Egypt 2014 Election

The candidates: Hamdeen Sabahi on the left, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the right.
(image obtained via Google image search)

So we're now on our third day of Presidential election voting here in Egypt; what was originally planned as a two-date vote process received a third day of eligibility last night from the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC).

The PEC says that this was to encourage voters to still have time to go to the polls.  However, both candidates have filed complaints at the extension (Sisi's complaint / Sabahi's complaint)

Low voter turnout is perceived by various members of global media as a black eye to the democratic process and/or the events of the last year.  Some media, Al Jazeera network, have offered very critical commentary that the low turnout is a vote of no confidence in el-Sisi's leadership in the past year (keep in mind that AJ has a journalist team still imprisoned and in the midst of a trial in Egypt).

Again, reactive or agenda-based journalism may be misinterpreting or at least skewing the reality of the situation in Egypt.  There has been an overwhelming sense from the beginning that if el-Sisi would run for President, he would win in an overwhelming fashion--that has been acknowledged by supporters, opposition, and detractors.  There, of course, are accusations that this was the military's intent from the beginning and that they will rig the results to reflect this overwhelming support; and even that the third day of voting is to give time for the voter fraud.  Conspiracy theories run rampant.

And there are those who are boycotting rather than vote for opposition candidate Sabahi - why?  Because even these abstaining feel that there is no way Sisi loses, so let a low turnout speak against him rather than the ballot box--this does reflect a lack of confidence in the democratic system.

But, this lack of confidence has been there in elections for many years in Egypt.  A part from the first Presidential election after the 2011 Revolution (that was 2 different stages of votes), from our unprofessional observation in the last couple years, low turnout appears to be consistent with Egyptian politics.  There is a resignation by the average citizen that what will be, will be -- regardless of participation in the process.

The voting on the streets and squares seems to carry more weight than voting at the polls.  And this is probably a greater indicator of people's feelings at this stage of the process.  Though there has been low voter turnout over the last two days, you are not seeing a lot of turnout at demonstrations against the vote or Sisi - and there are multiple demonstrations, but they are not overwhelmingly productive.  So, while the turnout at the polls is low, the other vote on the streets is at least as equally low.

There is a legitimate concern that the lack of participation in voting at the polls today may mean a future vote on the streets if people do sense any improvement to their daily lives soon.  The lack of young people voting is indicative of this concern--they have been the key and leading participants to the 2011 Revolution as well as the Tamarod movement that led to Morsi's ouster during the summer of 2013--if they are unhappy and dissatisfied within one year's time, might we see a third popular, youth-led movement against whoever is in power?  With the exception of the unprecedented participation and results of the Tamarod movement last summer, there seems to have been a generational divide on what is good leadership for the country for many years.

Our unprofessional assessment from what we have witnessed as guests and observers in this country, still learning the history and complexities of what is the daily life of for millions of Egyptians struggling day to day, is this: wait and see; but for now, survive.  The daily needs for many Egyptians can not take time off from any opportunity to work to show up at an election that appears to have been won on the streets last June 30.  If they are working and able to make any income today, that is the priority because work and income have been at such a low level for so long.  The average Egyptian seems focused on the day, and hopeful that the stability will improve, then the economy with the return of foreign investment and tourism, and then serious changes can be undertaken in regards to eduction reform, infrastructure development, and/or debates on personal freedoms.  Those are big hopes while many live well below the poverty line, subsidies that make that existence possible are in jeopardy, millions of young adults are out of work, and pockets of violent opposition still seek to destroy life and property.

But we think that's closer to the reality than the reactive journalism or conspiracy theories propagated by the talking heads of the news networks.

So, with the majority of Egyptians, we will wait and see.  But, we will also pray that their daily lives sees the improvement they desire; that productive and effective leadership from a new President AND a new Parliament will lead toward a brighter and more prosperous future; that Egypt's beauty and grandeur will be restored.

#PrayForEgypt
(follow us on Twitter @ok2serve for tweets and retweets of developments which can happen quickly, or find the same original tweets from us on our new dedicated Facebook page Oldham ThreeWorlds - thank you for your continued interest, prayers, and support!)

