Home Visits and Praying Out Loud

*Quick note: For security purposes, villages will not be named in my blogs*

Today, after a four and a half hour drive in a little van that bounces a lot and has little air flow, we went to Place Number One (PNO). It was hot, and almost five hours away from Cairo. It was exhausting just getting there. My curse of not being able to sleep while being transported continued, so I wrote yesterday's post.

PNO was better than I thought it would be - the houses were made of brick, and the only stinks came from the donkeys tied up under trees. A little donkey poo stink has never killed a foreigner that I know of (Americans being the foreigners in this scenario), so I was okay with it. I quickly learned that I should have bought new shirts to tie-dye before I left because my old ones are no longer long enough to be loose. I told Reina that the tightness in the middle of my shirts was my fault, but the shortness was the dryer's. :) It just clung and was pretty uncomfortable. Yech.

We were escorted to the only toilet for the common area, and as expected, it had no toilet paper. Luckily, we all came prepared. Some older women greeted us (as in 80 years old older), and opened up a room that was adjacent so that we could sit. After we'd all wrapped up our business, we joined the boys in the main common room, and Brad explained how the home visits would go.

Each team consisted of 2-3 Americans, 1 Egyptian interpreter, and 1 Egyptian guide that lived in PNO. Each child was listed on a sheet of paper that included a few talking points as well as room for us to write updated notes. We were also given a recorder for notes, and were to have the interpreter take a picture of all of us with the child and their families. I teamed up with Amy and Heidi, and we had E as our interpreter.

There is not enough time in the world for me to write out how great each visit went, but I will say this - for people that are so "deprived" of modern things - I did not meet even ONE ungrateful child. They were all sweet and well behaved, and their families were just as great. Only one mother asked for anything remotely material - and even then it was only to tell us she needed help in order to provide her eldest child with private lessons so they could pass their final year of high school and advance on to University. In Egypt, education is free, but if you do not test well, you do not have the opportunity to go to University, so it is a very high priority for some families.

After two or three homes, I finally felt comfortable enough to lead the prayer for the family at the end of one visit. I couldn't honestly tell you the last time I prayed out loud in front of strangers. And I have NEVER prayed out loud with an interpreter. So it was like a verrrrry slow prayer that lasted extremelllllly long. 

And I didn't even die! I actually felt pretty awesome about it after. I spoke with Amy about it afterwards, and she said that she couldn't pray well either. My response was, "Pshhhhhhhh" - she is a natural at it and prays in such a way that she lifts up the child and the individual family members as well. It's very inspiring, and the families seem to appreciate it a great deal.

After we completed a good number of visits, we were told that we would need to go to meet back up with the group. The entire group didn't show up until an hour and a half later, so I went outside of the common area and played with the kids. We had sooo much fun. We took pictures, and I let them pass around my phone (I'm brave, I know) so that they could each take a photo. Somewhere in the midst of the madness, the camera got switched from taking photos to taking videos - so that was fun to go through later. I don't know when/if I'll have the bandwidth to post the photos, but check back frequently - we got some pretty entertaining ones. :)

When it was time to go, the kids kept chasing after me screaming, "We love youuuuu!" - they had to close the gate after I left to stall the riot long enough for us to get in the vans. I loved the attention, I'm not going to lie. They were so much fun.

When we finally got the hotel, I almost fell asleep while leaning against the table in the lobby. That would have been bad because of the table's glass top. Luckily, I made it.

The hotel is pretty nice - it's similar to duplexes, but there are four rooms lined up in one "building".

I decided to stay up for dinner because I really wanted a bowl of hummus all to myself...but something went terribly wrong and after waiting for two hours, I gave up and ate pizza from Reina and Steve. I did bust out the Cholula, and everyone and their dog wanted some. And THAT is exactly why I brought a BIG bottle. When I was first introduced to this spicy gift from the Mexican gods, it was three years ago in Egypt at the sports camp. They'd only brought a little bottle, so as soon as I fell in love with it, it was taken away from me. I don't want to ever turn anyone away from Cholula...unless we get to Saturday and it's almost gone...at which point I will become a protective momma bear over my deliciously sweet bottle baby. ;) Seriously.

Much Love, 

*L*