Nadia the Flying Fish

Photo credit: Tarek Awad

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had that flying dream some of us get when we’re sleeping. In these dreams I’m able to will myself off the ground while in the upright position, levitate, and fly wherever I want. I’ve had this dream for so long that I’m almost convinced I should at least be able to levitate if I put my mind to it. I’ve just had so much practice at it up till now!

This past week I got the closest I’ll probably ever get to know what it must feel like to fly.

The List 

I have a rather long list of things I want to do in my life. Scuba diving was added to that list after an amazing snorkeling experience I had at Ras Muhammad in the Red Sea in Egypt.

No matter how many pictures and documentaries you will see about marine life, they come nowhere near to what it’s like when you see it with your own two eyes. Snorkeling brought me closer to that than I had ever been before.

So diving went on the list. And it stayed there for perhaps three years.

About a month ago I decided I needed to do something about that particular list entry. I live in Egypt, for goodness sake, where there are some of the best coral reefs in the world – and the best diving. I can hop on a bus or a plane whenever I want and get on with my business. So I did.

I hopped on a plane and went to Hurghada, a popular sea resort on the Western limb of the Red Sea.

Learning to dive

Tarek Awad was my PADI diving instructor. The first day of the course was spent watching several videos that went over diving basics. It turns out there’s much to know before you throw yourself in the sea with an oxygen tank on your back! After the videos, we went to the hotel pool and tried out what I had just learned in theory.

I was quite surprised at how heavy the equipment actually was. And there are weights involved! It turns out it isn’t easy to keep oneself down underwater. You need to weigh yourself down. The pool exercises went quite well and gave me confidence that my open-water dives should be successful.

Hurghada was freezing cold (for an Egyptian) for the first two days I was there. I was concerned I’d kill myself with pneumonia by jumping into the water. Tarek told me the wet suit would keep me warm. It did. So did the water. It can be strangely warm down there when it’s cold up above.

Jumping into the water for the first time with all the heavy equipment on my back and the awkward fins on my feet was scary. I had no idea what to expect. But I

Photo credit: Tarek Awad

 immediately floated upwards after the jump. The wetsuit and regulator vest (BCD) are designed to keep you afloat. To submerge, you need weights. In addition to all the equipment I had about 10 kg of weights on me. You also need to empty air out of your BCD vest. Once I did that I was underwater breathing oxygen from the tank. Tarek made sure to put me into a meditative state from the start. We reached the bottom, sat on our knees, faced each other, and Tarek signaled for me to concentrate and just breathe in and out, in and out. He closed his eyes while doing this to add a sense of calm to the ritual. I followed suit. It worked. After an initial sense of semi-panic of being underwater, breathing only from my mouth, and completely dependent on a tank for air, I calmed down and went into meditating mode.

We swam 400 meters to the coral reefs. I found I needed to focus hard on gaining the ability to stay at the same depth, go deeper, or get higher. Hovering also required a lot of work. And all this is done by controlling the amount of air in your BCD vest and in your lungs. By filling your lungs up with air, you can raise yourself and by emptying them you can go deeper. Without this skill, I first had a tendency to crash into the sea floor every now and then or to start floating towards the surface against my will. With a little practice, I managed to swim around and hover over the coral reefs to watch the fish swim in and out.

I successfully completed four amazing dives on this trip.

The Red Sea Planet

Photo credit: Tarek Awad

It was another world down there. I felt as if I were discovering a world I hardly imagined could exist. It felt like visiting another planet.

One thing I’ve learned is that if you live in Egypt and you haven’t dived, you have only seen a very small portion of Egypt.

I have not yet learned the names of all the corals and fish I swam with last weekend. I hope to. They are all worth getting to know properly.

But among the things that most amazed me were, for example, the expanse of sea grass we swam over that was dancing back and forth, back and forth with the waves above it.  We also swam over about 100 meters of small sand mounds, which, I was later told, are the homes of sea crabs.  Every now and again a whirlwind of sand would appear above the top of a mound and then go calm again.

While hovering above one reef, Tarek pointed out something under it. I couldn’t see it. He gently pushed at it and out came an octopus! I think this was one of the most exciting things I saw down there. A frickin’ octopus in the actual sea! I’ve seen all types of fish and marine life in aquariums and documentaries. But seeing them just a few feet from your nose is absolutely amazing. This octopus was a rather shy fellow. He swam out from under the coral to avoid being pushed by Tarek, his color immediately turned from that of the coral it was hiding under – brown – to the exact color of the sand it was now swimming on. And it quickly eased itself back under another part of the coral to avoid being bothered again.

For two days we swam among the fish. Some of them seemed not to even notice we were there. Others seemed to look at us out of the corner of their eyes, curious as to

Photo credit: Tarek Awad

 whom we were. There was so much life down there! And so much peace. There were fish as huge as Tarek and I. And others as small and thin as a shoe lace. And everything was so colorful and magical.

