The Shell of Sharm el-Sheikh

Christmas for me usually represents a time of leaving Egypt. This year, it was different. K and I headed to the Sinai Peninsula to meet my family who had travelled from overseas. It was a year of forging new traditions and re-creating the Christmas atmosphere in a very "un-Christmassy" place. For K and I our journey started in Sharm el-Sheikh, where we stayed before heading further into the Sinai towards Dahab.

This time of year in Egypt is considered one of the three peak, or "high" seasons. In resort towns like Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, Christmas and New Years host an influx of tourists seeking respite from the cold and harsh winters at home. In previous years in Hurghada, New Years parties sell out a few weeks before the event with only a limited number of tickets remaining for last minute deals. Sharm is the same; big name DJs all booked to come in and play to what is hoped will be sell-out crowds and fully booked resorts and hotels.

K and I chose to stay in Delta Sharm, a hot-spot for Sharm residents and tourists alike. It offers the security of a compound alongside all the facilities you would expect of a hotel: pools, bars, restaurants, shops, and a little strip mall with rental car shops and real-estate offices.

One of the pools in Delta Sharm

But walking along these "mini mall" strip of shops was depressing. For every open office, there were two abandoned, empty, boarded up, or "for rent" next to it. Coffee shops had a few stragglers outside, others that boasted they were open 24 hours were closed. Remnants of what is evidently a party town working schedule, these offices just had no business to warrant keeping those hours.

Walking down the main strip in Sharm on Naama Bay was also an eye opening experience. K and I went to track down dinner and do a little shopping around 5 p.m. Coffee shop after coffee shop lay empty, with waiters outside trying to usher the small crowd of shoppers into their bars or restaurants. Also striking was that of the people milling around in the streets, most were Egyptians, not foreigners. By the time we were leaving Naama Bay the streets and restaurants had gotten a little more crowded, but nothing like the level of patrons one would normally expect in Sharm at this time of year.

Naama Bay in Sharm

Everywhere you go, people will tell you the same thing. "Business is suffering. Tourists are gone, we have no money anymore." This brings to mind the rhetoric in recent months of Islamist candidates who claim that Egypt's economy will do just fine surviving on Cultural Tourism (Which estimates point to making up less than 10 % of the total income from tourism). Al Masri Al-Yawm posted an article today in which quotes show that tourism in Egypt dropped almost 30 % in 2011 alone, in part due to ongoing unrest in the capital Cairo and the comments made about crack downs on the tourism industry.

When my family made the decision to come to Egypt, they were met with the common question of "why are you going there? Is it safe?" I've been hearing that question since I first moved to Egypt in 2006, and the answer is, YES, Egypt is safe. The Sinai is SAFE. There is an illusion being painted in the media that on every street corner you will find a protest, or someone flinging rocks, of a building on fire, or thugs running rampant. This is not the case, not at all. In fact the entire time that we were away, we left the news off and stayed offline - leaving us no indication of what was happening in the country. Were it not for national media, the unrest in Cairo and Alex would not even have made you question could you come to Egypt.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not naive enough to proclaim that Egypt is 100% at the moment, because it's not. There are certainly areas I would advise against foreigners travelling right now, particularly those that require travel over long stretches of mostly unmanned roads, such as roads down to Luxor, Aswan, and Sohag. But if you're coming to Egypt to check out the Red Sea sights and the Sinai Peninsula, you have very little to worry about. I was asked to emphasize this by family and friends who came to stay, if you have any doubts about your safety in Egypt, let me put your mind to ease.

Hurghada is more fortunate than many of the cities in the Sinai, as there continues to be a steady stream of foreigners coming here *knocks on wood* but in the Sinai things aren't so easy. I'll continue this saga in a new postings, but I will leave you with these words:

Please come and visit, the Egyptians are ready to welcome everyone with open arms! 

