A Minuscule Taste of the Middle East

Ahlan w sahlan! I never guessed I would spend one of my college semesters in Egypt, but God led me to do exactly that in my junior year. Here is a fraction of the highlights, as well as a few of the lessons I learned on my amazing trip—four of the best and most challenging, inspiring, fulfilling, and life-changing months of my life!

I arrived in Egypt in January 2004, joining twenty-three other students from Christian universities across the U.S. for the Middle East Studies Program. We lived, studied, and traveled together until our program ended in April. We studied Arabic, Islam, people and cultures of the Middle East, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Based in Cairo, our flats were three blocks from the River Nile in a traditional district of Africa’s largest city. We engaged the culture, practiced the language, fell in love with the food, and made many friends with Muslims and “Coptic” Christians.

Egyptians are known for being very friendly and hospitable; late-night folks who usually smile and always have time for tea! Most were kind and cordial to us, whatever their economic class (usually poor) or religion (mostly Muslim).

We explored greater Egypt on weekends—oases, cities, beaches, famous sites, and not-so-famous sites (which were just as memorable). We got to stay with Egyptian families for a week. We toured Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan for three weeks, which ten articles could not adequately describe. Our program closed near Alexandria on the Mediterranean Sea. We enjoyed many late nights together, which frequently included hearing the beautiful pre-dawn call to prayer! We grew very close.

Hundreds of specific stories formed the real, life-changing parts of our semester, far beyond mere sight-seeing. We were blessed not only to see the cultures, but to engage them and invest ourselves in them, not just milk them for ourselves. Dialogue occurred and relationships formed, all of which helped us learn that our culture is not completely or inherently better or worse than others. Rather, we informed and learned, talked and listened—and many Middle Easterners humbly bestowed on us the same respect.

Someday, I hope to write more of the many lessons and blessings God gave me on my journey, and how He has helped me incorporate them into a more holistic lifestyle since then. Until then, I thank Him for letting me visit such a marvelously different culture and meet such marvelously different people.

And yet…the Middle East is not so different. People there are still people, with the same spiritual and physical needs that we all have. God loves them just as much as anyone else. He forgives them just as readily as any other asking soul. And His Great Commandment and Great Commission are just as prevalent there as any other place. I pray that I can follow those two “Greats” everywhere I go. And I hope “everywhere I go” will someday again include the Middle East—“insha’allah”! (if God wills!)

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(Originally published by Cedars.)