This is the big day—the meeting with Together for Family Development, and my last day in Cairo.

Nabil drove Carrie and me to the Upper Egypt Association center where TFD usually meets.He relayed some RSVPs from network members who would not be able to attend. It was disappointing that I would not have an opportunity to see Dr. Nashat or Samira, and others who are not only partners but friends. When we were all gathered five organizations were represented: A.P.E. (Cairo), Gaafar, New Vision (Minia), CEOSS (Cairo) and Village of Hope (Alexandria). We began with an overview of the network’s advocacy campaign and discussion of their 2009 plans for inclusion projects. I read a letter that Nancy Collins had asked me to share with the group, and then Carrie gave her presentation on fair trade. She focused on the principles of fair trade, and explained each not only in terms of commerce, but in terms of development as well. I was pleased at the interest level exhibited by those present, and there were good questions from them. If we had known there would be less than half the groups represented we might have recorded the session—Carrie did an excellent job of explaining the complete fair trade picture. A few had brought craft products to show and all of us who had been practicing our product critiques over the past couple of weeks offered comments and suggestions. Then we enjoyed a good lunch together before adjourning.

Carrie, Denise and I taxied to Zamalek where Carrie went to the Egyptian Hands Foundation offices to do a little work before her meeting with the proposed exporter. Denise went with me to tne Fair Trade Egypt shop where I did some last minute gift buying. The two of us returned to Ramses to relax before going to Nabil’s for dinner. We met the whole family at McDonald’s where they had been celebrating a birthday. Simon and Skylan didn’t quite know what to think of the two American ladies, but when we got to the flat they entertained us, showing off their running, balloon-kicking, and button-pushing skills! Safi and Nabil fed us another delicious Egyptian meal and about 11:30 I said my goodbye to Denise and headed for the airport. My extraordinary good luck was still with me when I got bumped up to first class for the nonstop flight to New York!

I’m looking forward to meeting with the Des Moines JH group soon. I’ve got a lot to share from this trip.

Today we met with Anne Marie and Bassem of Egyptian Hands Foundation to go over Carrie’s assessment of the artisan groups we had visited.They were eager to know how she saw the producers’ strengths and challenges in light of fair trade principles.And ultimately, they wanted to know if any of the products could be marketed by Partners for Just Trade.

For the most part, the groups had a ways to go before they could be classified as 100% fair trade producers.A few were close.And the products need some design help before they would be ready for the US market.But in the end, I think there will be some Egyptian crafts included in the PJT catalog on a trial basis later this year.I’m really pleased at that, and hope they sell well!

We enjoyed a wonderful meal with Mounir and Souad and Rev. Emil, ending with an over-the-top ice cream cake.Back at Ramsis it was time to pack.

Dr. Nabil picked us all up at Ramses for a visit to A.P.E.Carrie had been told at Egyptian Craft Center that A.P.E. was their most fair trade producer.We wound our way through the streets of Moqattam and were met at the gate by Raafat who represents A.P.E. at the network, and were joined by one of the volunteers.She usually works with the nursery and school, but agreed to meet with us to tell the story of the Moqattam garbage village.She was a gifted storyteller!She related the history of the Upper Egyptians’ migration to Cairo and their initiative and determination which has culminated in being premier garbage recyclers for the city of Cairo.Other volulnteers showed us the paper making and weaving and sewing centers for the women of Moqattam—their “learn and earn” model of community development.

We went for a quick lunch and planned our agenda for the meeting with TFD network on Thursday.From there Denise and I took a short cab ride to CityStars, the mega-mall in Heliopolis.I really wanted to see how the affluent live, since most of my experience is with marginalized Egyptians.It was dazzling.And it was huge.We strolled through only three of the five or six levels, resting at a coffee shop half way through.

In the evening Dr. Nabil picked us up at Ramsis for the drive clear across Cairo to Giza where Bassem and his family live.They had invited us for dinner at their home—a new flat they finished and moved into only a year ago.He and Siza and their two young children, Jonathan and Joy, made us feel right at home.The meal was delicious and plentiful, and too soon it was late and time to go home.

Dr. Nabil had lined up a meeting at New Horizons for today, but first we dropped in on the Egyptian Craft Center for a short talk with the director, Mona. Carrie wanted to hear from her how she categorized all of the artisan groups we had met as fair trade groups. Egyptian Craft Center (now Fair Trade Egypt) markets all of the products as fair trade, and we had seen a wide variety of size, structure and conditions among the groups we had visited. Mona was very eager to tell us how she sees the role of her organization as prodding producers along the path toward fair trade compliance without demanding profound changes in the way they operate. She believes that with more carrot than stick they will have better success in altering old ways of doing things.

