[Dialogue] Visit to Bayad

[Ken Otto]

Wayne,
I want to add my thanks to all the others about 
this report.  For those of us who spent 
practically all of our overseas time in HDP's 
this really means a lot.  It was so difficult to 
see any difference many days and months in a 
row.  I have been told that I have the honor of 
being the American who worked the longest who 
Australian aboriginals, of course this is not 
even close to any Australian, so I really would 
like to again see Oombulgurri and Murrin Bridge 
again.  I do hear bits of news from time to time though.
Thanks again for making the trip, you articulated 
so many of the same questions that I have about 
the places where we "wanted to make a difference".
Your Colleague
Ken Otto

At 10:03 AM 2/1/2006, you wrote:
>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 you’re on both lists, I added a 
>couple things.  If there are others who need to see it, pass it on.
>
>September 2006  is ICA MENA’s 30th birthday. We 
>ought to find a way to celebrate it. If you 
>write and send me your favorite Bayad story, 
>I’ll compile them. I don’t know what we’ll do 
>with them, but that can unfold.  You probably have other ideas.
>
>W
>
>------------------------------------------
>In November, I took some time and went back to 
>visit Bayad. We were there at the start up of 
>ICA’s work in Egypt in 1976. For me, it’s been nearly 30 years.
>
>I’ve wanted to do this for some time.  I don’t 
>really know what I was looking for. I knew all 
>along it wasn’t an impact study.  I didn’t even 
>look at the consult document before I went. 
>That’s not my job – ICA Egypt is doing it’s 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 wasn’t 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. It’s 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 – You’ll need 
>download the application. Google “Google Earth” 
>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).
>
>There’s a “ring road”  - 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 70’s. Abouna Mattius’ 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 “New Beni Suef.”  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 it’s ancient flavour, but it’s 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 you’re 
>supposed to do and thank you’s 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.  “Enta  Abd el Khalek, mish kidda ? I 
>asked. “Ya salem!!! Meen enta?” he replied, with 
>that hint of recognition in his eyes. “Anna 
>Wayne” 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.  He’s 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 – he’s 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 didn’t 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. He’s blind now and has some of 
>the problems normally associated with aging, but 
>he’s 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 “in there.” 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 ICA’s 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 Yassin’s wife. They have both moved on 
>from ICA to work with other organizations. 
>Yassin is regional director of development for 
>an NGO and he’s 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 ”pressure” 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. Farah’s 
>daughter even climbed into my lap after some encouraging.
>
>Farah works for the Municipality and is involved 
>in creating an agricultural and development 
>database. It’s part of a national project to 
>make information of farming methods etc. 
>accessible to everyone. He’s 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 CDA’s.  Beyond their capacity building 
>work with CDA’s , they work with a variety of 
>projects related to economic development, 
>health, education, women’s advancement,  etc. 
>They are also getting into urban development in 
>some of Cairo’s real working class 
>neighbourhoods like Mohandaseen. Wouldn’t 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 CDA’s 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 ICA’s ToP 
>methods more effectively. They say they are 
>primarily “doing procedures” 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.
>
>We’re 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.  Erwin’ will extend his 
>stay a few days, do the training on a pro bono 
>basis and BANG, we’ll 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.  You’ll 
>hear more about it as time goes on and we’ll 
>probably ask you for financial support at some 
>point. Traveling and printing manuals and things 
>like that costs. If I were in your shoes, I’d 
>give. In fact, I am and I will. It’s a worthwhile investment.
>
>I honestly had no idea that something of that 
>nature would arise. Maybe that’s why I went – to 
>see what possibilities we might generate for 
>collaboration among ICA’s. 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 I’ve worked.  I felt it again. I 
>now need to figure out how to ride it, but it is 
>unmistakably there in ways it hasn’t 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, Farah’s 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 don’t 
>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
>
>_______________________________________________
>Dialogue mailing list
>Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
>http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/dialogue_wedgeblade.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20060202/7ea73f33/attachment.htm