A Coptic Respite

This weekend I celebrated the end to two years of teaching in Egypt by heading to Anafora, a Coptic Monastery north of Cairo. I was joined by Tara and Dena, two dear friends from St. John's. Tara is at the beginning of her time in Egypt, and Dena is also bringing her FIVE YEAR career here to a close.

The address for Anafora is simply "Kilometre 150 on the Alexandria highway." Normally I would hire a driver, give him the phone number and be on my way. This is not the case when one travels with Dena. We began with a metro trip as far as the metro would take us (1LE). From there we took a micro bus (4 LE) about 15 minutes to the main microbus station. From there we switched microbuses, waited 40 minutes for the next one to fill up and then paid 7 LE to continue to Anafora.


When we got closer Dena started yelling from the back of the bus "hena queyess" (here's good). Of course they did not believe us, as we got off in the middle of absolutely no where, with this sign as our only marker.

Dena insisted, and we left the bus, entering into the beautiful monastery.

Anafora is self-sufficient. It is a farm, monastery/convent, retreat centre and development centre for Coptic Christians. While we were there, they were running a program for 90 teenage women called, in English, "Daughters of the King" leading them in issues concerning self respect, dignity and rights. Amazing stuff. The food prepared is all grown or bred on-site, organic and delicious.

Our only objective for our two night stay was to rest and relax and get sleep. I read about 10 pages the entire time, and spent the rest wandering, sleeping and sitting by the small wading pool with my feet in the water. It's hard to describe what it is like to come from a city of 20+ million people to a farm in the middle of no where and enjoy the absence of sound. It was hard to tear myself away this morning.

Both evenings after dinner we attended a Coptic prayer service. The coptic language is a mix of Greek and Pharonic languages, not spoken outside of church. The chants and songs were beautiful and haunting, known to all participants in the service by heart.

I wish I had known about Anafora sooner in my time here in Cairo. But I am grateful as my time winds down here that I am still learning about Egypt and the amazingly diverse things this country has to offer.