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published in December 2012, in “Current World Archaeology”

It is also no surprise that the anniversary has spawned a plethora of articles, each trying for the fresh angle to recreate atmosphere and interest: a different regiment or some soldier whose bravery in battle is the stuff of legends, and probably is.

One article opens: ‘A sullen atmosphere pervades the battlefield of El Alamein, its empty wastes evoking little of the monstrous struggle that took place here 70 years ago,’– Utter nonsense!

Alamein is thriving these days, the North Coast resorts heave with Egyptians escaping the summer heat.  The villas may look like ‘depressing lines of concrete from the road’ – a quote from another article on Alamein – but they translate into villas for all tastes on the shoreline: the fantastical, the glitzy and the unpretentious.

Hotels and eateries are hard to find outside the summer season that ends strictly at end September annually closing all the shops.  The foreign tourists come outside of this time, high season being from September to March, but they consume nothing.  Staying a bare couple of hours from their cruise liners docking at nearby Alexandria.

Other articles assert that the desert there are ‘empty wastes’.  Would that they were! apart from cute Fennec foxes, the troops had to contend with not so cute deadly snakes and scorpions among many other creatures who call this area home.

Couple this with the sand storms, the relentless sun with little shade, the mosquitoes, the flies, the fine sand pulverizing from exploding shells and ordinance, and you begin to understand why such an inhospitable theatre brought out the humanity of the troops, both friend and enemy.  It was one thing to kill the enemy with bullets or shells, quite another to let your foe die of thirst or lie unburied.  It was a courtesy on both sides to bury the enemy dead and remove the dog-tag to pass later to the Red Cross.

The memorials to the unknown soldiers and airmen number greatly more than those named beneath tombstones –11,874 unknown to 7,367 recorded at the Commonwealth war graves cemetery alone.  Axis deaths were higher. The separate memorials to the fallen of German, Italian and Greek are hauntingly restrained and dignified.

Even a cursory walk between the ordered headstones at the Commonwealth grave site demonstrates the breadth of nationalities drawn into this theatre of war.  I saw New Zealanders; Australians; Canadians; Free French, Dutch, Polish; East Africa ,  Indian and Pakistani regiments, Scots and English Regiments; South Africans.  Religion is no separator either:  Christians, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim all served, and their tomb stones symbolize their faith above name, country and regiment along with commemoration by loved ones left behind.

So many nationalities engaged in the crucial series of battles just 170 km from Alexandria.  The stakes for all sides were huge.  Egypt and access to Suez and the oilfields of the middle east for Germany; hegemony of the Mediterranean and an empire reaching down to East Africa for Italy; The Egyptians because the war had come to them and they were bound by treaty to Britain; Britain because of Suez and access to India and the Far East.

Churchill, that great wordsmith, wrote after the war: “Before Alamein there were only defeats, after Alamein there were only victories” has quite a measure of truth to it.  The allies simply could not afford to lose Suez.  Their backs were against the metaphorical wall.

Events were much skewed in favour of the Allies for two major reasons:   their supply lines were short –Axis logistics stretched through Tobruk to Libya and were thus very vulnerable to inevitably harassing by the Long Range Desert force – and more men and firepower. The Axis troops were simply outgunned by 2:1.  The Americans maynot have been physically fighting there, but the open air section of the Military Museum eloquently point to American backing translated into Sherman tanks and transporters.

The war may have finished, but the desert remains dangerous still.  The Lonely Planet Guide laconically dissuades the military buff from touring the Alam al-Halfa or Ruwisit Ridges by mentioning the number of landmines still in the sand and unmarked.

Knowing how much materiél was found by those exploring for oil in Eastern Libya around Tobruk and Sirte basis, and ‘put beyond use’ by the Libyan military, I can well imagine that LP is not exaggerating.

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published in October 2012, in “Yachting Monthly”

To achieve the necessary college education she must get high grades in the final General Secondary School exam next summer – and to do this she must organise and pay for her own (private) education outwith the state schooling.

Supplementing school work with private tutors or a tutor centre after school is a requisite for millions of high achieving students in Korea, Japan and China.

Ragha though lives in a Cairo slum, the youngest of five girls born to illiterate parents.   With both parents in casual work, there is no bank of mum-and-dad to help her much.  To pay her tutors 300 LE per month (US$490 – the monthly wage for some 30% in Egypt) she makes cards and jewellery with a local NGO, El Badaya,  that then sell their work on their behalf..

State schooling in Egypt is free, but no one expects any student to learn anything at school.

The teaching profession does not attract the brightest and best – only those with a low-grade leaving certificates and no better options go into the profession and through the (poor) teacher training colleges.

