Re: RC: Dorika's sesamoid injury

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <gabbani@starnet.com.eg>]

Strictly speaking, our family is Canadian/Egyptian, but the kids are pretty
hard put to claim one nationality. My husband is Sudanese/Egyptian with
Canadian nationality and I'm American/British with Canadian nationality. As
for safety, I'm about as blonde as they come, but I've never, ever felt
unsafe here. We haven't locked the door of our house for about 4 years,
since we bought the house we live in now, and in fact most of the time it
isn't even closed. The kind of things that hit the news so big in the US and
Europe, like the mess at Luxor are, in their own way, no more or less than
car-jackings and drive-by shooting, neither of which exist here, as well as
mugging or school shoot outs. The murder rate in all of Egypt probably
wouldn't stack up to two good-sized US cities. Egyptians are, on the whole,
some of the kindest, friendliest, most helpful people you'll ever want to
meet.....at least until you put them behind the wheel of a car. <G> Then
it's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde time and the most dangerous thing you can do
here is cross a major street. Even Egyptians acknowledge that they are
ghastly drivers. Luckily, the incomes prohibit buying really fast cars like
they have in the Gulf, where they are possibly even worse drivers.

One of the really sad things about the coverage of the shootings in Luxor
was the fact that the international press totally ignored the astounding
outrage that pretty well all Egyptians felt at the time. There were massive
marches here protesting the acts of those young men, and their families were
so ashamed that they wouldn't even accept their bodies for burial. I
routinely ride alone through farmland and in some of the most isolated
desert you could imagine, and I have never once even considered the need for
self-defense. It truly is not an issue. I've raised two kids here. My son is
currently a freshman at Columbia in New York, and THAT we found scary.  Last
August, however, when I was there to get him settled, I spent some time in
Manhattan with him and we felt much more calm about him going to this
dangerous city. <G>  My kids are accustomed to being able to go out to
listen to music until 2 or 3 am and being able to walk home safely.  My
daughter does get annoyed at having men stare at her and sometimes comment,
but she's also seen the same thing in Italy and Spain and near some
construction sites in California and Massachusetts. Pretty 16 yr olds get
attention. But no one here would dare lay a hand on her....and it's not just
that the laws are so draconian. We don't chop off hands or heads, although
rape is punishable by death.  On the whole Egyptians are taught that this is
not polite, and that is something that still matters here. It's one of the
reasons that we stayed past the 2 years we were initially going to spend. I
wouldn't move for anything.
Next time your daughter wants to come, don't discourage her. She's safer
here than in Detroit, Chicago, or Miami.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
gabbani@starnet.com.eg


.  Are you worried at any time for your safety being
> an American?  A couple of years ago we discouraged our daughter in going
to
> Cairo because of the problems tourists were having at that time.
Fascinating
> place-the history etc.  Regards. Pam in Reno.  <Ausralian born but proud
to
> be an American>
>


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