[Dialogue] Visit to Bayad

[Wayne Nelson]

I sent this as a witness to the Earthrise group. I think there are some on
this list that are not in that group and I want people to see this.   If
you¹re on both lists, I added a couple things.  If there are others who need
to see it, pass it on.

September 2006  is ICA MENA¹s 30th birthday. We ought to find a way to
celebrate it. If you write and send me your favorite Bayad story, I¹ll
compile them. I don¹t know what we¹ll do with them, but that can unfold.
You probably have other ideas.

W

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In November, I took some time and went back to visit Bayad. We were there at
the start up of ICA¹s work in Egypt in 1976. For me, it¹s been nearly 30
years. 

I¹ve wanted to do this for some time.  I don¹t really know what I was
looking for. I knew all along it wasn¹t an impact study.  I didn¹t even look
at the consult document before I went. That¹s not my job ­ ICA Egypt is
doing it¹s own impact studies. Was it some kind of validation I was seeking?
Maybe ­ we all like to be affirmed and I certainly do. I decided I wasn¹t
really sure. I knew I wanted to get there and see people. Not projects ­
people.  I also retraced my steps a little by staying at the Windsor Hotel
in Cairo ­ so cool.

When we were there, Bayad al Arab, the whole local municipality, was a
string of villages. Now it is a continuous community. It¹s pretty much wall
to wall buildings from Al Alma (north of the Bayad community) to Tel Abu
Narouz (south of the former ferry docks). The whole area is a few kilometers
long. Obviously, the bridge over the Nile ­ south of the old ferry docks,
just north of Tel Abu Narouz village ­ has made a massive difference. It is
busy all the time, it seems. It has created a town that is no longer
isolated in the way it was when we began our work.

Have a look on Google Earth ­ You¹ll need download the application. Google
³Google Earth² and follow the directions. It has satellite images of most
everywhere on the planet.  You can see you house from there (if you have
either a very large house or a very large imagination).

There¹s a ³ring road²  - very clear on the satellite shot - that skirts the
community on the desert side that is about a kilometer east from where the
last homes were located in the mid 70¹s. Abouna Mattius¹ house was on the
eastern edge of Bayad ­ right next to the desert. Now it is more or less in
the middle of the community. That whole space between the ring road and the
farm land is almost completely filled and is called ³New Beni Suef.²  Beyond
that, further into the desert is the beginnings of a new industrial area.
The same thing is happening in Minya and other places..

Electricity and water are everywhere. There are trees in Bayad.
Imagine!!!!!  Trees ­ Lots of them. They are everywhere. When we were there
there was one lady who was nursing a small tree in her courtyard with water
carried from the irrigation canal.  The homes I visited were a massive
change from the dark little places I became familiar with. What I did not
see was children with running noses, open sores and clouds of flies
following them around.  The quality of life has improved remarkably.

Some of you will remember Dier el Bayad ­ the monastery where we stayed
during our first few months there. Through the work of the late Bishop
Athanasious, it has been transformed into a very modern conference centre.
New buildings with full amenities etc. I had a hot shower.  I made and
received long distance phone calls from my room.

The Bayad Conference Centre - - -
http://www.meatrc.org/members/bayad_egypt.htm - - - now draws people from
all over the country who gather for retreats and conferences. It still has
it¹s ancient flavour, but it¹s a new place. Maleck is still working there ­
very solid, friendly and still impatient and grumpy with trivial niceties.
He just assumes that politeness and dedication is what you¹re supposed to do
and thank you¹s are not necessary. He smiles when you thank him, however.

I noticed that I was not noticed very much. Far different from the days that
a walk through the community became a parade. A few children tossed out
English greetings. I found that true in Cairo and Minya as well. Extra
nationals are part of the fabric of Egyptian life.

I got there mid afternoon and walked the scant kilometer across the fields
from the monastery to Bayad. With all the non agricultural space filled in
with commercial buildings and homes, the farm strip looks seriously small.
Indeed, only about a third of the people in the area earn their living from
farming.

I wandered around in the community. Trying to find familiar streets and
homes and also trying to get lost enough that I would see the new. I was
looking for people I might recognize and half way hoping I could just fly
under the radar and pick up my initial impressions without conversation on
the first go. I had much better luck with that than JWM did ­ he was more or
less mobbed.  

