Reflection on Reflections

This weeks’ reflection dinner marked our first month in Cairo. As we shared our stories of our most recent experience with our St. Andrew students- taking our students on an outing- I realized just how much exposure we had had to Egyptian society in the past month. We discussed the problems that some of us encountered when we took our refugee students to the Egyptian museum or cinema, and our conversation, which touched on issues of race and poverty, forced me to think about how the service-learning purpose of our trip influences the way in which we interact with society around us. When I think back to the past four weeks, I realize how Cairo had started to grow on me. I was surprised by how quickly we had adjusted to the way of living here, the work ethic, the culture- all just in under a month. Our work at the two community project sites has enabled me to come into contact with Egyptians from all walks of life in a way and become both a part of as well as an outside observer of Egyptian society- where I can both appreciate and critique my experience and purpose here. When we shared our observations of attitudes towards our refugee students, I noticed how we appeared to have taken their treatment personally, feeling frustrated and upset over the treatment of our students in a way that even the students themselves did not seem to feel. This, to me, was one of the greatest indications of how closely we had started to build connections with the population we were serving, making their pain our own, and to me, this has been the most rewarding aspect of the time we have spent here so far. I can already tell that returning home after 3 weeks, is going to take longer than an 11 hour plane ride.