, its incredibly safe and everyone here are defensive drivers:)

Well, you are probably wondering what exactly in the world I'm doing here....and I can tell you;) You're in luck! Sun-Wed, I will be working in a clinic in Maadi (outer Cairo) in the mornings, then teaching English in the afternoons. Thurs, I will be prepping and getting ready to teach Children's Church on Friday (their "holy" day) then Friday is church at Heliopolis Community Church , then Friday evening is Youth Group at the Wommacks, where I will be helping leading. Saturdays are free days where we can go sight-seeing and explore Cairo more! So, I will be staying really busy (which I love). Tomorrow is my first day to go to Maadi and so I'm really excited to start there, should be a whole new experience!