How not to panic

On our third dive, Tarek asked me to do our swimming pool exercises on the sea floor. Sitting on our knees again, I was to take the air piece out of my mouth, throw it away, find it again, put it in my mouth and breathe. I did this successfully. Next, I was to pretend I ran out of air and I needed to use Tarek’s alternative air source. After watching him do this once, it was my turn. I breathed out the air in my lungs while my own air piece was out of my mouth too quickly. I fumbled with Tarek’s alternative air source. And I panicked. I breathed in seawater. I quickly fumbled for my own air piece and put it in my mouth, ready to cry and spurt up to the surface. Tarek insisted that I calm down and just breathe. I shook my head and pointed the surface, signaling I wanted to go back up. He shook his head calmly and signaled for me to breathe in and out, in and out. I did. I coughed for awhile, getting the seawater out of my lungs, but I eventually calmed down as I rhythmically breathed.

The next exercise was the filling your mask with water exercise. I decidedly do not like this exercise one bit. The seawater stings your eyes and surrounds your nose. It is a most uncomfortable feeling and took quite an effort from beginner me to focus on the breathing and not on the fact that I could easily breathe in water again at any moment. But I succeeded. The exercises were over and we could go back to the fun again.

I LOVED the hovering. I just ADORED the hovering. Once I got the hang of controlling the amount of air in my lungs and in my vest it was so much fun keeping a short distance between me and the corals without crashing into them.

And after an amazing weekend, I am now an officially certified open-water diver! Next on my list is the advanced course so I can dive to even greater depths! And I hope not to keep this one on my list for more than a couple of months. Join me!

I am not the 1st anyone to summit Kilimanjaro!

Only two days after I first announced to my friends that I had successfully summited Africa’s highest peak, Kilimanjaro, I read the first article that claimed I was the first

My summit picture - holding the Egyptian flag against the cold winds

 something to summit the mountain. In this case it was the first Muslim woman and it was published on IslamOnline.net.

I immediately called my friends there and asked them where they got their information. “What’s your source,” I asked. Journalists aren’t supposed to write information based on instinct. They have sources of information. There was no source, I learned. They just thought this was the case. I went into ugly Nadia mode. “There’s no way on Earth to know who the first person was of any religion to summit Kilimanjaro,” I explained to them (actually, I pretty much yelled it). “People don’t register themselves when they come back from the mountain based on their religion,” I continued. The article on IslamOnline.net was thankfully edited into telling the story of a woman who summited Kilimanjaro.

One of the first things I did when I reached the base of the mountain was that I called the Park authorities to find out if any Egyptian women had summited the mountain before me. It took two days for the authorities to get back to me. In the past two years alone, I was told, at least four young Egyptian women had summited the mountain.

Since then, I’ve made a point of telling journalists who interview me that I am not the first Egyptian to summit Kilimanjaro. I know this as fact. Journalists assure me that they understand this. Nonetheless, twice now (in Egypt’s Shabab and Kul Annas magazines) there have been articles about me with titles claiming that I’m the first Egyptian woman to summit the mountain. When I ask the journalists who interview me how this happened even though I was very clear with them about this point, they tell me that they don’t write the titles. They write the article, hand it in to the desk, and someone at the desk writes the title. Some idiot, that is. That idiot either imagines things and writes up a title based on his/her imagination, or decides to spice things up by writing a lie.

Now when a journalist calls me up for an interview I make sure they know while we’re still on the phone that I am not the first anyone to summit the mountain. And if you accept that fact and still want to interview me, you are welcome to my home. They usually do accept and ask for the interview.

But this whole thing has really upset me about how the media function in our country. I’ve also learned first-hand why scientists, for example, have reservations about talking to journalists about their research. It seems that in some cases, no matter how clear you are with the journalist,  she or others above her will manage to get things wrong – if only to sensationalize a bit.

It’s disturbing. 

So for the record, world, I am not the first Muslim woman to summit Kilimanjaro. I am not the first Egyptian to summit Kilimanjaro. I am not the first Arab or Egyptian woman to summit Kilimanjaro.

And none of that matters.

Nadia El-Awady, a then 40-year-old Egyptian mother-of-four, summited Kilimanjaro. And to me, that’s a pretty amazing achievement without being anyone’s first.

Love me and not your expectations of me

Last night was a great win for Egypt against Ghana in the Cup of African Nations 2010.

Cairo celebrations Photo credit: Nadia El-Awady

After the win, I went out to Pyramids Street, near my home, to watch the street celebrations and take some photos. The celebrations felt so anti-climactic to those only two nights before when Egypt won against Algeria. I didn’t stay long on the streets and walked home. At home I continued to watch the celebrations on TV. I couldn’t help but notice how silly Egyptians get when they are happy; especially after winning a football match. To tell you the truth, I’m pretty much the same myself. The masses were dancing foolishly, chanting silly chants, and saying the most ridiculous things in front of television cameras. It was all quite funny.

So this is what I posted on Twitter while I watched:

NadiaE: for a country where the majority doesnt drink alcohol, we certainly celebrate like a bunch of drunkards when we win a soccer match!

NadiaE: im watching coverage of egyptians celebrating all over the world and laughing my head off. Ppl not even talking straight!

NadiaE: sha3b genetically m7ashish sa7ee7 (rough translation: we’re a people who are genetically stoned)

Before I come to the reaction I got from one of my followers, I must admit that I have always been thankful that I do not drink alcohol because it is prohibited in my religion. The main reason I’m thankful is that I can quite easily get into a “drunken mood” all on my own. So this thought about us being “genetically stoned” is not a new one and has mainly been a thought I reflect on myself until yesterday. Yesterday, I discovered that it seems this applies to many Egyptians when they are happy as well.