Church of God Edara

Walking into sanctuary of the Church of God Edara

We arrived in Minya, Egypt after a 3 1/2 hour train ride--we left Cairo at 1am, but my traveling companions (Dr Latif and Pastor Ehab) boarded the train in Alexandria at 10:00pm.  Minya, like most most of the population areas of Egypt, is along the Nile River.

After taking a rest and a late breakfast, we took a one hour car ride to the village of Edara.  Minya is surrounded by many agriculturally-based villages; I felt I was driving through similar villages in the Guyana countryside where my mother grew up.

Pastor Ayman was so glad to greet us outside of the church building; this is one if the congregations in need of so much physical reconstruction to advance the ministry to the community.

After a few pictures outside, I could hear children when we came inside the humble structure.  They are gathered this morning to begin the process of applications for the hope/vision of the Church of God in Egypt to bring the Children of Promise program into the Upper Egypt congregations.  15 smiling and pleasantly behaved children waited patiently while I got the tour of the 2-story structure.  

The police headquarters for the area can be seen about 100 meters behind the church.  The building, originally constructed of brick in 1947, is in very bad structural condition.  Cracks are developing in the seams of the walls, the wood ceiling strains to hold the weight of the small brick structure above.  The steps leading to the second floor are crumbling, you can feel the floor/ceiling below you sagging as we inspected the 2nd floor.  The one room on the 2nd floor was Pastor Ayman's home for the first two years of his ministry here while he finished theological college--my hotel room in Minya may be twice as large and 100x as nice, especially when you take in consideration that my hotel room has a toilet, sink, & shower.  Speaking of the toilet, the WC/bathroom of ChoG Edara does not have a toilet--only a drain in the dingy floor next to the sink.

Fortunately, the General Assembly of the Church of the God in Egypt supports Executive Committee's vision to raise funds to rebuild this facility.  Government permission to rebuild has been received so far, but this can change once you are ready to build; architectural plans are in hand.  The vision is for a three story facility: ground floor sanctuary, 2nd floor will be for serve as a fellowship hall and classroom, and the 3rd floor will be for a church office and a Pastor's flat.

The ministry vision is to have a facility that will better enable the outreach to more children in the village; somehow, they currently minister to 80 in their weekly Sunday School program based on the Awana model.  They cannot serve more in the current, dilapidated facility.  The addition of the Children of Promise program to this area will enable another avenue of ministry service to families.  

Pastor Ayman has been married for 3 years and has a 2-year old son.  In one of the pictures, you can see bags of grain behind him on the stage--these are the tenth from several of the farming families, given as offerings to the church to sell to support the ministry.  The congregation received about 250LE (divide by 7 for US dollar approximation) per month in offerings; since the start if the tithe building campaign, the tenth comes in at about 800LE per month additionally.  They have saved over 10,000 US dollars for the rebuilding project, but it is estimated that they will need at least 8 times this much.

We will be encouraging families to consider sponsoring children through Children of Promise this summer during our home assignment.  If you have interest in supporting the General Assembly's fundraising effort to rebuild Church of God Edara, contact us.  

Many more posts like this to come...

#PrayForEgypt

Church exterior

Dr Latif testing roof while Pastor Ehab gets away (police building in background, note 1 room apartment)

The church's WC

Steps to 2nd floor

Strained wooden roof

Pastor Ayman prepares coffee & tea for us

A few if the children waiting

Dr Latif interviews a potential Children of Promise candidate

Front of Sanctuary

Pastor Ayman with a few of the boys

Egypt Braces for Presidential Elections

This US Embassy alert just came in my inbox a moment ago...

May 22, 2014

As it states, Egypt is bracing for the Presidential Elections set to take place on Monday-Tuesday, May 26-27.  Though we have not heard of any organized or serious threats at polling places or throughout the country, everyone is proceeding with a great deal of caution after the last few years have seen the political process to be a time of great contention.