Egypt to reassure diplomatic ties following raids on NGO offices

This past week saw yet another question mark raised in how exactly Egypt wishes to continue with their diplomatic relations with Western nations. The raid by security of 17 NGOs, under the auspices of alleged concern over foreign funding received, has been met with alarm and diplomatic outrage by not only the US, but the UK and Germany as well. Below the BBC provides a report on the increasingly strained ties between Egypt and the West, and how Egypt is in turn attempting to assuage their fears.

Egypt has reassured the US that it will stop raids on the offices of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the US state department says.

Officials said property seized in the raids would be returned to the groups, which include two based in the US.

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has spoken to Egypt's military ruler by phone to discuss the issue, they added.

Egypt raided the offices of 17 NGOs in Cairo on Thursday, after expressing concern over foreign funding.

The country's ruling military council has said repeatedly it will not tolerate foreign interference in the country's affairs.

But the US reacted sharply to the move, condemning it as an attack on democratic values and hinting that it could review the $1.3bn (£0.84bn) in annual US military aid to Cairo if such incidents continued.

'Normal operations'

On Friday, Mr Panetta and the US ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, spoke to top Egyptian officials including military ruler Field Marshall Mohamed Tantawi, the US state department said.

"The ambassador has sought and received Egyptian leadership assurances that the raids will cease and property will be returned immediately," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in emailed comments.

"She has also made clear that we expect all international NGOs, including those that receive US government support, be able to return to normal operations as soon as possible in support of the democratic transition underway in Egypt."

David Kramer, the director of the US human rights watchdog Freedom House, told the BBC that while the reassurance was welcome, it was not enough to undo the damage.

Mr Kramer, whose office was among those raided, said some of his seized property had still not been returned.

Thursday's raids were part of a probe by Egypt into allegations of illegal funding from abroad.

Evidence suggested some groups were violating Egyptian laws, including by not having permits, prosecutors were quoted as saying on Thursday.

But analysts said they were part of a broader move by the ruling military council to silence dissent after months of criticism of its human rights record.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) has been running Egypt since a popular uprising ousted former President Hosni Mubarak in February.

But in recent months the military government has found itself the focus of protests, as activists questioned its commitment to democratic reform.

What is happening Egypt?

Since the January 25th Revolution, Egypt has been different. A natural occurrence for a post-revolution state; politicians are resigning, corrupt officials are being arrested, the people feel they hold the power, and criminals run amok.

Oh I'm sorry, is that last option not one that we're supposed to discuss? Because that certainly seems to be the stream of thought in many outlets. Embassies will ignore reports of rape, police will sit with their hands tied when cars are stolen, criminal gangs who have robbed, attacked, shot at, and terrorised people remain free. And where is the coverage of these events? Why are people continuing about their every day lives, all be it a little more tense, as though everything were normal?

The image that people are being fed of Egypt today is a country of progressive change and the natural ups and downs of transition to "democracy." It still seems that for the outside world, Tahrir is the window into Egypt. The reality on the inside is different - drastically so.

Just over one month ago now, I heard a horrible story of a woman, we'll call her B [name changed for privacy reasons], being attacked in the desert near Mubarak 2. B had been out walking her dogs, when a group of 5 men, some with swords for weapons, ambushed her. They robbed her of all her possessions, stole her car, and attempted to rape her. Had these 5 men not been interrupted by another person walking their dogs in the desert, I dread to think what might have happened.

B has been understandably terrified. She went through what she thought were all the right avenues to ensure that this gang would be apprehended. She spent hours in the police station recalling the details of her attackers. Any woman who has tried to report a sex crime in Egypt will know, it is ALWAYS the woman's fault. It does not matter how the attack happened, it does not matter if you were an unsuspecting victim. B was told that she should not have been walking her dogs in the desert and it was her own fault that she was attacked. She was even told "you have a garden, just let your dogs go there." The concept of actually walking a dog for exercise is foreign to many Egyptians.