I have absolutely no interest in pointing fingers, so I’m not going to include the Twitter name of the person that reacted negatively to my last statement. And for the record, I’m pretty sure this person had absolutely no bad intention in what he said. It just pushed a very sensitive button of mine:

“I am not expecting this statement specially from u Nadia, please note that people r inspired by your writings & blogs. Take care pls”

This statement from a Twitter follower elicited a tirade of comments from me, the last being this morning. They summarize in short 140 character tweets what I feel about the whole role model concept and our high expectations from them:

Tweets from me:

@x not sure what u read into what i wrote, but i have no intention of being a role model becuz im not 1

@x I tweet what I think and won’t stop because of others’ expectations of me. I wont be careful. Ill be me

I say NO to self-censorship because of others’ expectations! That makes me so angry!

I have no wish at all to be a role model. And I will not self-censor myself becuz some want me to act like one

question to my tweeps: if some ppl think of u as a role model, does that mean u have to start acting like one?

even more importantly, does it mean u have to act like the role model THEY want u to be?

and wasnt it you being genuinely you that made you their role model to begin with?
 

These are some of the responses I got to that question from different tweople:

No, not acting like one as in changing ur characteristics and who you are to who they want you to be. But taking the responsibility. That your actions & behavior might influence some other people, so giving more emphasis on being a better YOU with less mistakes.

Nope, if you change then فيه عقد نقص (rough translation: you have an inferiority complex if you change for that reason)

i guess wn u r a role model then it pushes u to be better even for urself !!

i think it’s the other way around..

I really hate the “exposure” I get, scares the hell out of me.

dear no body like it, but sometimes u r so act based on that..

Right, but it’s natural for everyone to search for someone who practically resemble what he/she is seeking to be, it’s natural.

If someone thinks of u as role model, so its for who u r.. not anything else. So be urself.. don’t try to idolize urself..

wat u r is wat make u role model 4 them so dont react differently when u know. B wat u r but carefully manage their expectations

What is it with people’s eternal urge for censorship??? It’s you as you are that inspired them and nothing should change that.

When you get that comment it’s more like what they would want you to be, not who you are. It’s an equation in their brains.
 

And I continued to rant…
this whole concept of taking role models worries me to begin with. Its idolizing ppl. Putting them on a pedestal

no one should have to be put on a pedestal and idolized because no one is that perfect. Do u realize the burden that is?

let me be very clear b4 i end my rant: i dont want to be anyones role model, do not have high expectations of me or u will be disappointed..

and i will not practice self-censorship and i will continue to be just ME

and ppl shouldnt be “as me”. They should simply be themselves. Thats what will make them unique

And my last tweets on this the following morning…

if coming into the public eye more often means I must put up an act of being an angel for people, I don’t want to be in the public eye

I’d much rather just be myself wherever i am; with all my beautiful imperfections and slips. and if that isn’t enough for ppl it’s their loss

Why is this a sensitive subject for me?

Being a Muslim woman who wears the veil (hijab), makes me the object of peoples’ scrutiny all the time.

For those who have reservations against it, if I don’t act like an angel 100% of the time I’ll hear comments like, “See what women in hijab do?”

And from those who fully support it I hear comments like, “You can’t do that because you represent women in hijab.” Or “You are such a good representative of women in hijab.” Or “How could you do that as a woman wearing hijab? Doesn’t it mean anything to you?”

I’ve heard all of this and more. And for some odd reason, most of those people do not realize that I’m just a normal, imperfect person who chose to wear the hijab. I do not and cannot represent every single woman who wears it. And I cannot – nor do I wish to - represent the whole of the Islamic nation because I have chosen to wear the hijab.

It’s just a head cover for goodness sake. That’s all it is. It does not mean that I have managed to become the “perfect Muslim”, whatever that might mean. It does not mean that I have even chosen to act like the “perfect Muslim.”

The same applies for any person who happens to come into the public eye for any reason. Perhaps someone has managed to achieve great professional accomplishments: reached greatness as an actor, an artist, an athlete, etc. They have achieved greatness in these areas. That does not mean they have achieved greatness in all aspects of their lives. They might be complete flops in their personal lives, for example. Does this diminish their level of greatness in what they’ve achieved? It doesn’t. Should they be required to be great in all other aspects of their lives simply because people suddenly have high expectations of them? No.

Part of the beauty of the human being is his imperfections; the fact that one can be great in one area and a failure in another.

There are people in my life I have always looked up to. But the knowledge that these people are imperfect is a relief to me. It allows me to push myself to be a better me on the one hand, but to accept my own imperfections on the other. It’s human nature.

So, I will end by summarizing my earlier tweets:

I will continue to be me in all my beautiful imperfectness. Do not take me as your role model. I do not wish to be in that position. If I have ever done something or said something you have learned from, well and good. I’ve learned a lot from you as well. Do not expect me to be perfect because of a few things you’ve seen in me and liked. Your perfect is not my perfect is not our neighbor’s perfect. Love me and not your expectations of me. Just let me be me. And I sure as heck hope you continue to be you.

Egypt vs Algeria يوم النصر العظيم

The Egypt vs Algeria match on Thursday night, January 28, 2010, was a sweet revenge for Egyptians. The win has been labeled by media as the Day of the Great Victory (and many more grandiose labels).