Then we stepped out of the box a bit.At New Horizons we were met by our Mona, who represents New Horizons at TFD. She introduced us to the director, Nadi, and another member of the NGO, Tatiana, in their very comfortable offices. We enjoyed meeting Tatiana, who told us about the current projects of New Horizons which include working with small farmers and training young men in furniture making. She explained that they were looking at the organic and fair trade markets for their products and her perspective on what fair trade should and could be in Egypt was quite different from the model we had seen in our travels. Tatiana does believe that groups can be organized as cooperatives, but conceded that forming new groups would be easier than changing the way existing groups work. When talk turned to how TFD might be engaged in a fair trade campaign we all agreed that the first step was to work on a deeper understanding of the principles.

We were on our own for the rest of the day so Denise and I went downtown with Carrie where we joined her mom at their hotel. We relaxed with a game of hearts, Amr joined us briefly to hear about our day, we enjoyed dinner together and then Denise and I took the metro home to Ramsis. Even though our schedule seems lighter in these last days, we are all struggling with a vision for the future and that is weighty stuff.

This was a day with friends.

First I need to say that Denise has been an extraordinary host since the day I arrived. My little refirgerator has been stocked with breakfast provisions. She had the repair man come to fix the air conditioner in my rooms. Her arabic is good enough to help me order food and pay for taxis. She gave me laundry soap for the washing machine. And she helps me across Cairo streets and warns me of sidewalk obstacles I might not see. I have learned about her work and her friends and daily life here in Egypt. We've had a great time together and I am really thankful to have such a good friend by my side.

This evening we took a taxi to visit our friend Rabab. We first met in 2002 when Rabab was a young career woman working for an NGO (Women and Society of Giza). She came to Iowa and was a delegate to the 2004 Joining Hands consultation in Tacoma, so we spent most of a month togehter that year. The next time I came to Egypt she was married to a fine man, Adel, and we celebrated Eide with her entire family. The next time I came she had a beautiful baby girl, Mariam (who is now a lively 3-year-old). And when we saw Rabab this evening we met her new daughter, just one month old. Rabab and Adel have formed a new NGO, in addition to their "day jobs" and are very active members of the Joining Hands network here. This is one of the friendships I treasure--and I hope I'm still coming to Egypt when Mariam becomes a capable and compassionate woman like her mother.

Friday was a day of rest. And air conditioning..

Denise and I got back to Ramses at about 3 in the morning and it was nearly 4 a.m. before we were in bed. So waking up at 11 isn’t as bad as sit sounds. I puttered around sorting dirty (filthy) clothes and drinking coffee, did the laundry, caught up on emails and then began posting blog entries and photos. I don’t think any internet connection could have been fast enough to make that job go quickly, but I did get pictures posted on Facebook, and several days of blog entries on the Des Moines Presbytery’s Joining Hands web site.

We got phone calls from Dr. Nabil and from Amr and from Carrie—all checking in to see how we were and what we were doing with our free day. Haidy and Mounir came by with ice cream and Haidy’s wedding pictures to share. We talked with Rabab and made plans to meet Saturday afternoon.

I called it quits about midnight and will continue posting blog entries in the morning.Sometimes lazy is good.

I saw the silver embroidery for the first time on my last visit to Egypt, and have been intrigued ever since.

Our second day in Sohag would take us to the Shandawil group who have revived the lost art of tali embroidery. Traditional tali is done on a loosely woven black fabric with flat silver threads. The embroiderer uses a needle to make flat stitches, each one separate so that the finished embroidery looks almost like beading. The designs come from nature—trees, flowers, grasses. In earlier days it was essential for women of society to wear shawls and dresses covered in silver tali.

The group of young women we met were a delight. They showed us how they made the stitches with metallic thread, and how they placed the rows of designs to make a beautiful whole. The pieces they made were displayed for us to see, and they have adapted the art by mixing silver, gold and colored cotton threads and by making blouses, dresses and scarves. They also do chain stitch embroidery on cotton for brightly colored dresses and bed covers. They told us they love the work and are glad they have saved a piece of Egyptian heritage. They also said they enjoyed being members of the group and laughed as they pointed out that there were “no men allowed.” And they explained that if they did not have this work they would all be at home, poorer both in money and in spirit. We were invited to stay for refreshments, but unfortunately we had to rush to the train station so we could get back to Luxor for our flight to Cairo.

At the train station we were told that there were no seats available.And that there would be no seats available on the next train two hours later. Were we daunted? No! Amr told us we would just get on the train and pay the penalty for not having a ticket when the conductor came around. We might have to stand for the three to four hour trip, but we would get to Luxor on time. So we hopped on with all our luggage and stood in the passageway, trying to get out of the path as people moved through from car to car. Suddenly the attendant appeared and one by one found seats for us in the first class car! Back in Luxor we met Carrie’s mom, Beth, who is joining us for the last part of the journey. We enjoyed the Carnack Light and Sound show and visited for a while before Denise, Amr and I left for the airport. We’ll all meet up again in a couple of days and are keeping our fingers crossed that we can get security clearance to visit the producers in north Sinai on Monday.