Trek Update: We are Refugees (June 25 2006)

June 25

Displacement: To move or to shift from the ordinary or proper place

This is our first Cairo Trek update, and I am typing it in the JFK airport in New York. Didn't see that one coming? Neither did I. We should've been through Newark, NJ and on to Paris (connecting to Cairo) hours ago – Yesterday, in fact. We were all anticipating a long flight, but ironically it's been over 24 hours since we left the church in Los Angeles, and we're still in the States. It's a crazy story, and will probably be hilarious in retrospect. I guess it's pretty hilarious now, too. Things are funnier when you haven't slept for a while. It's cool though.

God has provided amazingly for us in just getting us this far, and I don't just mean New York. As I've gotten to know my Trek brothers and sisters better, I find that we all have stories to tell about how God enabled each of us to join this Cairo Trek to begin with. It's rather impressive.

This mission started way before we left Los Angeles. With knowledge of this as encouragement, we trust that we will have work to do wherever and whenever we are sent. So for now we are waiting and praying for trust in God's continuing provision, flexibility to move as He makes it possible, strength for our trip leaders (this is really stressful for them), and a servant's mindset to recognize and meet peoples' needs both here and in Cairo. He is good.

We still have all our stuff, we're still all together, and we've had opportunities to help other airline travelers navigating the airport systems. I am very grateful to God for assembling this bunch of fellow Cairo Trekkers.

If we must be stuck in the airport system, this is a very good group to be stuck with. It's like we're in The Terminal. I'm excited to see the work that we will do together.

I guess I should back up a bit. Hi, I'm Tracy. I just finished my sophomore year at Reed College and I am the Cairo Trek journal writer. Every week (or more often, if I can work it out that way), for the next 5 weeks, it will be my responsibility to keep you accurately and interestingly updated on our adventures. I will try to relate the events and encounters of this trip as realistically as possible. I love stories, and one of my goals is to tell you one about the people we meet on this Trek. Somehow, I don't think the real stories of these real people get out too often.

Here is our information: we are 16 students and 3 IV Staff leaders. We are going to Cairo to serve the Egyptians and the Sudanese. The Sudanese that we will go to are those who have escaped the civil war in Sudan. War has been raging for decades, and what started claiming to be a war based on religious differences seems to have turned racial, since it is no longer the Sudanese Christians who are being attacked, but now also Sudanese Muslims.

Many Sudanese have fled to Cairo, hoping to gain passage to other countries. Many have been denied refugee status and are encountering discrimination in Cairo. If you want to see more about the experience of the Sudanese I'd like to suggest visiting A Long Walk Home.

None of this means that the Trek is somehow anti-Arab. But, it is the case that many Sudanese have suffered at the hands of Arabs, just as many Arabs have felt threatened by the influx of Black Africans into Cairo. Our mission (once we actually get to Egypt) is to serve both. We will have opportunities to assist in summer schools of both ethnicities and to interact daily with many different people living in Cairo.

We are not proselytizing. That's illegal. But we are going to serve with the intention to allow Cairo's people to change us at least as much as we can make a difference in Cairo. From one of the books we read in preparation for this Trek,

"To work for human transformation as a Christian means working for the redemption of people, their social systems, and the environment that sustains their life – a whole gospel for all of life. This is the Kingdom of God"
–Bryant L. Myers Walking with the Poor

In Luke 9, Jesus instructs his disciples to take a trip to visit the people in the area – to heal and to preach the gospel, the Kingdom of God. If you read Luke 9, you'll notice that Jesus had not yet died and risen again.

I wonder what gospel it was that the disciples preached. One of my expectations is that on this Trek, I will find out. The sort of mission we are on has been described as Incarnational ministry. This style of ministry reflects how God voluntarily left his place in heaven to take on the ways of people and be Jesus. In John 17:18, Jesus says of His disciples, "As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." In the same way, we are leaving our American lifestyles to join brothers and sisters that we don't know yet in the way that they live.

This Trek will not be easy and will not be the least bit sheltered. For most of us, poverty is something strange – an aberration that we glimpse only occasionally, but to the majority of people in the world, poverty is the norm. We will see what depth of poverty people are forced to live in by systems that we, as human beings, allow to continue.

The gap between the rich and the poor in the world is widening. In the garbage villages, we will see the destitution that many others are pressed into by some of the systems that we ignorantly benefit from as relatively wealthy Americans. Global urbanization has resulted in cities with extensive slum communities. Billions of people in the world scrape by with less than US $2 per day.

This doesn't mean that it somehow means more in their currency. They are living the way that you would if you worked nonstop to feed a family with only $2 every day. Thirty of the world's 40 poorest countries are in Africa. More than 50% of the continent's 600 million people suffer from absolute poverty (Poverty Alleviation and the Role of Microcredit in Africa, Getu).

When we consider what it would be like to live and serve with them long-term, it gives a slightly different meaning to the words of the song, "Humbly you came to the earth you created. All for love's sake became poor." Though we have only 5 weeks, we will try to put aspects of Incarnational ministry to work to really understand, love, and identify with people that are forgotten by the rest of the Western world.

To prepare for our immersion in Egyptian and Sudanese culture, we've spent nearly a week in Los Angeles, practicing our Arabic greetings (izzayuk?/izzayik?) and manners (keep both feet on the ground when sitting) as well as exploring our expectations for this trip and learning about the difficulties of communicating across different cultures. It's been good.
It's still good. Even though I'm not quite willing to believe that we will actually leave this airport for France tonight. I like to think this is a good group bonding experience… we are going to serve the Egyptians and the Sudanese Refugees who live in Cairo.

We are getting an unexpected orientation as refugees in our own country, wanting someone to give us enough voice and consideration to free us from this American airport.

A-hamdelilah (rough transliteration)
Praise be to God (rough translation)

Please pray for us, and for the people that we are going to meet in Cairo.

Tracy

P.S. I hope you don't mind long journal entries.

P.P.S. I would like to give you more statistics and background information about poverty, slums, and Cairo. But, I don't have the book that I made notes in. As I find more information or interesting considerations, I will share them with you.