The Egyptian masses seem to agree. Immediately after the win, Egyptians amassed in the streets to celebrate. I’ve put together some pictures from that night in Pyramids Street.

All photo and video credits: Nadia El-Awady

And Egyptians chant, “Dance Hadary” referring to Goalie Esam Al-Hadary.

Egyptian team summits Kilimanjaro

On January 29, 2010 at 8:30am, a team of four Egyptian men successfully summited Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak.

The team climbed Kilimanjaro using the Rongai route to reach the mountain’s summit,  Uhuru Peak. They are currently descending by means of the Marangu route. Total duration of their trip is seven days.

The four Egyptians are Mohamed Shokri, 34, Hazem Hashim, 42, Ahmed Azmy, 42, and Isam Ali, 44.

Media interested in contacting the team can get in touch with me.

Congratulations, friends! So happy you made it!!

An Ode to Egypt

Aswan Photo credits: Nadia El-Awady

On Sunday, January 24, 2010, Jordanian tweeps started the #Top50JO hashtag. I happened to catch them when they had just started. I was sitting in a bank waiting for my turn to come. My number was 394 and they were only at 320. I was bored and tweeting was a relief from watching the numbers slowly go by. So I started the #Top50EG hashtag that took off like wildfire!

#Top50EG got me remembering everything I love about Egypt. And here I share some of my own favorite #Top50EG tweets (plus a very few retweets…it would have been impossible to include everything I retweeted or everything I liked in the hashtag…there were so many!):

Zaranik Protectorate Photo credit: Nadia El-Awady

On top of Mt St Katherine, Sinai

• waking up to Um Kolthom on shop radios in the morning
• walking along the Nile corniche on a summer evening while eating tirmis
• joking around with the guy standing next to u at the bus stop as if he’s an old pal
• getting a punctured car tire, going to side of road and KNOWING some1 will stop to be your hero
• stuffed grape vine & cabbage leaves, basbosa and kunafa, macaroni with bachemel sauce
• the smile on an egyptian’s face & the joke on his tongue no matter how hard things get
• mountain climbing and sandbuggying in Sinai, sandboarding on dunes of Western desert
• taking a felucca for an hour down the nile with a loved one
• watching Michael Jackson’s This Is It in Cairo’s most expensive cinema with @arwasm being only ones dancin & clappin with ever song
• horseback riding behind the pyramids at sunset
• shay filkhamseena wi sandwich foul min awsakh wa7id bita3 foul filmanyal. Yah. Zaman wallah!
• Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant in Khan Elkhalili; best food ON EARTH!
• grown men & women singing old Egyptian songs whenever they’re together in other countries
• the typical Egyptian “give me your hand” whenever two ppl find something to be really hilarious
• hibiscus, tamarind, and licorice drinks. Mint tea, the smell of bun mi7awig
• Listening to BBC Arabic on the radio while going to work in the morning
• Laughing along with Safi on NileFM radio returning from work in the evening
• getting the latest rumors from friends @MohammedY @arwasm @marwame about our previous workplace
• bumping into friends EVERY time u go out and no matter where u go in the city of 18 million. We’re all eachothers peeps
• Going crazy on the streets with complete strangers when Egypt wins an important football match
• Listening to parents and grandparents bitch about things friends and family did 50 yrs ago
• eating bread and salt with someone makes u blood brothers till the day u die
• making tons of new Egyptian friends on twitter and bitching with them about things we DONT like about Egypt!
• Being able to depend on the doorman to run errands for you at any hour of the day or night
• ALWAYS finding a shop open at 2am when u just HAVE TO buy eggs to bake a cake
• yelling at the car in front of me becuz he left 2 cm of space (a lot) between him & car infront in a traffic jam
• How Egyptians will never stop singing the jingles to old TV ads
• Memories of friends & families gathering around Tv set in ramadan to watch fawazeer Nelly (a christian actress)
• the almost completely empty streets of normally bustling Cairo after maghrib call in Ramadan
• driving in cairo on a friday morning
• the way everyone runs to the windows and balconies to watch a good street fight
• The way Egyptian women will take off their shoe/slipper to hit anyone who offends her with it. Egyptian women rock!
• going to sakiat elsawy to watch Wist Albalad with hundreds of crazy young people
• Egyptian hand signs for such things as “be patient” and “you just wait till i catch you”
• Fiteer mshaltit! A VERY fatty layered pastry made in the countryside that melts in ur mouth!
• The typical answer when you ask the shop guy how much something is: its on me!
• Young women in long flowing colorful dresses swaying along irrigation canals with water jugs on their heads. Sad but beautiful
• Knowing how to sustain a family of six on 2 gallons of water when it and the electricity r out a full day
• That Egyptians call Egypt the Mother of the World
• LOVE IT RT @drnemovet the only nation with hashtag #A7A on twitter …. non-egyptians can’t get what it means
• RT @Molokhia_: Egypt: the only place where you can get your ironing done at midnight
• RT @YasserAhmad: #Top50EG homeless people makes money than most of other jobs!
• RT @YasserAhmad: #Top50EG we are the only nation on earth that calls the toilet “Relaxation Home”.
• RT @IbrahmAbdelghny: #Top50EG “the tea”,”the sweet” means give me a tip ,LOL
• When you tell someone you like what they’re wearing you’ll always get: “please take it”! It’s a lie, but an endearing one
• تحيا الشطافة! RT @MohammedY TOTALLY AGREED THERE! RT @EngyG: #Top50EG El SHATTAFA forever! ¬/
• only country where women have the right to their own “special” line even though we are a people who have no comprehension of lines!
• we still call Cairo the city of 1000 Minarets even after our population – and thus minaret – explosion
• listening to all the neighborhood mosques calling to prayer at once in