The new (no longer new) mosque is great. The old one has been renovated and
really looks good. Standing in the fields, you can see several mosques. I
loved hearing the call to prayers ­ a little reminder 5 times a day is not
bad. I miss hearing it.

I wandered through a very familiar area and as I rounded a corner, I met
someone I did recognize.  ³Enta  Abd el Khalek, mish kidda ? I asked. ³Ya
salem!!! Meen enta?² he replied, with that hint of recognition in his eyes.
³Anna Wayne² I said and we were all over each other with all the hugs,
kisses on both cheek and the long, flowery formal greetings that makes
Arabic the beautiful language it is.

We were just around the corner from his house; so we went for tea and
conversation.  I was quite amazed that I could still manage a relatively
meaningful conversation in Arabic. There were obviously big gaps when the
conversation got complex, but we long ago we a built a pattern of focusing
on communicating basic ideas rather than verbal precision and it worked.  I
caught up on a lot of people and accomplishments.  He¹s still a community
leader.

He took a few cell phone calls (practically everyone has a cell phone) while
we talked. It was election time and ..... you can work out the rest ­ he¹s
always been into politics. If fact, the first round of parliamentary
elections was the next day and hanging out at the polling station at the new
school for girls enabled me to meet a lot of old friends. Too many to tell
about. I missed Said Riskallah, who spent some time on our staff. He works
for the Beni Suef municipal government. Nadia Ahmed lives in the new area
near the bridge. 

I met Toma Awad coming out of his field ­ galabaya hitched up for work. I
didn¹t recognize this man who has become an elder, but he picked me out
right away. Greeting that grizzled old man and kissing his stubbled, old man
cheeks was a real joy.

I had a meal with Abd el Hamid Mohammed. That old boatman who spent so much
energy developing the Bayad water system still has fire in his belly. He has
a convenience store in the same neighbourhood , but instead of 2 rooms built
of scavenged, loose, mixed rock, he lives in a very nice house. Seeing him
and his family so well and so happy was awesome.

I met and talked with Abouna Mattius, the local Coptic priest. He¹s blind
now and has some of the problems normally associated with aging, but he¹s
sharp as a tack. He only does a couple services each week and he finds it a
strain, but his commitment has not wavered and he is still very much ³in
there.² We had a great conversation. His sons Atef and Emir are both
priests. As I arrived, one of them was driving out in a very new looking
car.

One of the real treats was meeting people who were children and youth when
we were there. Ramadan is a driver. Mohammed Gorany, whose father ran the
health clinic, now works for ICA there. While I was in ICA¹s office, a young
guy came in and was introduced to me as Mohammed Hassan. I knew right away
he is the son of Hassan Oase. Unmistakable family resemblance. Very active
in community activities.  I met Gamalette Souliman and Youssef Shehata who
were married shortly after we left the community. She was one of the first
preschool teachers.  Lovely family ­ obviously very happy. I met Mamdoueh
Mohammed Salem who has assumed the natural role of the highly intelligent
big land owner and is a community leader.

I also got to meet Nagwa Abd El Moinem ­ Mohammed Yassin¹s wife. They have
both moved on from ICA to work with other organizations. Yassin is regional
director of development for an NGO and he¹s working in Basara, Iraq.

I spent the most time with Farah Hannah, who spent some time on our staff.
He truly agonized over staying with ICA and decided he really wanted to get
back to the community and work there. He did say he was a quite frustrated
with all the ²pressure² we laid on him to stay with ICA, but he made an
authentic choice, knows it and is very happy. His wife is director of the
local preschool.  Their 3 children are very bright and a lot of resources
are going into tutoring to boost their educational achievement. I talked
with them. They read to me. Farah¹s daughter even climbed into my lap after
some encouraging.

Farah works for the Municipality and is involved in creating an agricultural
and development database. It¹s part of a national project to make
information of farming methods etc. accessible to everyone. He¹s also on the
board of the local Community Development Association (CDA) that he, Mahmoud
Abd el Rashid, Nabil Migally and I helped start. The Bayad CDA now has 10
full time employees. It has been selected as a pilot for a micro credit
scheme to help single mothers launch small business ventures. It is seen as
a highly successful, ground up development oriented CDA that works.

