Riphenburg/Egypt: Al Minya

Bride of Upper Egypt: Al Minya (4 million pop.) is called the "Bride of Upper Egypt (Aroosa al-Sa'eed)" due to its significant location–close to the border of Upper and Lower Egypt, it provides a vital link between the two regions. The famous Egyptian feminist, Hoda Sharaawi, was born here–the daughter of a large landowner. It is about 153 miles south of Cairo. American Fulbrighters visited the city, an important agricultural and population center, over 3 days from November 23 to 25. Two security officers accompanied us on the trip down; and we were given protection throughout the journey. After the unification of Egypt by the ruler Menes in 3200 BC, this provincial capital of the 16th nome emerged as an important center of trade and has remained so since. Away from the Commotion: Quiet and more easy-going, Al-Minya offers a serene example of life along the Nile. Away from the hustle and bustle and traffic jams of Cairo and touristic centers, I enjoyed the lovely green areas found along the river. The sound of water pumps in the countryside sending water into cultivated fields populated by white ibis and the sight of farmers tending their fields with the occasional water buffalo and donkey gave me the welcome message that I was out of the big city.

Monastery of the Virgin Mary: First stop was the Monastery of the Virgin Mary, a church carved entirely from rock. It has been known by various names. It has sometimes been called the Monastery of the Pulley (Deir al-Baqara), because originally people entered the monastery from the base of the cliff up a crevice in the rock by means of a pulley. Gabal al-Tayr can be translated as the "mountain of the birds", so named because of the thousands of birds that live and nest in the cliffs. It is also called Gabal al-Kaff, meaning the "mountain of the hand". Tradition maintains that this was one of the locations that the Holy Family visited in their wanderings in Egypt. Accordingly, while passing by this place in a small boat headed up river, the Holy Virgin noticed an enormous rock coming loose from the mountain, which was about to fall on the boat and its occupants. By extending his hand, the child Jesus promptly intervened and stopped the rock from falling on the boat. The shape of the hand remained miraculously imprinted on the rock. It is said that the Church of the Holy Virgin was built by the empress Helena (mother of the Emperor Constantine) in memory of the passage of the Holy Family. Over half of the population of the city of Minya today is Coptic. Despite claims to a 4th century construction, the original edifice was probably a tomb dating from the late Roman period, which was transformed into a church during the 7th century. The Church of the Holy Virgin is a pilgrimage destination, which attracts annually tens of thousands of pilgrims, who come by feluccas, trains, busses and other transport from all over Egypt for the Feast (Moulid) of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin, which is celebrated on August 22nd. After dinner, a group of us went to Seven Eleven coffee house, definitely nothing like the 7-11's in the U.S. The place had a coffee house atmosphere with small, intimate tables, subdued lighting, and rubs of trendy people amidst artistic cursive writing on the walls.

Bani Hassan Tombs: Saturday was a 3-hour ferry trip with students from the Faculty of Tourism of El Minya University to see the Bani Hassan tombs on the eastern bank of the Nile. The students smothered us with Egyptian hospitality as they practiced their English. Dr. Engy Elkilany (Asst. Professor, Faculty of Tourism, Minya University) gave us a presentation on: "Ancient Egyptian Civilization."Our group visited several of 39 rock-cut tombs decorated with scenes depicting local and regional life during the Middle Kingdom. All of the tombs of Bani Hasan are Middle Kingdom, 11th and 12th Dynasties. Here the provincial elite of the Oryx Nome, the 16th Nome of Upper Egypt, carved themselves large, elaborately decorated tombs into the limestone cliffs near the provincial capital. Many details of everyday life of the ancient Egyptians can only be found on the tomb walls: fishing, hunting, weaving, war, bird trapping, voyages, and animal and bird scenes. The return boat ride downstream took half as long; the Nile flows south to north.

Dinner and Shisha: In the evening, Ahmad, a biology instructor at Minya University, picked some of us up for dinner at a restaurant, Jamaica, he owns with a friend. I had shrimp chicken with crab sauce. Among the sub-Saharan decor, a tall giraffe stood in a corner. A young girl dressed in a sequenced covered, white dress–skirt extended by lacy petticoats–was carried in by her extended family for a birthday party. They were video-recording their precious daughter's special day, much as parents do on their children's birthdays in the U.S. Then, we departed to have drinks (hot chocolate, coffee, tea) at a café he and the friend own in New Minya. So the evening ended with conversation and some blowing shisha smoke even out of their noses. The city is extending on the east rather than the west bank of the Nile, since the land is less productive agriculturally there. We saw huge apartment projects under construction with no one living in them yet. A night view of the city from the bluffs gave us another chance at stillness as we paused to view the stars and moon above a city with a calmer and more relaxed café culture compared to the craziness of Cairo. Last Day: On Sunday, dialogue took place between Egyptian students, faculty members, and American Fulbrighters at the Faculty of Arts at Minya University on: A) Experiences & Insights: The American Presidential Elections & The Egyptian Presidential Elections; and B) Cultural Misconceptions & How to Bridge the Cultural Divide Between Egypt and the U.S. During the debriefing, Egyptian students especially voiced concern about what they saw as the negative images presented of Arabs in the media abroad.