Algorna Algadeema, Luxor Photo credits: Nadia El-Awady

 different voices and tones
• RT @marwame: #Top50EG taxis with baby shoes hanging from the bottom of the car
• our agility in jumping from one rock to the other when sewage completely blocks the streets!
• we are absolutely convinced we r experts at anything we put our minds to – including other peoples’ business!
• vendors peddling produce on a cart in the neighborhood by calling out to residents in a completely incomprehensible language
• that we still wrap libb, termis and meat in torn out pages from old school books
• we laugh a hearty laugh ha3 ha3 ha333
• True! RT @2insana أيووون RT: @EmanHashim: #Top50EG any pair of sneakers is Cotshy, any cooking cubes is Magi, and any solvent is clor.
• Wives are called the government RT @2insana #Top50EG الزوجة اسمها الحكومة .. أيون .. انا الحكومة نيهاهاهاهاها
• RT @abdelrahman_gf: #Top50EG where u have ADSL internet connection and no water for a whole day!!
• RT @EmanHashim: #Top50EG girls get totally dressed up and put make up to go to the supermarket
• RT @EmanHashim: #Top50EG 5 guys standing around a car in front of a kosh is actually a real something to do!
• we pride ourselves as having the smartest kids in the world (until age 4 when lead poisoning starts to kick in)
• it’s not totally unacceptable to eat with your hands at some of our better restaurants
• our media will endlessly bitch about other countries but on the ground if we meet a foreigner on the street ur our brother/sister
• you’re only a “real” Egyptian if half your tea cup is filled with sugar
• we’ll bitch endlessly that cars slow down to watch an accident thus creating a bottleneck, but when we get there we slow down too
• within any 0.5km radius youll find a plumber, electrician, carpenter, tailor, curtain maker, a cotton mattress filler, shoe & suitcase fixer, butcher, poultry shop, fruit & veggie market
• RT @Molokhia_: where no one says: ‘I don’t know
• RT @EmanHashim: #Top50EG when saying about a lady she’s samra has to be followed by “bas 7elwa!”
• where green and yellow put together are moda
• RT @arwasm: Where your hospitality is measured by how much you shove food down your guest’s throat.
• watching Egyptian children laughing and singing ادي ظهرك للترعة while peeing directly into it
• feeling safe in knowing that Egyptians will NEVER forget the full lyrics to the Riri ad from 30 years ago
• the sound of running water in the late afternoon as shop owners hose down the streets
• the clink clank sound that signifies the gas cylinder guy is in the neighborhood
• I’ll say this again and again: Fawazeer Nelly, Fawazeer Nelly, Fawazeer Nelly!
• Sameer Ghanem’s Ibn fatouta; but second in line after Fawazeer Nelly
• being able to jump on a plane anytime to visit the awesome #Top50JO guys without needing a visa!!
• Egyptians can recite from memory every single line in plays that ran from the 60s – 80s.
• How the #Top50EG R all hilariously funny as would expect from Egyptians while the #Top50JO R actually songs in love of Jordan
• in the village you can leave the kids roam free because no matter where they go ppl will know whose kids they are
• RT @marwame: #Top50EG the stereotype of the govenment employees who read newspapers and shell peas in their in offices all day long.
• Busara, pickled eggplant, salty cheese with watermelon!
• What are your #Top50EG TV shows? Fawazeer Nelly comes to mind here!
• watching the late Mustafa Mahmoud’s show as a family and continuously saying Subhan Allah along with him
• RT @marwame: #Top50EG how some people pronounce the “t” as “ch”, ya ukhchi
• Molokhia_: @NadiaE 3ammo fouad! #top50EG tv shows
• on Egyptian women: huggable, tough, hard-headed, rulers of their household
• The question: would you like to drink your tea in a glass or a mug? LOOOOL!
• The general understanding between you and the police that you can park your car in the 2nd row as long as you give the police a tip
• women will tell you your baby is ugly so you don’t think they’re giving it the evil eye if they say something nice
• RT @AFakahany: #Top50EG The fact that all Egyptian store extra plastic bags under their bed mattress..
• RT @YasserAhmad: #Top50EG we don’t believe in the clock, our timing is always +13275498GMT
• arwasm: @NadiaE @rachidH and the bloody hand prints on walls
• How all Egyptian women I know have a crush on the whole male Lebanese population

Kilimanjaro interviews

I’ve been interviewed many times now by Egyptian media on my Kilimanjaro adventure. One day when I have more time I’ll try to scan some of the print interviews and upload them for you. I might also blog about this experience of getting so much media attention in Egypt. I actually have lots to say about that. For now, you can watch an interview with me by Rola Kharsa on Al-Hayat 2. Thanks to Osama Saber for taping and uploading! Enjoy.

مقابلة د.نادية العوضي على قناة الحياة @ Yahoo! Video

Foreigners protesting in my country

For the past few days, foreigners have been protesting in my country. Activists, mostly from the US and Europe, are on a march to enter Gaza and the Egyptian government is preventing most of them from passing through our borders.