What's expected:

• Former General / Field Marshall El Sisi (said, "C-C") is expected to win with a vast majority of

  

  screen shot AJE July 2013

  votes.  This expected win and his superstardom across the country has created some criticism on his actions to lead the removal of former democratically elected President Morsi last June.  He was the face of last summer's revolution that began with the Tamarod (Rebel) campaign that led to the single largest political demonstration in human history.   Though his face is everywhere, with the exception of a recently televised interview, Sisi has been very quiet.  

• The other (main) candidate is the charismatic Nasserist Hamdeen Sabahi who surprised everyone in the last Presidential Election with a sudden surge at the poll that left him just outside of the runoff in third place.  Sabahi has been campaigning as you would expect a Presidential hopeful to campaign.  Though many feel that he is only running to stay in the public's eye with his own eye on the future, there are enough people who are critical of Sisi, the military's leadership, the crackdown on the Brotherhood, and "revolution purists"--coupled with the anticipation of a boycott by many--that Sabahi closing the gap in what was once expected to be a landslide would really not be that surprising.

• The comedic twist is the spoof campaign of "House of Cards" actor Kevin Spacey (who plays a devious politician in the hit internet series) -- the campaign pictured here has been a popular post in social networking.  Hmmm, El Spacey would definitely spice up an already hot political situation in Egypt.

While we wonder what the next week will bring, we have a busy weekend of ministry lined up.  The CCF Kids program is in its last 2 weeks before the summer break.  And while Keli and the kids take care of that, I will be heading south into Upper Egypt for a much overdue trip to visit the churches there--though many are concerned that this could be the worst time for such a trip, it's been two years of delays for a "good time"!  We really want to have the opportunity to better contextualize the ministry needs and situations for these pastors and congregations in some of the most difficult areas of this country.  So, national leaders are joining me in a courageous 60-hour expedition--you can join us in prayer for that excursion that we all end up home safely before any election events take off.

#PrayForEgypt
Thank you for your continuing thoughts, prayers, concern, and support of the work here and throughout the region.

T - 1 Month

(Time minus 1 month)
In less than 1 month, I will leave for the USA and begin our family's first*, brief home visit.  (The * is because I myself went back to the USA for a two week period at the end of February and beginning of March 2013 for some meetings, but this upcoming summer is our first family's "home assignment"--Keli and the kids have not been back to the USA since we left for Cairo in January 2012.)

And, notice above that I wrote, "I will leave" -- I get a little head start on the rest of the family to get in one extra weekend of visits.  While the family will leave shortly after me for Alabama (back home), I will fly directly to Sacramento, California.  I'll talk more about that itinerary in just a minute, but first, the update on all things here from our perspective and activity in the Middle East...

• Things remain relatively calm; occasional attacks of checkpoints or police stations continue throughout the country, whether by drive-by shooting or homemade bombs--as a result, there have been deaths and the saddest thing is that people hardly flinch at such events any more.

• In Egypt, the Presidential elections are coming up at the end of the month; in Lebanon, Presidential elections will take place a little sooner.  Each carry the potential for protests, and so we will watch how things unfold carefully.  Both countries are hopeful and in need of good leadership at critical times for different reasons.  We pray that good, wise, and bridge-building leadership will be elected and help move each country in the right direction.  Among each country's challenges are education improvement, infrastructure, and -- as this video highlights -- job creation.

(regionally, Middle East and North Africa has highest unemployment rate in the world)

• Our ministries remain busy with the Cairo Christian Fellowship meeting weekly for worship,

  

  CCF Kids continues to attract new families
  and teach more children Scripture in a fun program.

  and the Kids Program meeting weekly, too.  The CCF Worship has seen a steady worship attendance since Easter, whereas the Kids Program has been up and down because it has been the time of retreats and weddings, and all the young families have been busy.  We have a few more weeks that look to be full in attendance and we're even expecting to see some new families who have been invited--very exciting.

• The national Church in Egypt is doing well; plans are in place for me to make our first Upper Egypt visit of churches along with national leadership.  This trip has been continually delayed for numbers of reasons, but we're looking forward to greeting the different pastors in the communities that they serve and seeing them among their people.  We will also be sharing with the Upper Egypt congregations about the lessons learned from the congregations on the north coast about the Children of Promise program; we hope to see these congregations make suitable preparations for creating similar chapters of this ministry to serve their communities.  Exciting!

