Truth Still Matters in Egypt, Middle East Three Years After Media Trip
Author's Notes: Three years ago, I went on a one-week media trip to Cairo, Egypt. The hotel we stayed at during our time there was only a few blocks away from Tahrir Square. I could hear gun shot volleys coming from the square every night around the same time. Halfway between our hotel and the site that can be described as Occupy Wall Street Middle East style, was an evangelical church with its courtyard set up with 12 hospital beds and serving as an emergency room triage. The church-hosted triage had both Christian and Muslim doctors and nurses working together, taking in patients every night we were there. I wrote a 3-part series about my experience in Cairo for The Christian Post (Feb. 12, 2012) upon returning back to the U.S. Below is an edited version of the series put together in its entirety. In light of recent events in that part of the world, I thought it was worth re-posting.
Reporter's View From Cairo: Maybe Our Prayers Were Not Enough
You know things are about to get interesting when during the last leg of your flight, while watching a breaking news summary on the cabin screen, you see images of your destination city in what appears to be full, violent anarchy.
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I asked my media trip comrades if they happen to notice that the news report on Cairo makes it look like a city engulfed in fire, but they didn't seem to share my concern. Journalists' bravado was beginning to wear thin.
I wonder if maybe our prayers were not enough.
Egypt had planned three days of national mourning shortly after the 74 deaths at the conclusion of a football (soccer) match in Port Said last Wednesday. We were arriving on Feb. 4 and it appears the grieving process for some included clashing with military police.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said Egypt was passing through "the most dangerous and most important phase in Egypt's history."
Later, I look out the window as the plane continues to descend and see Cairo draped in a glorious sunset. Against the backdrop of the Nile River, the desert and the city I see three pyramids together amid the orange haze.
All of a sudden, I am struck by a sense of calm. I believe God just let me know that I am supposed to be here for such a time as this.
Inside the Cairo airport terminal, some of the limo and travel company drivers give long villainous stares as we walk by. I connect with the driver that's about to take us to our hotel. I know he's our driver because as he shakes my hand, he smiles warmly. Next to him, another driver, or at least I think he is a driver, looks at me as if he is ready to pounce on me for landing on his turf.
After picking up our luggage, our media group of three journalists from different news companies, our team leader from the sponsoring international Christian persecution ministry, and his wife, meet with the ministry's man-on-the-ground for Egypt.
He welcomes us to Cairo with a big heartfelt smile, but he says there is sad news to tells us. Because of Egypt's volatile situation with a new, Islamic-majority government and a youth revolution movement that continues to fan the flames of the revolt a year after the uprising, many Christians are leaving Egypt, scared and disillusioned about their country's future.
Our host tells us that he has just heard from his longtime neighborhood friend that he is taking his family to the United States.
"This is not good," he says. "This is not a good sign and this is what we must face now."
Safely in our van, I see the desert sand and the many palm trees as the sun fades away and for a brief moment think of spring break vacations in Palm Springs from my past. The city seems harmless enough, but I quickly sober to the fact that our trip has little to do with carefree fun. Yet, as I look out – first, on the surrounding patches of sand, and then, the bustling metropolis mixed with old and new – I notice that people are still going about their lives on an early Saturday night in Cairo.
We hit the outbound airport traffic as darkness settles in. It feels like rush hour in any downtown city in the USA, only the honking from the slow-moving cars is incessant.
The more we drive, the more mosques we see – and churches. Within close proximity to seemingly each mosque is a Coptic Orthodox church – many of both religions' structures are magnificently beautiful.
In this country, it seems like every experience is new for me, including checking into our hotel by first walking through a metal detector. There are more long stares – this time from a man inside the lobby. I look back and he is telling the doorman by the detector something. I try and banish all thoughts of conspiracy theories as quickly as possible, but I'm not doing a good job of it.
At 10:30 p.m. local Cairo time, we meet with a Coptic Orthodox priest (name cannot be disclosed for security reasons) who is on fire for Jesus. He talks about Egypt's revolution, hope, and revival.
Egypt is in for even harder times, he says. However, hope is not found in the political leaders, but in the movement of God he explains.
Our meeting ends and we arrive back at the hotel past midnight. Tahrir Square is just a few blocks away.
From my room, I see the bright city lights and reflections off the Nile. The traffic on the busy street below continues… car horns blare into the early Sunday morning hours.
During my first night in Cairo, I hear a crowd roar from the distance… and what sounds like several volleys of gun shots.
Christian Revival in Egypt Includes Revolution Story
I can't give the name of the ministry organization that provides support for persecuted Christians and believers put under pressure in Egypt in the text of this story – I'm not used to that.
Naming your sources is what you learn in Journalism 101. It's ingrained in me.
However, on a media trip to Cairo, in the middle of an Egyptian revolution set against the backdrop of a newly elected Muslim Brotherhood majority government without a president, I begin to get accustomed to this "new normal" protocol… But it takes me a couple of days to adjust.
On the first night of our trip, a few hours after checking into the hotel, we hop into a van and head to a Christian broadcast station that is about a 15-minute drive away. We arrive and enter a fenced-in structure that has no outside signage that I can see. After checking in with a security guard we are let in through the doors.
Inside a basement staff lounge area we meet with a prominent Coptic Orthodox priest. He had just finished a TV show for broadcast and now has time to talk to us.
Our host and translator explains that we cannot use his name.
We begin the interview with a prayer led by the priest.
It is quite obvious from the start of the conversation that this man has given his life to Jesus – he is not about to lift up his own name or particular style of worship above God.
The Coptic Orthodox Church is the largest Christian denomination in Egypt, estimated to make up about 10 percent of the nation's population of 81 million people.
Copts have endured sporadic persecution during the decades' long reign of former President Hosni Mubarak. In some cases, since his overthrow, persecution of Christians has intensified as a Muslim Brotherhood and fundamentalist Muslim majority in government appears to be flexing its muscles.
While many have seen the success of Islamist parties in the Parliamentary elections as a sign of hard times ahead, others feel that it is still possible for a constitution to be crafted by the Egyptian government that would guarantee religious minority rights for the Copts and other groups.
"What is in your heart that you would like everyone to know about the Christians in Egypt?" I ask the priest first.
"I would like to say that there is a big revival happening in the Orthodox Church, not only in the Orthodox Church, but the Egyptian Church as well," the priest says through the translator. "The Lord is using the people, the congregation more than the leaders of the Church in this revival."
Dressed in traditional Coptic Orthodox priest attire, he is talking from his heart and his eyes are glowing with compassion.
Sporadic prayer marked the beginning of the revival five years ago. Those prayer sessions turned into regularly scheduled meetings by the end of 2010, he explains. "People from different churches gathered together to pray together."
During the interview, we discover that the priest believes that the revival is tied in with the country's revolution.