For some background, read this BBC story dated Dec 28 

Gaza marchers on hunger strike in Egypt

Since I started following these protests, I’ve gone through a rather wide range of feelings. I summarized those feelings in some tweets today:

NadiaE: Let me find a way to say what I want to say in short 140 character tweets about current foreign protests in Cairo…

NadiaE: My initial feeling was “how cute”. It was rather endearing to see foreigners camping out on 1 of Cairo’s important intersections in protest

NadiaE: It was also a bit funny learning that our police weren’t quite sure how to deal with it all, while they normally know exactly what to do

NadiaE: I continued to follow tweets and tweeps and some traditional media. The foreign protestors were getting more bold.

NadiaE: I understood yesterday (or was that the day before?) that they were in Tahrir Sq and at the Cairo Museum

NadiaE: Let me stop here for a sec: I am one of the ppl old enough to vividly remember our spate of terroristic attacks in the 90s

NadiaE: Although I do not condone the general prohibition of peaceful protests and gatherings in my country..

NadiaE: I do understand why such gatherings should not happen anywhere near tourist spots. Our police are OBLIGATED to protect our tourists

NadiaE: And it is much more difficult to protect tourists when there is chaos and large gatherings of protestors

NadiaE: And when the police started physically moving protestors from these hot spots (remember they left them sleep in the street b4)…

NadiaE: …the protestors whine about police brutality!

NadiaE: Back to my feelings. I like talking about feelings. I’m a feelings kinda person…

NadiaE: Yesterday I wasn’t really sure how to feel about these protestors. There were foreigners protesting in my country and causing trouble

NadiaE: And I wasn’t happy with some of the attitude I was seeing from them. One protestor tweeted this yesterday morning:…

NadiaE: Protestor tweet: :”Alright,up and ready to go. Let’s show Cairo what we’re made of.” Am I the only one that finds that insulting??

NadiaE: And then, in that same protestor’s blog, I read this today: “At the end of the protest, myself and other internationals decided..

NadiaE: “it would be best to escort the Egyptian citizens who bravely took part in the march, out of the area by holding on to their hands.”

NadiaE: “If the Egyptians were left alone then the riot police would attack them mercilessly so as we filed out,”

NadiaE: “we did so while holding on to one another until we were a bit away from the police.”

NadiaE: Please tell me that I’m not the only one who finds this statement just wrong and demeaning

NadiaE: But you know how I really feel today? I went back to thinking about the intentions of these protestors

NadiaE: These are not Arabs, or Muslims, or Palestinians, or Egyptians. These are ppl who have gone out of their way because they see injustice..

NadiaE: They have left their homes, warm beds, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and children..

NadiaE: They come knowing that this region of the world can be brutal, oppressive, abusive..

NadiaE: They come knowing that they are more unwelcome than welcome..

NadiaE: And they do come with an attitude problem…but if we try to look beyond that…

NadiaE: these are people who believe in something so much that they are willing to risk everything precious to stand up for it

NadiaE: Now…I thought that was US! I thought WE were all willing to die for Palestine. We say so ALL THE TIME

NadiaE: I thought WE were willing to stand up to dictators and get our butts kicked for Palestine. We say so ALL THE TIME

NadiaE: How many years have we been saying so? Someone remind me?

NadiaE: So after going through the feelings of “how cute” and “they have an attitude problem”, today I simply feel ASHAMED

NadiaE: I know first-hand the hurt Palestinians feel towards their Arab bretheren for leaving them without help for so long

NadiaE: And our excuses have been: its our governments; we have no armies; dont go to Palestine cuz that’s normalization with Israel

NadiaE: And then here come the foreigners..not even armies. Just normal ppl like you and me. And no matter how silly they seem theyr doing something

NadiaE: So that’s the short story of how I feel today. Not impressed by foreign protestors attitude but impressed with their resolve…

NadiaE: and utterly ASHAMED by Arab impotence (for the most part) for the past 62 years. Utterly ashamed

NadiaE: And let me tell you, in our part of the world, impotence for men is one of the most shameful states a man can ever be in

NadiaE: So let me say this loud and clear: Arab men have been impotent about Palestine for too long!

NadiaE: *gets down off her soapbox*

Twitter, Facebook, polygamy, Irshad Manji and Islamic reform

During the past couple of days, I’ve had a couple of conversations on Twitter and Facebook that were related to Islam in one way or another. I thought I’d share.

Polygamy in Islam

The first was a short Facebook conversation that started when a FB friend posted an article by Nadine El-Bedayr, a Saudi television presenter. Nadine had written a previous rather provocative article in Egypt’s independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yowm titled “Me and My Four Husbands“. The article basically addressed the logic behind polygamy by saying that if men are allowed to marry four wives women should be allowed to as well. The article – and Nadine – created havoc and lots of denunciations of the woman. Nadine went on to write a second article “What’s Wrong With You? Why All the Anger?”. This was the post my Facebook friend made.

What I’d like to share is my comment to this post. I’m a bit concerned that all I’ll get in return is pretty much the same reaction Nadine got. But I’m willing to try my hand at freedom of speech and thought. My comment:

“I think this is a very brave woman. She has raised a sensitive issue in a provocative way; the only way it can truly be raised to illicit truthful answers. She was brave enough to raise it fully knowing that we live in a judgmental society that shows no mercy. I salute this woman.