This is where B had her car parked in the desert by Calypso

One would hope that the police, with B's accurate description of her attackers in hand [see below], would canvass the neighbourhood. Canvass they did, but not to uncover the gang of men. They went around to Bs housekeeper, asking if it was common for her to have male visitors. They wanted to establish a pattern whereby in Egypt B would be considered a whore, thereby ensuring that she herself must have somehow prompted the attack.

B did not give up there. The day of the attack, while B was still stuck at the police station, her friend phoned the German Consul Peter Ely. B was then informed via SMS of a meeting that she should attend, which she was unable to as she was still stuck in the police station. B herself sent an email to the German Consul, who then forwarded her complaint to the German Embassy in Cairo. The embassy was impudent; they blamed B for not having attended the meeting that she was clearly instructed to attend by an embassy employee. Yet no such employee ever contacted her.

Many people would call it quits here. B did not. She tried to contact media, nobody would pick up her story.

She has taken her story to the internet, and a group was created for people residing in Hurghada to tell their experiences here. The group is designed to shatter the image that has been created for people intent on visiting Hurghada, "All is well, all is safe, have no fear."

As long as it was only local residents being attacked - and let me note that B's incident is not isolated, there are many reports of burglaries, car jackings, purse snatching, and theft that run rampant in the streets - the government saw no reason to alarm tourists. Local residents have continued to post their information in the new Hurghada news group, and were sadly not shocked to learn that the gang that attacked B struck again two nights ago.

This time is was a German tourist and his 17 year old daughter who became the victims.

The 2 were being driven on the outer Ring Road of Hurghada when a silver Hyundai Elantra approached their car on the side. They attempted to get the car to pull over. When the driver did not stop the car, the passenger travelling in the Elantra pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot out the tires of the German's car. The Elantra continued to try and push the car into the desert. After an 8 km chase, 2 trucks appeared in the distance which prompted the Elantra to speed off.

As soon as this information was posted in Hurghada news, it became evident that this gang was the same gang as had attacked B. Down to the final details: one of the 5 men wears a white and checkered headscarf.

Sadly, as the reality is in Egypt, both stories have already been warped by rumours. I have been told that B was attacked in any number of locations throughout Hurghada. Having just spoken to her, I can confirm that she was attacked in the desert between Mubarak 2 and the street that Calypso lies on.

This blog is a message. To those living in Egypt and those hoping to visit. Despite what the media might be trying to tell you (or rather, not tell you), do not forget that there are still many criminals unaccounted for. The trade in illicit guns has spiked drastically since this time last year. Egypt is not the safe haven it once used to be. Don't be stupid, stay alert and aware. Keep your doors and windows locked at night, and do NOT engage anyone in the streets.


Here is B's description of her attackers.

Description of the perpetrators of 13 June 2011.

5 young men aged around 20 -25 years.
Size: 1.75 - 1.80 m; slim
4 of the criminals were wearing normal casual wear, jeans and T-shirts, very clean.

1 - probably the boss of the gang - was wearing military clothing (camouflage French or American) and a beige vest. His head was covered with a headscarf Palestinian style (Yasser Arafat wore this pattern). It was bound as it is often seen on quad safaris. His skin colour: light brown, large hanging eyes, thin face, thin beard around the mouth and chin.

2 of the criminals were armed with swords. The swords had a length of 90 cm and were wavelike jagged, Color: matt silver.

Model of the stolen cars: Daewoo Lanos, built in 2004, with anthracite bright sun spots on hood and trunk lid, car license plates: ط ر د ٢٥٣٤


Below are some links with more information on the current situation in Egypt: 

Interior ministry: Police cracking down on crime, searching for 110,000 suspects and fugitives

Gun policy and figures [these figures start from a few years back - pay attention to the government figures, many of these guns were stolen during the revolution]

Arms trade in Egypt reflects revenge culture

Arms thriving in Upper Egypt [and the number of Upper Egyptians living in Hurghada has increased exponentially..coincidence?]

