A new Egypt? Time will tell!

It has been one week today (Friday) since President Mubarak stepped down. Naturally there was euphoric celebration and a new positive mood. Protesters began cleaning up Tahrir Square the next day--picking up trash, repairing pavement and painting curbs. You have to understand this is NOT normal Egyptian behavior. One thing most tourists notice is the trash all over the streets. There is not a green conscience here ... yet. But maybe it's now beginning! Egyptians are being told to hold their heads high because they are Egyptian. This has also not been the case in recent decades and even centuries. Remember this is the people who built the pyramids and sphinx and amazing temples (unless you subscribe to the alien theory) with the world's greatest technology at the time. So change is in the air.

It has been interesting and little disconcerting to see different people groups immediately go on strike and protest for high wages and more rights. These are of course hugely needed changes, but everyone can't suddenly get a piece of the pie all at once--unless the Mubaraks give back their several billions, like that will really happen. Meanwhile, the army is in control and seem to really be trying to do the right thing in opening up discussions. The Copts (10% Christians in name) are concerned because they don't seem to have a place at the table yet, in spite of the secular nature of the revolution. It's one thing to peacefully overthrow a dictator of 30 years; it's entirely different to think the influence of Islam will be reduced that has been a part of the country for over 1300 years. But like everything else here, we will just have to wait and see. No one knows how all this will turn out or when it will be defined. Even after an election (in 6-12 months) things will still unfold slowly (most likely).

We also feel the tremendous uncertain future at church and school. With the US Embassy and large corporations evacuating their people, there is a gaping hole of expats in Egypt. Cairo American College (CAC) currently have 46% of their students, and is hoping to reach 60% within the next few weeks. The guess is that the embassy and many big companies will only begin sending back the employees and not the dependents. I am thinking that most will enroll their kids in school back home and not want to uproot them the rest of this school year. CAC is also projecting to have a 35% reduction in students in the Fall. That means teacher layoffs are coming, so Karan's job is up in the air. The church is in the same boat. We had around 180 last weekend which is maybe 20% of our average Fall attendance. We too will have to wait and see who comes back when and how much money we will have. Barring a dramatic intervention by God, layoffs and salary reductions seem likely. So now that the anxiety of the revolution has lessened, we deal with the anxiety of an uncertain future on the national and personal level. Yet the crisis of revolution has drawn the church together in an amazing way. We have prayed everyday since this all began. The worship services have been energetic and passionate (excerpts are available online). There is a close-knit sense of community. Some have moved into houses of those who have been evacuated to protect them. We have spontaneously collected food bags with flour, oil, sugar, and rice to give away over 400 to refugees. We have made lunches and handed them out to struggling Egyptians on the streets.

Alex is remaining here, but all of his expat friends are gone and likely not coming back until Fall (and some he will probably never see again). He has a tight group of Egyptian guys he hangs out with, so he has had plenty of social interaction. School classes have been small. Until a few days ago, he was the ONLY kid in his AP English class, so he was getting intense one-on-one instruction. Maybe this will make him a world-class writer! More important to him is the future of his basketball and baseball teams. There MAY be enough returning expats (non-embassy and big oil company families) to field a basketball team to go to the tournament in London in later March. Baseball may be a different story. So we pray for God to work His plan even if that means no sports this year. Certainly this is and has been an unparalleled cultural experience for him. We just hate to see his first love fall by the wayside. So its a faith-stretching experience for all of us.

We have posted a few videos and blogs also at our church website www.maadichurch.com if you want additional updates on the church side of things. We have so appreciated the overwhelming responses by email and Facebook saying people are praying for us! Please keep it up!

In His Grip,

Steve and Karan