Baby Wash Mondays

One of the things I enjoy doing is serving at the Baby Wash Clinic. The Baby Wash Clinic is located in Giza, near the famous pyramids.  It is an interesting ride from Maadi to Giza! We have to take the Ring Road which is a busy road, where heavy laden trucks carrying limestone blocks as big as a storage shed, trucks stacked twice their heights with tomatoes, and stock trucks transporting camels and water buffalo in their open back ends--compete with taxis, donkey carts and personal vehicles--often for the same space. Throw in 20 pedestrians darting across the road at every corner, and you can imagine, maybe what our drive is like.
 We turn off the main highway onto a canal street. The road is a divided road, with the water canal flowing down the middle of the street. The canal is an eco-system all its own...dead horses, vegetation, garbage and who knows what else is broken down into basic elements by bacteria, fish, turtles, and other scavengers. These canals are the water supply, so not only do people sometimes fish in them, they also use the water for crops and in their homes. (Cairo does have water treatment systems, but not everyone has plumbed water.)  We travel down the canal road past many little shops to the Pepsi sign where we turn onto what is now a very bumpy dirt road.
A few turns later we come to a stop before the worn metal gate of the clinic. People are already lined up outside to see the Dr. As we move down the hallway toward the Baby Wash Room, many eyes follow our movements. Some eyes are the only part of the person we can see-they are completely covered women. Others have eyes rimmed with Kohl to ward off evil spirits. When I look into their eyes sometimes they twinkle, sometimes they dart away, sometimes they appear hostile. Some have no hope in them-those are the eyes that bother me the most.
Volunteers at the Baby Wash Clinic are multinational. Mondays are the day the English speaking women volunteer. The French volunteers come another day and so on with the Germans and the Italians.The Clinic operates on funds donated by these nationalities. We work through the Maadi Women's Guild,  associated with the English speaking churches in Maadi. The Medical Clinic is operated apart from the BWC, but it is in the same building, and a Sister seems to be in charge there.

When a new mother brings her baby to the Baby Wash Clinic, she has either heard about it from a friend or has been referred by the Dr.

They bring their baby four times. We weigh the babies, wash them from head to toe, give them a physical examination and lots of love and attention! If we notice something out of the norm, the woman can go down the hall to see the doctor. Each time the woman brings her child, they receive a gift from us...a motivation to return the following week! Some of these ladies come a great distance to see us and it is best if they come all four times so we can evaluate the health and care they are giving their babies. The first week they receive a undershirt, socks, and diaper cover. The second they get a galibeah...sort of like a two piece pj set; the third a sweater and knit pants set and the fourth, a blanket. We take their photos so they also get a good photo of them with their child. After the baby is washed and dressed, the moms go into an adjoining room where they are given a parenting class.
Today we washed 14 babies. Last week we washed 9. I have been told that sometimes there are more than 20! It is a wonderful experience to get to show love to these babies and to encourage these new moms-some who are so young and who don't have someone to teach them, and those who do a great job as well! We all like being told our babies are beautiful!

Catching Up

School is back in session so I thought I would write the classic essay: What I did for Christmas this year. The Christmas holiday was not what I expected it to be this year. I did not know what Christmas in Cairo would be like, but I supposed it would be similar to Christmases spent in Venezuela and Colombia with lots of parties and get togethers. First of all, though there are signs of Christmas here and there, Christmas is just a regular day to the Moslem community. Sure, the flower shops at the traffic circle have some evergreens and poinsettias for sale, and I saw Santa coming out of a day nursery in the building next door to us, but the absence of the Nativity is profound.

Secondly, there were no candy canes to be found anywhere here. In a world where Nestle, and Hershey are global, it seems the little Brach candy maker could have figured out a way to piggyback those canes on over here~and it would have been wonderful if Nestle and Hershey had exported a chocolate santa or two....

And third, Maadi became like a ghost town with expats leaving the country in a modern-day exodus. At one point, and for two weeks...EVERYONE I knew in Maadi was out of the country. Sam says to be honest here. So I will be. It was a lonely time here! Even the Community Services Association was closed for three weeks!

Now I will talk about the good things we experienced here. We met a couple of young men (early twenties) who were alone for Christmas. Matt and Keith are both here studying Arab culture and language. We had them over for dinner Christmas Eve before the candlelight service at the church. Both of them are searching for something that only Christ can give them. Both are intelligent, conversational and delightful to be around. It was wonderful having young guys in the house! The candlelight service was packed out and the music played to my heart's song: What Child is This?

Christmas day was delightful. We were invited to the rooftop flat of a fellow youth worker who happens to be British. He gathered in all the strays (people like Sam and I) in Maadi. There were people from 9 countries-singles, marrieds, students, engineers, professionals, tourists, teachers, pastors, and other international workers. It was amazing to me that we went there knowing only John, our host, and the two young men we'd befriended the night before, yet we immediately felt right at home. John is a great host! made everyone feel comfortable, and we left that evening having made some new friends! We spent all afternoon and into the evening visiting and eating traditional British, American, and Sudanese Christmas foods! I would love to tell you about each person we met, but that would make this blog too long.

Between Christmas and Jan. 10th or so, I spent most of my time at home. I hired a housekeeper because things get so dirty here from the soot and dust-everything needs to be cleaned every day! She and I got to know each other really well so this lonely time was well spent. I got some quilting done on the machine and some hand quilting accomplished. I made a lot of headway on David's long overdue quilt too!

New Year's Eve Sam and I went to our favorite Italian place for dinner then came home and watched a little tv, read and went to bed well before midnight! New Years Day the internet was out so the football we planned to watch didn't happen. That was disappointing! We went to church because Friday is our day of worship here. What a great way to start the new year! Afterwards, Keith and Julie and Dave came over for Black-eyed Peas. Dave is one of our ministers at Maadi Community Church.

Now it is the 14th of January-Elvis' birthday has come and gone. My friends are trickling back into Maadi. School is back in session so our street gets really busy twice more often than before. We started a "Life Group" Tuesday night that has me very excited. I went to the Baby Wash this week and my quilt group starts back up tomorrow.

This post may be a little on the boring side, but I had to write through this to get caught up. Thanks for reading! Happy New Year!