Life in Cairo, Refugee Empowerment

Hello friends,

It has been some time since I wrote last, and as always I would have liked to have kept in touch better. Since arriving in the Middle East, it has been a balancing act of trying to learn about the history, learn Arabic, open myself to personal experiences, and serve the society. Somewhere through all this documenting the process has been left behind. Despite this, my gratefulness for the roles you have all played in my life is undiminished, and I wish I could maintain better the relationships with all the compassionate and supportive people I have been surrounded with. So, here it goes…

I have found myself settled in Cairo, a place which I had no plans for visiting and have not really gained any real affinity for. Yet somehow, it seems like where I should be.
It has become a habit of mine to seek out the things most difficult for me. For as long as I can remember I felt that it was only a matter of time before my weaknesses would be exposed and I would suffer for them. In some ways, this is the latest incarnation of challenging myself with the intent to grow as a person, a leader, and a human being.

As of a bit over a month ago, I committed to trying to perpetuate a project giving Iraqi refugees legal aid in the resettlement process. It is a project whose demand is manifest and whose purpose I would like to lay in the hands of one with far more experience, but which has been left to us because, as one of my partners put it, "we were the last ones left in the room." A side note is that I had originally planned to go to law school this fall, but at the time I was only on waiting lists. The opportunity before me seemed one that I couldn't let go by. So, it will be at least another year, possibly two until I begin law school. While I'm still really excited about the prospect and even a little jealous of some of our interns that are going to law school, what we are beginning is so exciting that i don't think about it much.

It is a role currently fulfilled by a woman long ago consumed by her compassion for humanity and passion for justice. Hers is a decisiveness that commands both attention and obedience, and because she so facilely wields it over such a broad network, it overshadows the lack of nuanced legal expertise expected by all those who come to her. They are qualities which also come at the expense of the stability of organization and the patience for empowerment, but her accomplishments in an hour easily outweigh the accomplishments of most people in a week. So, criticism comes with all the same contradictions as the humanity she represents. While I could talk about my boss for quite some time, this is all only to say that she is an entirely different leader than I am and have needed to reconceive what the organization will look like without her clout and dominance.

Since then, I have gained a set of invaluable partners in developing this project and we have begun imagining how to fill in the considerable shoes that left for us to fill as of September 1st. But to describe this vision it is relevant to first describe how I got here and the population we are trying to serve.

Where I Am, How I Got Here

I had originally approached the Middle East as a learning experience, more focused on basic information that in putting myself in challenging situations. In March I briefly flew home after having been in Jordan and Syrian for about 2 ½ months because it was looking like my mother would need a thyroid operation on a tumor that might have been cancerous. By the time I arrived however, upon further advice, she decided to wait on the operation, and the problem has since diminished to the point that it is not necessary.

All this happened soon after I was rejected from going to Israel. I didn't expect to be rejected, but upon reflection, I don't think they really appreciate tourists that are planning to spend unstructured time in the West Bank. Also, I happened to be going to Ramallah on the same day as Dick Cheney. Also, I had two passports because the Syrian Embassy lost and then found my first one. I don't think that helped. Even more bothersome is that the reality that having an Israel stamp on your passport basically prohibits you from any Islamic country except for Jordan and Egypt. While I really liked the people that I had met in Jordan, I chose Egypt because I wanted to expose myself to various points of view in the Middle East.

While it's impossible to wrap a culture in a bottle, there are a few characteristics that are important to highlight about Egypt and Cairo in particular. My roommate, who is from a rural town North of Cairo, once told me that there was no comparison between Cairo people and the people from his town. It was in the context of a description of the people from his town as generous, peaceful, compassionate, and honest. That's kind of what Cairo is like.

I always hesitate to describe anything as the inevitable conclusion of a set of circumstances, but I can't help but believe that the unyielding stream of scams that characterize Cairo has been molded by the centuries of tourists not interested in the Islamic customs or history which are held far more dearly than Pharonic ruins. The economic incentives created by a steady stream of wealthy vacationers have definitely played a part in Egyptians' preying upon the sensibilities, courtesies, and vulnerabilities of those passing through. The specialization has not stayed limited to Westerners. The majority of Iraqis, whom are perceived as rich, have been victims a similar array of skills. Away from the touristy areas, it decreases, but the Middle East has a way of wearing you down. In many ways the family is what the society is built on, and the commitment to the benefit of the entire society is negligible in comparison. Approaching it without a strong social network is damn hard, no matter who you are. Extra barriers, language, cultural, discriminatory, or otherwise, just add to the hurdles to surviving.