I also spent some time with ICA there and in their office in Cairo. I was
impressed ­ deeply impressed ­ mouth hanging open, stopped in my tracks
impressed. Our largest ICA - biggest budget ­ most employees ­ 90 people
work for ICA in Egypt. They have offices in Cairo, Bayad, Fayoum and Aswan.
They work in practically every province. Much of their work is with locally
based CDA¹s.  Beyond their capacity building work with CDA¹s , they work
with a variety of projects related to economic development, health,
education, women¹s advancement,  etc. They are also getting into urban
development in some of Cairo¹s real working class neighbourhoods like
Mohandaseen. Wouldn¹t that be fascinating work?

Those who have worked in Egypt with ICA can know that your expenditure has
living meaning. It is appreciated - - and you are personally remembered with
real fondness by people there. Beyond that, it has become the foundation for
this amazing organization and all of its individual and organizational spin
offs. Those who wonder if we ever made any lasting impact at all can take
heart. This impact has been deep. Your work has launched a new generation of
locally based development that is working and spreading across the country.
This is serious stuff.

ICA in Egypt is a very complex and sophisticated organization that has made
a genuine impact on the nation. Hala El Kohly is some kind of saint on
steroids juggling a bazillion things at a time and making things happen.
Their work in helping CDA¹s gain the capacity to do their own local
development has increased participation and helped ensure that real
implementation is happening. It has empowered local people is a way that
fits into the national fabric.

At the same time, the push is on to keep improving.  A few years ago, Duncan
Holmes facilitated a strategic planning process with the staff there. They
are following through with it and are on track.  Larry Philbrook also spent
some very valuable time with them recently.

One of the next steps, they say, is deepening the ability of the staff to
use ICA¹s ToP methods more effectively. They say they are primarily ³doing
procedures² and while it mostly works, they are well aware that they need
the capacity to use the methods with more flexibility to design and develop
new constructs and tailor applications more helpfully for each specific
situation. 

We¹re launching a project to work with about 20 key ICA staff members who
will deepen their knowledge, understanding and use of ToP methods and gain
the capacity to transfer the methods to others ­ in and beyond ICA.  As luck
would have it, one of our ToP trainers, Erwin Allerdings travels to Egypt in
his capacity with Ag Canada a couple times a year in connection with an
irrigation project. In March, he will do a session with that group on the
Focused Conversation method.  Erwin¹ will extend his stay a few days, do the
training on a pro bono basis and BANG, we¹ll be well and truly launched.  We
have yet to develop the full longer term training project that will be
needed, but we have some real momentum.  You¹ll hear more about it as time
goes on and we¹ll probably ask you for financial support at some point.
Traveling and printing manuals and things like that costs. If I were in your
shoes, I¹d give. In fact, I am and I will. It¹s a worthwhile investment.

I honestly had no idea that something of that nature would arise. Maybe
that¹s why I went ­ to see what possibilities we might generate for
collaboration among ICA¹s. Not consciously, but it is deeply exciting to me
to be working with this amazing team.

What I did discover was that I connected with my own passion.  I loved that
place. I felt, perhaps, more alive there than in many of the other places
I¹ve worked.  I felt it again. I now need to figure out how to ride it, but
it is unmistakably there in ways it hasn¹t been.

As I said, I stayed at the Bayad Monastery. Mohammed Gorany from ICA was
planning to give me a lift to the train station; so I could go to on to
Minya for a visit with Mahmoud Abd El Rashid. I brought my gear down and was
sitting along the Nile in the early morning.  There was a special service at
the church that day and I got a chance to see more people from the community
as they came in.  At one point, Farah¹s wife and daughter came along and
went in.  A few minutes later the little girl came running back out. She had
this sweet smile on her face and climbed into my lap for a hug.  Mohammed
Gorany turned up after a few minutes and she slipped away . Her mom probably
put her up to it, but I don¹t care. It was touching. And affirming ­ yes,
definitely. It was a connection to a family who really cares and,
symbolically, a community I care about. Life is definitely good.

Wayne


< >  < >  < >  < >  < > < >  < >  < >
Wayne Nelson - ICA Associates Inc.
655 Queen Street East ­ Toronto, Ontario M4M 1G4
416-691-2316 - http://ica-associates.ca - wnelson at ica-associates.ca


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