Hi Supporters
This just gives you a little bit more information about my next Micah68 trip, this time to Egypt. I will be travelling with Laura Smyth, who will be the first of the Micah Supporters to have travelled with me on a trip – she has been on mission with me before in Highway Projects days, and so will be visiting some old friends when we go up to Alexandria.
Travelling from Birmingham late afternoon next Tuesday (4th), we arrive at some ridiculous time in the dead of night in Cairo. But no problems, as we will be greeted by friends from my agency over there – and anyway, Cairo never sleeps. I hope to for at least a few hours once arriving at the Cathedral Guesthouse in Zamalek, Cairo.
Later that day (ugh!) we are heading by train to Alexandria – to spend a few days visiting the Micah68 Fairhaven project (see project details under Egypt tab), and staying in the school with the residents. Laura will be handing over a significant gift to the Alexandria Fairhaven gym project, which was gathered as part of her wedding celebrations with Alastair this, and Micah68 is topping up the amount. More of this later! We also hope to spend time with Sherin Boulos and her family. I personally support Sherin in her jewellry business.
We return to Cairo to spend time with friends at the Cathedral, and visit the 2nd Micah68 project – Kanater Prison. I am sure this will be a challenging day for us both. I also hope to visit friends in Rubbish City, Cairo during my time – a hugely sobering place to go, which puts most of our daily life in context. I also do some personal support of the Sudanese Refugee project that the Anglican Cathedral host on their site, and I guess I will be coming back with more goods to support their work.
In between these appointments is free time. Who knows what will happen, and who we will meet? I just pray that I will be open to God’s Spirit as he guides me. Also that we will be protected at a volatile time in the country.
As always donations for any of the Micah Projects in Israel/Palestine, Jordan or Egypt are very welcome. Maybe you would want to make a special one-off Christmas gift? I am really grateful to those of you who have taken out standing orders to support me personally in this work. Currently this is raising £1,500 per year, which is brilliant. In 2013 I am targetting doubling that SO income, which would really help in covering the costs of 3 trips a year, publicity & promotion, general admin, UK travel etc. Would you consider taking out a monthly standing order? I know things are tight generally, but consistent money would really help us to plan ahead with the organisation.
If you want to drop in on the Egypt journey, I will be blogging the trip every 2-3 days whilst over there (www.micah6-8.org.uk/blog), and updating the FB page Micah68. Please ‘like’, respond, support, etc. as you want and are able.
Could I ask you especially to think of us, and pray for this mission trip? 24 hours after booking the flights and accommodation things over there got rather volatile, with clashes in the streets of both Cairo and Alexandria following some unhelpful pronouncements by President Morsi in relation to his role and authority. The situation is getting rather worse, with huge crowds in Tahrir Square, and rioting in Alexandria. Yesterday Laura and I heard the news that the Fairhaven school was going to stay closed today (Saturday). Let’s hope it can re-open later this week. We are really praying that we can get to Alexandria midweek, and spend time in the school with friends there – especially as this is the focus of Laura’s trip.
So, an interesting time to be going to both cities….but even more necessary I believe to show support at these times. Many thanks for your thoughts and prayers. God Bless, Ian