Aside from those more uncomfortable aspects, Egypt has a small intellectual and political culture. By western standards it is miniscule, but compared to the rest of the Middle East it is downright vibrant. Partially it comes from a relative amount of freedom of speech—as of about 5 years ago independent media and NGO's were permitted. Partially it comes from a much more lengthy history of education than other countries in the Middle East, and finally it comes from the formal ban on religious fundamentalism in political participation, the simple lack of external threats, and the failure of the government to perform basic functions, which all mobilize people to various forms of political thought. Although in a free election, religious fundamentalism would easily dominate, the repression of such parties opens a small window for the liberals of the country to squeeze through and begin articulating themselves.

It was in this context that I was dropped with my goals of learning Arabic, understanding their frame of reference, and if possible contribute however appropriate. I began a six week Arabic class, and soon met some activists who acquainted me with their world.

While the democracy activists are not representative of the country in general, it has become the culture with whom I've surrounded myself socially. I had a long discussion with a passionate, insightful, and very well-connected Egyptian friend of mine who manages an independent media non-profit and we discussed the various democratic and liberal movements in Egypt. At the end of describing my belief that a readiness to accept criticism and reanalyze one's point of view as a necessary characteristic for any truly selfless, sustainable, or effective movement, I asked him if he knew any activists with such characteristics and a vision of long term change. "No."

So, I began my direct service. I sent out a message on a Cairo listserv asking if there were any opportunities to serve refugees. Two days later I was taking the testimony of Iraqi refugees applying for resettlement.

The Vision

Resettlement is not the solution for most Iraqi refugees. Even though the US has made explicit their desire to admit thousands more refugees, it is still a drop in the bucket of the approximately 2.5 million refugees in Jordan, Syria, and Egypt not to mention the millions displaced internally in Iraq. The program is more of a condolence program for the Iraqis who have suffered for their cooperation with the US. Despite this, the dream was sold long before it even existed. For every Iraqi resettled, twenty design their life around the possibility. Our job is not only helping in getting resettled, but helping redesign the dream for those who won't be.

Iraqis in Egypt are a group far more educated than the norm, self-reported estimates range between 2/3 and ¾ of Iraqis in Egypt as having college degrees. My guess is that that is an overestimation, but regardless it is a very select subset of people who have the education and capabilities to integrate into Egyptian society. Unfortunately, Egypt is not amenable. In practice, refugees don't have the right to work, the right to attend public schools, or the right to form organizations among themselves. They can start a business, but they require an Egyptian partner, which has unfortunately often ended in being cheated out of money. The sum of these has bred frustration and helplessness in a population that often already struggles with the trauma they left behind.

The primary services that we have the capability and potential to offer is resettlement legal aid. In early 2008, the US expanded a program to allow Iraqis associated with the US forces to go through an expedited process for resettlement. Urgent cases such as severe medical issues, torture victims, or refugees in danger in Egypt, also have a chance through the painfully lengthy UN process.

We receive people with all their problems, expectations, and hopes. The challenge is trying to engage all of these in a productive way. A friend who works with refugees in the non-profit community mentioned that she tried to not let someone go without helping to solve one of their problems. It is not something that will always be possible, but that will be the aim.

Soon after I agreed to take on the project, my boss sent out an e-mail asking for help. The only respondee was probably the most valuable person I could imagine in the process. Passionate, sensible, solely interested in the benefit of Iraqis and with experience fundraising and initiating non-profits, Susannah has been my other half in the planning process. Though for her it is a side project, she has offered her ability to see systems with clarity and the ability to communicate this effectively. She is the reason why we are now a collaboration with the American University at Cairo with an indispensable research director and a fantastic legal director.

She also brought with her the desire to see the community for what they possess and the potential it represents. It is a constant challenge in a situation where what the community lacks is so apparent and urgent, and in a populous which so thoroughly oppressed in every form of community building in the previous Iraqi regime.

But it is exactly this process that we hope to initiate—to help people see themselves in the lens of their own potential and the potential of their community they live within more than their needs and their persecution. It's not a process for which everyone is ready. For many the direness of their current situation does not allow for external concerns. But many are, and fighting the misery of being a refugee while trying to develop usable skills needs only the few to initiate the process.