You may request an invite to the Hurghada news group here.

And for women, find information on how to avoid harrassment and MAKE YOUR OWN PEPPER SPRAY here. 

Re-blog "Letters from Egypt: Tahrir, in Itself, a Nation"

Reblogged from my fellow blogging buddy, this echos my sentiments exactly of how I interpreted this piece. Change in Egypt starts in your own neighbourhood. Continuing to go to Tahrir to "assess how the situation will pan out and therefore can be applied to Egypt" is the most mundane reason to continue protesting. Obviously the social problems are evident, obviously protesting now will not change these underlying issues. Change takes time Egypt; I only hope that more people in Tahrir will come to see this viewpoint.

You can change a country’s leader, but until the people change everything will remain the same. However, what Egyptian is going to listen to this when it comes from a foreigner? After all, what would WE know about Egypt? So when it comes from a fellow Egyptian finally realizing this, you have to hope that the words will sink in to his fellow Egyptians.

It seems international media attention has dismissed the present demonstrations in Egypt as secondary stories at best, and it might surprise you to know that I completely concur. It is not news worthy considering the battles waging in Libya, Yemen and even Bahrain; however, this is my life at the moment. A good friend of mine passed along this blog from Sandmonkey.org which details one Tahrir Square sit-in’s perspective.

I felt the blog was incredibly too long and wordy to really captivate and hold reader attention, but nonetheless offered very valid viewpoints as to how Tahrir sit-ins are an experiment as to how Egypt really functions. The excerpt also has the author coming to the conclusion that the sit-ins are pointless as those participating are just creating the same environment within the square that they are supposedly fighting to ban (yet at the end he still urges others to join Tahrir which is a little mindnumbing).

The author and friends created a tent community, but after having various onlookers asking intrusive questions and leering at the females present, they organized the tents in a circle only allotting for one entrance/exit and created a safe-haven in the center. The Sandmonkey said, “In essence, without noticing, we – the people judging suburban compounds as being elitist and classist – created one without noticing.”

Sandmonkey also posed other parallels like allowing three children into the safety zone, and while offering snacks, later expecting the children to partake in helping keep the area clean, putting up supplies, etc. (child labor) or the volunteers at the security check points into Tahrir eventually bowing down to accept bribes from street venders trying to gain access (security breaches and corruption).

“For some people, what I just recounted will be heartbreaking, but to me it’s brilliant because it’s a learning experience in governance unlike anything the world has ever seen. And it gives all of those new parties and movements that aim to rule the country a chance to take a much closer look at the issues facing us and figure out the limitations of their solutions and cracks in their organizational structure.” The real heartbreaker in this is that very few will recognize these points.

The author also noted that while searching people at the checkpoint, even if a few “bad apples” were present, that people act right if an “imposing figure shows up and treats people decently no matter how much they abused him with rudeness.” Well, I can parallel this story on my own: Have any of you left Egypt to go to Europe or the US? The simple concept of a line is lost in translation here, but when leaving the country, these people somehow find the meaning of a line and other proper mannerisms. However, upon leaving these destinations traveling back to Egypt, you find that the lawlessness that they seemed to have momentarily put aside, is back in full force. When I flew back to Cairo on Delta from JFK in NYC in November 2009, I was astounded at the lack of courtesy, simple adherence to basic rules and just complete disrespect for everyone. Egyptians tried to cut one another in line over and over again, five different ticket holders at once tried to bombard the Delta representative, the two bag carry-on per person apparently didn’t apply to them, etc. The same occurrence happens each year I travel to the UAE. Egyptians can act right, but they just choose to ignore the rules and see how far they can get by doing so and with no real government or police force in place, you see the anarchy that has loomed (please note this isn’t all Egyptians as a few anomalies exist, but this is a big chunk).