• The national Church in Lebanon is also doing well, and just completed their annual unity

  

  An estimated 270 attended the annual Church of God
  unity event at Theopolis Camp outside of Beirut,
  and the Ana Terzo young adults served them all.

  meeting on the 1st of May (a holiday that is used by many churches in Lebanon for similar purposes).  Usually, one of the local congregations plans the service and meal for all the churches, but this year, Ana Terzo (the dynamic young adult ministry) was asked to take on the responsibility.  By all report and pictures of the event, they did an outstanding job with a theme of "Church of God: Past, Present and Future."  Our "boss", Regional Coordinator Patrick Nachtigall, was asked to speak and gave glowing reports of how hard the young adults worked and served before and after the event.  So proud.  Now they will begin to prepare for the summer teen camp and their own camp in mid-August.

• Work, work, and more work -- we are overseeing a lot of villa renovation and improvement projects in this month.  We hope to see Villa 18's 1st and 2nd floors completed for living arrangements for groups and/or short-term rentals.  We also will begin working toward making the ground level a larger multipurpose space where the CCF Kids can meet.  There are so many good things in store through these projects.

if you've never had Milo's,
don't worry, it will be in heaven :)

So, all of this is going on while the kids are finishing the school year, and while we're beginning to finalize details in what will be a very busy summer--and it all begins in less than a month.   Built within this schedule below are some important meetings, as well as some important family time.  Our kids are actually most excited to see their family members, including Alexis and a few that we haven't even met yet due to recent births and an engagement.  Of course, the kids are also looking forward to Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell, Krispy Kreme, and Big Bob Gibson's BBQ.  And me?  I'm looking forward to Milo's Sweet Tea, the "crack of southern sweet tea"--I've been sober for more than a year from that stuff, but I will be falling off the wagon as soon as I cross back into Alabama.

So here's our upcoming itinerary--at least, what we know now because we're still scheduling!  If we're going to be near you, come by and see us; or let us know to come spend some time with you...

Su, June 8, AM - Ken shares at North Modesto ChoG, CA

Su, June 8, PM - Ken shares at 1st ChoG, Fresno, CA

??W, June 11 - Los Angeles, CA??

June 12-14 - Ken at Heart for Lebanon meetings, Phoenix, AZ

Su, June 15, AM - Ken shares at MMCC, Scottsdale, AZ

W, June 18 - Ken shares at Antelope Road, Citrus Heights, CA

- Keli & kids share at 12th Ave ChoG, Arab, AL

Su, June 22, AM - Ken shares at Sunset Park ChoG, St. Helens, OR

- Keli & kids share at Rainbow City, Gadsden, AL

Su, June 22, PM - Ken shares at Rainier Community, OR

          

           June 23-26 - Ken & Keli at North American Convention, OKC, OK

Su, June 29, AM - 6th Avenue ChoG, Decatur, AL

???W, July 2 - attend worship at Clanton Campmeeting, AL???

Su, July 6, AM - Riverchase Community, Hoover, AL

Su, July 13, AM - Olympia-Lacey ChoG, WA

            July 13-17 - family participates in PNA Family Camp

Su, July 20, AM - Fairview ChoG, Seattle, WA

           July 20-23 - family shares at Oregon Summer Celebration, at Warner Pacific College

Su, July 27, AM - Oak Park ChoG, Salem, OR

??Su, July 27, PM - ??? Portland, OR

??W, July 30 - ??? Portland, OR

Su, August 3, AM - Hoodview ChoG, Woodburn, OR

Su, August 3, PM - River City ChoG, Newberg, OR

??W, August 6

Su, August 10, AM - Mt. Scott ChoG, Portland, OR

Su, August 10, PM - Rockwood ChoG, Portland, OR


Thank you for your continuing interest, thoughts, support, and prayers for us - we look forward to sharing personally with several of you very soon!