IPP in Farafra Oasis

I’ve spent the past three weeks doing an International People’s Project through CISV in Farafra, Egypt. As many of you know, I’ve been involved with CISV since I was 11 but this was my first time doing the IPP program which is for adults to be involved in a hands on project in a community. The project in Farafra (the smallest Oasis in Egypt) was the third project done in this community and was aimed to strengthen an NGO that formed after the last project and help inspire a spirit of volunteerism in the community. We did this through working with the members of the NGO on three projects: renovating an office for them, rebuilding the historic fortress, and planting trees.

It would be impossible to sum up this experience in one blog post, but here are some highlights:

-Beshir and Hayam’s family: these two wonderful people opened their home to us and hosted us for our time there. Beshir conquered every possible thing that went wrong (no water, cold water, clogged toilets, putting in real toilets, cars stuck in the sand, etc) and Hayam fed us delicious and authentic Egyptian food. They have four fabulous kids that we all wanted to take home by the end. We felt like part of the family by the time we left.

- Mastering the art of making and smoothing out mud walls. I can now build a house out of sand, water and rocks as long as it never rains.

- Working with the local men from the NGO and learning about their life and goals for their city. These were some of the nicest men I’ve ever met and after some initial hesitation at our abilities with mud and water, they fully trusted us in our work and opened up to us as friends (despite a culture where men and women are not really friends). Working side by side with them we really worked with the community, not just came in as foreigners and did something.

- learning about the lives of women in this conservative Muslim community. Essentially all women are veiled and after marriage rarely leave the house, except to go to friends houses or run errands with their husband. We had a girls only dinner party and got to see how the women interact in their homes- and man do they like to dance! We learned to cook bread with them and made dips from our many countries to serve with it. We had a henna party, which is their traditional “bachelorette” party, and learned about their customs and traditions. These women don’t feel oppressed, they just feel it is there place to be in the home.

- Spending New Year’s Eve camping in the White Desert, a beautiful landscape with mushroom like rocks jutting out from the ground. We set up a Bedouin tent, cooked out over the fire, and spent the night dancing under millions of stars.

- meeting the 27 incredible people that came for the CISV program from 9 different countries. I learned about volunteerism in each of their countries and laughed so much my abs feel a little more fit! It was one of the best groups I have been with, even if we were never on time and couldn't’ stick to a schedule for all the chips in the world.

- partaking in workshops with the community and allowing for a two way exchange of knowledge. I learned about the history of the area from a local elder and then helped teach art to some local kids.

- hosting a sports day and having 180 men and boys show up to watch our 6 international men be beaten in soccer by the very talented local men. (our women were not allowed to play, but that probably would have helped.)

- having many kids and women come out of their home to say “Hello! What’s your name?” pretty much everywhere we walked. I now know how it feels to be famous!

- and of course, going to the hot springs!