Jahr: 2012

Garden of Joy

Veröffentlicht von Andreas

“Bustan al Bachja” which means “Garden of Joy” is a green oasis in a brown and grey surrounding. Here children can play in a secure place, families can meet and celebrate feasts. Groups from schools, other parishes or also Muslim organisations use this garden for meetings. The maintenance of the garden is paid by the  little entrance fee all groups have to pay. With Juliana’s watching eye, good watering of the grass and plants and the yearly repairing of broken playground equipment the garden will stay a wonderful place for many people and years!

NDS Berba

Veröffentlicht von Andreas

In El Berba the community of Sisters of Sion is rather small. In the moment it’s only Sr. Juliana keeping up the wonderful hospitality of Notre Dame de Sion and living their charisma of Dialogue and Solidarity. So she often has guests from the village or is out for visiting families in their homes.

Beni Hassan

Veröffentlicht von Andreas

We really had trouble to find gas for  Sr. Juliana’s Toyota Avanca! Between Cairo and Minia on this 300km there was no gas station with gas of 90 or 92 Octan. There maybe were two or three with gasoline and long queues of cars, motorbikes and tractors. So with our last 10l we went from El Berba to Minia searching for gas without success, continued to the pharaonic grave site of Beni Hassan and in the evening returning to Minia with Osamas help we found a totally crowed gas station with the fuel we needed! Beni Hassans caves are not visited very often by tourists. So the Tourist Police was waiting for us and guiding us all the time from one cave to the other. The colour and the variety of the paintings inside are really remarkable!

Kindergarden

Veröffentlicht von Andreas

There are two Kindergarden in El Berba. One is in the house of the developement center and its Aza who is responsible for it. The other is in the Sisters house and is for children with special needs. There are four young women you work and play with these children in different groups. On top of the house the have a playground under a sunshade. Sr. Juliana initiated this Kindergarden and still is active in keeping it running. As they like music, Barbara gave them twice a music lesson playing with Orff instruments. They enjoyed and we hope the teachers will be able to continue this work.

The village El Berba

Veröffentlicht von Andreas

El Berba is village at the edge of the western desert about 30km southwest of Minia and northwest of Abu Gurgos / Al Fikria. These towns are at the Nile 300km south of Cairo. The population is still increasing and now maybe at 12.000 persons. Many of the people of Berba live in Cairo and work as concierge in apparent houses. Sometimes the parents live in Cairo and the children in Berba. Or the eldest children look for work in Cairo and support the family at home in Berba. Although people have to look for work outside the village it is still a very agricultural village. There is no starving in Berba but many families have to live from a few pounds (1 EUR = 7,8 EGP) a day which officially means poverty. In Berba today you find 12 mosques but still only one Coptic Catholic Church. As in daily life Christians and Muslims have not the same rights it is a 18 years fight to build a new and larger church. Now after the …

Oasis Fayoum

Veröffentlicht von Andreas

Monday morning we left Cairo via Giza through the early morning traffic heading for Fayoum Oasis, which was a new destination for us. We passed by the large Lake Qarun and through small villages to find the famous water wheels in the middle of a tea garden in Medinat Fayoum.

Old Cairo Map

Old Cairo

Veröffentlicht von Andreas

The first Sunday we spent in Cairo with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion and visited old Cairo after joining the mass at the Jesuits Church “Santa Familia”. We took the metro to Mar Girgis and first visited the Coptic Museum. After a tea at St. George’s Church we walked through the narrow street to St. Barbara’s Church and Ben-Ezra Synagogue. Ben-Ezra is one of the oldest Synagogues in the country and sometimes still used for special religious services. In the evening we joined the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids of Giza. A huge almost empty arena of chairs where waiting for the few tourist who came.