Exile in Egypt

Definitely not the worst place to be when I could not return to Kenya on the planned date, due to the post-electoral crisis.
The Coptic retreat center Anafora was wonderful, and so were all the people who were serving there, not at least my good friend Margrethe, who is a volunteer.



I miss the daily evening prayers, though I did not understand any of the Coptic liturgy. The chapel was esthetic and beautiful, and the ostrich egg hanging down from the window shaped like an eye, reminded us of how God never takes his eyes away from his children, as an ostrich having eggs always keeps her eyes on them.

During my six days long stay at Anafora, we spent one day by the pyramids and one in Alexandria. As Norwegians we were obliged to see the famous library drawn by Norwegian architects!




I have always concidered traffic in Nairobi as really bad, but maybe I should stop complaining. We ended up having to take a taxi to get across the road from the central reserve...

Being tourist in Luxor wasn`t to bad either, though we tried to avoid other tourists as much as we could..
Staying at the West Bank, renting a bicycle, taking a local Egyptian car instead of a taxi, and seeing the Nile from a local ferry instead of a cruice ship, and entering the Valley of the Kings by foot across the mountain instead of joining a crowded tourist bus, is highly recommended!



Since I had to change my return ticket to Kenya, I was lucky to get to experience the Coptic Christmas celebration in Al Quseya, in the middle of Egypt. Our sweet Egyptian translator thougt that the four hours long Mass in the middle of the night was too much for us. May be she was right, but it was still a beautiful and very special experience! And can you imagine celebrating Christmas twice in two weeks? Thank you, Bishop Thomas, who gave me a lift to Cairo and organised for me to be picked up and brought to the Egypt Air office to get a new ticket! Thank you, Girgis, who picked me up and insisted to provide a mobile locker for my luggage the whole day, driving me around in Cairo as I was waiting for the evening to come, when the plane would take off. Thank you, Margrethe and all Anafora people, who took so well care of me during my vacation and exile time!!! I hope we´ll meet again at Anafora some time!