10 January – A matter of Faith

Asyut is a small town where Jesus apparently spent some time as a child. As a result, there is a strong Christian base in the town and it has made headlines for being a hotspot for religious fighting. There was some story involving a tourist being killed in Asyut a while back, and I had heard reports that this was a place that one was considered wise to avoid, particularly if one was female. It was, therefore, with a fair level of apprehension that I approached the small Egyptian town.
However, it goes without saying that my concerns were miniscule in comparison to that of the tourism police. Since we started this trip, the Egyptian police have been a constant presence. We would cycle for an hour or two with one set of policemen, cross a jurisdiction border, spend a couple of minutes trying to communicate in seriously limited Arabic, and then cycle on with the next set of policemen in convoy. They dictate where we sleep and what level of interaction we have with the locals. In fact, it is not unusual for a herd of children to be scared off by an intimidating movement from one of the heavily armed policemen.

But Asyut has pleasantly surprised me. We are staying in a simple, but clean, very budget hotel. We are eating well on dinners of sheesh kebabs and boiled eggs for breakfast. In fact, we decided to spend a rest day here today to let our legs and backsides recover and to catch up on some communications time. Asyut is a town of no tourists and friendly individuals whose first question is “Are you Christian?” Religion is an essential part of life for the Egyptians we have encountered. And the more I meet and the more we talk openly, the more I realise that the fundamentals of the faiths are so similar and the hearts of all are essentially in the same place. I continue to learn from these people.