“I remember growing up as a child and later on as a young woman always questioning in my mind the logic behind allowing polygamy for men. I was told things like: it’s to protect women who cannot find husbands; it’s to protect men who have a high sexual urge that cannot be met by one woman; it’s to protect men who fall in love with a second woman; it’s to allow men who have married infertile wives to have children while not having to leave their first wife, and on and on. Then I would ask, sometimes out loud, well what about the woman? What if the woman marries a man who cannot have children? What if the woman falls in love with another man? What if the woman has sexual urges that cannot be satisfied by one man? I was mostly hush-hushed, of course, but TOLD that women are different than men (of course I am told this mainly by men who seem to know everything about women). Women’s sexual urges, I’m TOLD, are much different and less than the fire of a man’s urges. Women can only love one man but men have the ability to love more than one woman. Besides, I was told, it is absolutely disgusting the concept of a woman having the “thing” of more than one man in her thing. And besides, I was also told, we need to protect our lineages. We know the father when the man has sex with more than one woman. We do not know the father if the mother has sex with more than one man. But I always had these two questions: well, if it’s disgusting for a woman to have more than one man’s thing in her, why isn’t it just as disgusting for the man to put his thing in more than one woman? And we now live in a day and age where it is very easy to find out who the father of a child is by DNA testing.

“I am also absolutely convinced that men have convinced themselves for hundreds of years that their sexual urges are much larger than women’s. Well, I’m sorry to break their bubble, but they are wrong.

“So I have been needing for years to find someone brave enough to go out in public and question this logic we’ve been faced with all our lives.

“Because I’m telling ya, it makes absolutely no sense to me. And I know my God would want me to use my head to find truth and not just sit back and have someone dictate truth to me.

“Nadine, my hat goes off to you.”

Twitter, Irshad Manji and Islamic Reform

On Twitter, @pakinamamer, a friend of mine, had mentioned a name I had not heard of before, Irshad Manji. I quickly checked out her website. Here is the conversation we had on Twitter with a couple of other fellow tweeps (and friends):

NadiaE: @pakinamamer who is irshad manji? I think I’m under the same rock

pakinamamer: @NadiaE A Muslim feminist (and a lesbian I was just told) who’s fighting for a more “moderate” inclusive Islam: http://www.irshadmanji.com/

NadiaE: @pakinamamer interesting…

TravellerW: @pakinamamer @nadiae I hate to break to u but Irshad Manji is a joke. No real arguments, plenty of daddy issues; “dad’s an ass=Muslims suck”

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamer I dont know the woman and only quickly looked at her blog. But she’s clearly a Pakistani Muslim brought up abroad…

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamer and there are countless Pakistani and Indian Muslim women in particular who have grown up abroad who have had it hard

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer theyr raised in 1 envt but expected to live the life of their ancestors. Theyr forced into marriages they dont want

NadiaE: @travellerw @pakinamer and a version of faith is forced on them; one they see no logic in. Not in defense of anyone particular,…

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer but there are REASONS some people have “daddy issues” and dad is an ass = Muslims are too

TravellerW: @nadiae @pakinamamer I can’t speak about all Pakistanis but I did read her book. And her conclusion is that if her father mistreated her,…

TravellerW: @nadiae @pakinamamer …. it’s because he’s a muslim. Hence, Islam sucks. That’s the summary of the book.

TravellerW: @nadiae @pakinamamer She seems harmless enough, but I put her in the same box as ayaan hirsi ali.

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamer well, perhaps her father told her he treated her that way BECAUSE of Islam – his version of course

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer her website says she’s calling for Islamic reform. There are so many perverted versions of Islam out there now…

TravellerW: @NadiaE @pakinamamer Even if. If she’s a ‘muslim reformer’ or ‘thinker’ she should’ve realised her dad doesn’t represent 1.25 billion, no?

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer that at least I’m sure we can agree we do need reform

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer Oooh…I’ll bet he represents a large enough number nonetheless

TravellerW: @NadiaE @pakinamamer Sure. But there are many people I’m willing to argue reform with. Manji isn’t one of them. Might as well ask Wilders!

Zeinobia: @TravellerW @Pakinamamer @NadiaE I agree most of these ladies base their personal views on whole religion

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer again. I dont know the woman. But I can understand where women like her come from

pakinamamer: @Zeinobia @NadiaE @Zeinobia I can see where @TravellerW comes from. tbh, West glorifies Muslim female (unveiled) whiners a bit too much…

TravellerW: @NadiaE @pakinamamer Then it’s her dad who needs to be reformed, not my faith. I reject her primary premise.

Zeinobia: @NadiaE @pakinamamer She is a well known lesbian so her views so called “moderate” are like what you see

NadiaE: @Zeinobia @TravellerW @Pakinamamer I’ve always been against generalising our views of any religion or culture based on personal experience

pakinamamer: @Zeinobia @TravellerW @NadiaE that said, I agree with her (and w Nadia) on the urgent need for reform within Islam.

NadiaE: @Zeinobia @TravellerW @Pakinamamer still its important 2 give weight 2 personal experience: it represents partof thepicture if not the whole

pakinamamer: @Zeinobia @NadiaE @TravellerW I’m still starting to read hr book But the fact that her argument/method is wrong, doesn’t mean her premise is

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @TravellerW @Zeinobia I agree personal pains and experiences reflect existent, sometimes widespread, problems.