“But the ultimate lesson came from one thing: ‘No Military Trials for Civilians,’” said Sandmonkey. “We might never control this country or rule it, but that may not be our role. Our role is to frame the debate and the demands, push and advocate for them by explaining to people how they relate and benefit.”

To view this long-winded excerpt, you may click “Tahrir: An Exercise in Nation Building”

STOP SELLING YOUR LITTLE GIRLS

While reforming the nation seems to be at the top of everyone’s list, something else that should be added is the ban of selling underage girls to Emiratis, Saudis and the like. I've known of this existing for awhile, but I was just informed that a hospital in El Bardrshen falsifies documents to say that a young girl is 16 when in fact she is younger (and often times much younger) for these “Gulfies” to marry. The age in Egypt for legalized marriage of a female is 16 and what happens to these girls?

The Arab man marries her, takes her virginity and leaves after the summer. Paying a one-time fee is all that’s required by the families (around LE 17,000 or approximately $2,900). And what happens to this young girl? If she does get pregnant, well – it’s her own responsibility. She will never see the man again not only to regale the abuses that she will suffer in that month to two months of torture. In this society, once a female has lost her virginity, she will more than likely remain unmarried and an outcast (or worse, forced into a life of prostitution).

So Dear Egypt, you want change, look within.

Egypt's cops at work

K and I were woken up abruptly last night at 1-30 a.m. by shouting in the street just underneath our window. At first we figured it was the usual weekend night party-goers returning home after one too many drinks from the club. When after a few minutes the noise still had not dissipated, we both began wondering what was going on.

K went outside to check on the situation and to tell the rowdy people to kindly 'stfu' as there were people trying to sleep. Initially, it appeared his request was heeded, as the shouting quietened down. Briefly.

Within two minutes it had erupted again, accompanied by loud banging and aggressive, gruff voices shouting out insults and threats. K went back outside to assess the situation, which had evidently escalated. One guy was outside shouting up and down that our building was harbouring a man who owes him 3,000 LE (505 U.S. $). Our bowab (doorman) Mohammed and the doorman of our neighbouring building Gomaa were preventing these men from accessing our building, who were threatening to break into the building and break down the door of the apartment that was "allegedly" holding the man. The situation escalated, as any similar situation would in Egypt, and what was initially two bowabs preventing 3 men from entering our building, ended up with no less than 15 guys downstairs.

One was carrying a long stick, with which he hit our bowab Mohammed. Fearing that this brawl would come into our building, K did the smart thing and phoned the police, then promptly phoned the building landlord (who up until that point had no idea what was happening outside of his building). The police showed up within 5 minutes (talk about rapid response!). While I was expecting the police to begin arresting people, instead they started getting the stories from the multitude of people outside. During this procession, our landlord showed up with a car full of men. These guys got out, stormed up to the crowd, and found out that our bowab had been attacked. This resulted in them jumping the guy with the stick, and at least three people kicking him and thumping him. I'm sure he ended up with a few broken ribs.

It's not until today that we got the truth of what happened. The police have interrogated everyone, and it turns out that these boys were only owed 75 LE (12 U.S. $), and had exaggerated the figure in an attempt to legitimize them breaking into our building to beat up some guy who DOES NOT EVEN LIVE HERE, and merely cleaned one of the apartments downstairs. He had allegedly showed up shortly before the "gang," and had hidden on our building's roof.

Needless to say, you can see in the video the crowd that ended up outside our building. Unfortunately I didn't get the fight on camera, what you see is the immediate aftermath and you can hear the guy crying out "get me my civil rights." (I'm not a video whizz, so although I could adjust the contrast of the video watching on Media Player, I don't know how to save those changes.)

I am shocked that firstly the police showed up as quickly as they did, and although didn't rapidly dissolve the situation, did end up getting the story straight and taking the thugs into custody. I am thankful that our neighbourhood have bowabs that are not afraid to stand up for people, which really made us feel secure in our choice of location to live.

Never a dull moment in Egypt!