Egyptian Presidential candidates have posters beginning to show up on any vertical service--from walls, to trees, to street and Metro signs. With such a short campaigning time period, the rush to get themselves familiarized with the populace is imperative.
Here's an article about Abu Ismail's campaign.
We are witnessing an increase in vandalism around our area as well -- but these don't appear to be the gang-type graffiti markings; I haven't been able to decipher their meanings yet, but I'll try to get a picture up soon with a translation. (I haven't used Twitter--but if we secure a smart phone here, we would never have a shortage of material to tweet: humorous, challenging, curious, strange, sad, etc.)
We have also heard of some growing uncertainty by Egyptians relating to the state of the country--not from members of the CCF or Egypt ChoG--but from just various individuals in the community. One said that their family was even considering a move to the U.S. if things don't seem to progress properly within the next year, despite their love of Egypt.
We have not witnessed any increasing violence, though warnings continue to be aware of demonstrations and places where demonstrations are likely to develop. We have heard increasing gun shots in the evening hours--but again, nothing visible and no signs of danger around us. We have neighbors who work for foreign governments and they're not spooked or taking any visible precautions.
While we grow closer to securing our visa, we have also heard of changing policies on the visas of other internationals. Every trip to the Mogamma (the main government building) is an uncertain adventure.
Thanks for your continued prayers on our behalf; tomorrow we host a cookout for young adults and young families who are the children of many of the CCF we are serving. We hope to connect positively and to gauge interest on possibilities for additional programs for these.
Here's an article about Abu Ismail's campaign.
We are witnessing an increase in vandalism around our area as well -- but these don't appear to be the gang-type graffiti markings; I haven't been able to decipher their meanings yet, but I'll try to get a picture up soon with a translation. (I haven't used Twitter--but if we secure a smart phone here, we would never have a shortage of material to tweet: humorous, challenging, curious, strange, sad, etc.)
We have also heard of some growing uncertainty by Egyptians relating to the state of the country--not from members of the CCF or Egypt ChoG--but from just various individuals in the community. One said that their family was even considering a move to the U.S. if things don't seem to progress properly within the next year, despite their love of Egypt.
We have not witnessed any increasing violence, though warnings continue to be aware of demonstrations and places where demonstrations are likely to develop. We have heard increasing gun shots in the evening hours--but again, nothing visible and no signs of danger around us. We have neighbors who work for foreign governments and they're not spooked or taking any visible precautions.
While we grow closer to securing our visa, we have also heard of changing policies on the visas of other internationals. Every trip to the Mogamma (the main government building) is an uncertain adventure.
Thanks for your continued prayers on our behalf; tomorrow we host a cookout for young adults and young families who are the children of many of the CCF we are serving. We hope to connect positively and to gauge interest on possibilities for additional programs for these.
Yeah, don't you love the constant "stay out of this part of town" emails from the embassy? In your case things are a bit more likely to spill out of control than here, though, so I guess it's understandable. I do think it's a good sign that the people who work for foreign governments aren't spooked. The U.S. workers, at least in Bogotá, have to be absolutely paranoid. In any given week, I'm in a part of the city forbidden to embassy employees at least three or four times, and I generally arrive by bus, a mode of transportation that's also off-limits to them. So, yeah, if foreign government workers are calm, you're probably good :)
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