TravellerW: @nadiae @pakinamamer @zeinobia Hey, I’m sorry her father was a jerk, I truly am. But don’t blame it on my religion!

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW oh yes. the “west” do glorify them. I’m not talking “the west” now though. We’re all egyptians talking

pakinamamer: @TravellerW @Zeinobia @NadiaE But then again, how you conceptualize these experiences is what makes all the difference.

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW and im pretty sure we’re all aware of the issues and the need for change

TravellerW: @pakinamamer @zeinobia @nadiae do check the book. the english version’s for sale, the arabic is free on pdf

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW 1 point i want to emphasize is many muslim women raised abroad have faced REAL problems with families

Zeinobia: @pakinamamer @NadiaE @TravellerW we need reform and better understanding for the religion

TravellerW: @pakinamamer @nadiae @zeinobia Mashy, but if we allow her to generalize from her dad to all muslim men, then we’re doing Rumsfeld’s bid!

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW and families have always defended themselves saying theyr protecting their daughters in name of islam

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @TravellerW @Zeinobia right But her reax to being glorified as such and used as a tool against Islam affects reception of hr views

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW short story: there’s a lot of CRAP happening and we need to understand where these women r coming from

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @Zeinobia @TravellerW I understand that. we do face similar problems too It’s how we react to it that matters, that’s all I’m saying

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @Zeinobia @TravellerW agree. I don’t like shunning ideas or ppl’s experiences. I’m all for reading her books and even debating w her

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW anything ive said is in the abstract. I might be as angry as u if i read the book

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @Zeinobia @TravellerW I’m just not sure if on her side she’s contributing to a healthy discourse or just rubbishing Islam. Different

NadiaE: pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW you could be very right. Contributing to the discourse rather than rubbishing is important

TravellerW: @NadiaE I respect the female-muslim-abroad exp.I dont like randm ppl extrapolating 2 demonize. I leave that 2 FoxNews @zeinobia @pakinamamer

TravellerW: @nadiae @zeinobia @pakinamamer Hey, I’m an expat brat myself. But muslim-in-europe thinkers, men and women, I have met, and she’s not one

NadiaE: @TravellerW @zeinobia @pakinamamer she very well might not be. Only just heard her name now

Microblogging through Twitter and Facebook have become such interesting ways of communicating. My friends and I discuss many sensitive issues through these means. And here I share with you a couple of those discussions. My only point is to provoke my own and your thinking. I might be very wrong in some of my statements. So might my friends. But I believe one can only reach truth by questioning and questioning and…further questioning.

Class distinctions at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina?

If there’s one thing I do a lot of these days, it’s attending conferences. So if there’s one thing I know well these days, it is conferences.

Some of what I see at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina-organized conferences disturbs me.

The whole point to organizing a conference is getting people who are interested in the same topic under one roof to meet, discuss and network.

The best conversations and networking are done during the coffee breaks, lunches, dinners, and social events.

In so many conferences I’ve been able to walk up to people I wouldn’t normally ever have access to under other circumstances. I’ve sat next to ministers during dinner, chatted casually with Nobel Prize winners at coffee breaks, and asked scientific experts not only about their science but also about their personal lives at lunches.

This isn’t what I see happening at the Bibliotheca. At every conference I’ve been to, participants have been categorized and thus separated into different eating areas.

In my first two conferences at the Bibliotheca, the media, for example, were placed in the common man’s category (my label). This meant that we were given lunch boxes and were left to find any corner to eat our food in. During this last conference that I attended, I was to discover where those who were not commoners went. Turns out there are two more categories.

Again, the first category is for the commoners. In this last conference the commoners were university students who came from Cairo and Alexandria to learn about evolutionism from some of the most esteemed scientists in the field. They got lunch boxes and no dinner.

The second category was for the academics attending the conference. Media were luckily included in this category this time. These participants got their food at an open buffet and had tables to sit at.

And then there’s a third category. The VIPs. These are mainly the Bibliotheca people organizing the event plus some of their special guests. These guys have a closed dining room and some of them get served.

Now I completely understand the need sometimes for a separate eating hall for some of the more important guests who might not ever get to eat if they do so in the midst of many starry-eyed admirers. Sometimes, I say. For some people. As I said, I’ve been to conferences where ministers and Nobel Laureates were eating at the same tables as everyone else.

But I do not understand the need for the two other categories.

Because of the way the Bibliotheca organized coffee breaks and meals, the young university students who came to learn about evolution never got a chance to properly rub shoulders in a normal setting with international scientists. Of course, they could always run up to the stage after each session to catch a few words with the panelists, but that was it.

I’m befuddled.

Please note that I write this with no jealousy at all on my part. I was personally treated very well at this last conference by all Bibliotheca staff and I even got to eat one of my meals in the VIP dining hall.

But I still think this separation of conference participants during meals completely defeats one of the most important purposes of organizing a conference to begin with: allowing people to learn from each other as they mingle and eat, as we say in Egypt, “bread and salt” together. And in Egypt, once you’ve had bread and salt with someone, you’re practically family.  

Bibliotheca Alexandrina: please reconsider this approach.