An unintuitive side effect among the entire effort and one that I hope to break down, is that I have felt culturally a bit farther away from the people that I'm serving. When in Jordan and Syria, I was teaching conversation classes with college students. That my students did not need my approval allowed more authentic relationship than that of a service provider. When people come with hopes of resettlement, the discussion naturally becomes one of a description of victimization. Even with the most honest of people, the discussion is framed in a way which surrounds their dire situation in Cairo. Discussions on religion are necessarily around their political context, and there aren't many natural opportunities to pierce that discussion. Those whom I have become close to are the refugees that contribute to the organization, a group of exceptionally selfless individuals whom I've been looking for since I got to the Middle East.

In some ways, though, I'm okay with not being exposed to the intolerant aspects people don't tell us about themselves or the more ugly parts of their history. Often conceptions are limiting in what you believe you are capable. What is expected of you becomes who you are. We would like to expect the best of people, to set up who they would like to be and design the system around it.

None of this is to say however that we don't recognize our limitations, and the care with which we must approach confidentiality issues and suspicion within the community that often characterizes the perspectives of the refugees we serve. It is more to express that we operate in a conflicted world, that in the Middle East nothing is beyond the conflicts of the past, and that in most cases it is impossible to extricate those conflicts that came as a result of what was forced upon the whole society and the ones in the individual.

For the vast majority, they are simply subjects of the tremendous violence that has descended around them. Their family has been killed, or their children kidnapped, and virtually always their lives have been threatened. For many who prefer not to admit it, they suffer from post-traumatic stress issues. None of it their fault, many are still children. As anyone who has spent much time in the Middle East can verify, it can break you down if you don't have a social network to support you. We work with people who often have not only been left alone, but are too scared of their neighbors to rebuild them. If we can build up something where they can feel again, whether abroad or in Egypt, it will easily have been worth all the effort.

The Ulterior Motive

On the practical level, our project has been generously taken on by another non-profit in Cairo, a religiously affiliated but non-evangelical non-profit called Saint Andrew's Refugee Services. So, it relieves the need for formal recognition. Though office space is closer to a nook than an office, it offers a place to start. The precarious first stage of starting a project like this requires that money, quality service, team of committed individuals, and office space all need to materialize simultaneously.

We've got the team of committed individuals. About 4 staff including myself and what looks like will be about 4 interns.

But the appeal made here is a material one. Operating out of Egypt allows for a relatively low start up cost. The most urgent need is basic costs covering. We have received a start up grant of $9000 from the Saint Andrew's funders, and hope to receive further funds from the American University of Cairo. But the short fall is still well short of our needs for salaries, office space, and translators.

This project is something that currently has operated, astoundingly generously, out of the pocket of my boss, but she is leaving on August 31st, and all the costs will be now borne by us.
I know that many of you are leftists being similarly underpaid, but for those of you that believe in what I'm doing and can make a contribution, no matter how small, we would all greatly appreciate it. If you happen to know anyone who might be interested in such issues, or ideas for further sources of funding they would also be more than welcomed.

The hope is that this will be enough to buy us some time to develop our services to a sufficient extent that we will be able to pursue more formal sources of funding during this year.

As usual, I'm going to throw in a Buddhist perspective here. In Buddhism, the idea of karma exists. It is an idea that was not introduced to be a theology for the sake of theology. Everything the Buddha taught was designed to help people come out of suffering. Karma was intended to explain to people that they had to bear the fruits of their past karmas. You don't have a choice about the things you are currently experiencing or the fruits of past karmas which you haven't yet lived through. But what you do have control over is the type of karma you are creating in the present moment, and if you strive to perfect that intention and that action in the present moment, you will be planting seeds of happiness in the future.

This works out in my favor for the current situation, but far more important than any contribution is the intention and desire to do good in the world and the will to actually do it.
with peace,

Jeff

P.s. let me know if you have any questions about anything I'm doing. if interested in giving (it is a 501(c)(3) organization and tax deductible), please make it out to:

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Global Mission
8765 W. Higgins Road
Chicago, IL 60631

and then specify Iraqi Information Office on the subject line.

Also, please let me know if you are planning to give a contribution so we can track it and plan around it.