The low status of teachers is reflected in their low earnings – the basic salary of 300 – 350 LE  (US$ 49 – 57) can be boosted to 600 – 650 LE (US$98 – 106) with evidence of a full attendance time sheet.  Even before the high inflation these past two years, this is barely enough to live on.

So poorly educated, then poorly trained, and without the means to put food on the table, it is small wonder that these teachers are poorly motivated and supplement their income with private tutoring or second jobs in order to survive.

El Badaya director, Sanaa, contends that illiteracy is increasing in Egypt. Publically available statistics may claim that illiteracy is being reduced year on year, but the national survey does not ask the right question, says Sanaa, The surveyors only ask people if they have school certificate – this is taken as proof of literacy.  Only if the rsponder has no certificate is the question asked if the person can read or write.

“The exam is a joke.  The answers are on a blackboard to copy down,” says Sanaa, “since all children must be in school until 9^th grade minimum, no-one is allowed to fail.”

To prove her point, El Badaya surveyed 3000 students in 4^th – 6^th grades in six schools last year. 4^th graders were given end of year 3^rd year exam, 5 th grade 4^th grade test etc.Of the 2,600 that were completed and valid “we found that 64% of the children flunked the basic literary test.  And of these 64% , half were completely illiterate. The maths results were not much better.”  Says Sanaa

The result is that those students who want to get an education, and want to pass the final General Secondary School exam, must privately employ tutors as an alternative school or go to tutoring centres.

Ragha has clubbed together with nine other students to employ eight tutors to teach one hour per week.  Her share is 300 LE (US$49) per month.

The schools though hold one trump card: only they can enter students for the all-important General Secondary School exam.  School attendance required is just once a week.

Until the new Minister of Education ‘brings both teacher and student back to the classroom’ as he promised, all students, rich and poor, depend on this informal education system to get through their final exams.

Had he known this, he might not have publicly torn up a bible during the riots last week outside the US Embassy in Cairo. And he might not be arraigned for blasphemy in an Egyptian Court next Tuesday.

And having done so, it is difficult to know how such an act could be construed as blasphemous.

The first question must be, which bible?

There is no definitive bible.  There are as many versions of the bible as there are Churches or denominations, and they differ in significant theological ways and quite often in the events included.  Each worshipper will cleave to ‘their’ bible and have almost no knowledge of its difference to any other.

In any case, whatever the version, the Christian bible is accepted as written by men – holy and learned men deserving respect to be sure – and some time later of the events.

Maybe a little bit of knowledge would also stop Christian extremists from defacing a Qu’ran, or worse – but maybe they are after mischief.

For the record, and considering only mainstream Churches, after 4^th century AD there were: the Coptic Church (Oriental Orthodox Church); the Orthodox churches (Greek, Syrian, Russian); the Roman Catholic Church.

In mid 16^th Century, the Protestant Churches split from the Roman Catholic Church resulting in a plethora of denominations:  Lutheran,  Anglican, Methodist, Church of Scotland, Mormons, Baptist Quaker, Wesleyan to name but a few. For a more complete list see: http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/denominations_stats.htm

Both taps in the shower provide hot water: the cold water tank is of course on the roof absorbing the sun’s rays,  and the hot water tank inside keeps a constant heat with a thermostat.

Strategies are obviously going to be needed to survive in this challenging climate – and some creative thinking.  For the shower this is to reverse the tap use:  turn off the thermostat and use the cold tap for hot water.

By mid-afternoon it begins to get clouds and a hot dry wind springs up, unpleasantly reminiscent of being inside a hairdryer.  Now the world has turned yellow, sand is flying around, and I stay firmly indoors.

Traditional clothing here is of course adapted to the harsh environment and covers the whole body, including the head.  For men this translates as loose baggy sleeved shirt and loose baggy trousers caught at wrist and ankle in a close fitting cuff, a long length of coloured cloth defines the waist.  The sun’s intense rays on the head are countered by an intricately knotted headscarf.

These days many young modern Kurds have discarded this practical garb for T-shirts, shiny drainpipe trousers and shoes with long pointy toes – and eschew any headgear.

This being a conservative country for women, especially outside of the cities,
respectable dress is the loose fitting black abaiya with headcover their heads.  Undeniably this does protect from direct contact with the sun, but black absorbs heat.  The result must be horribly uncomfortable in summer, though presumably warm enough in the winter.

Unsurprisingly shopping malls and coffee shops, with their cool air-conditioned environments, have thriving business.  These malls though are expensive, but window-shopping provides a cool diversion for those fasting for Ramadan without cash.

An hour before the election announcement, there was deep silence on the streets outside.  Our usually bustling noisy roundabout (traffic circle) had no-one on it – even the taxis that wait there are gone.  It was not tension, just a palpable waiting.

There was tension waiting for the result, but within minutes of Mursi being declared, the tension went from the streets. The winner had been allowed to win.   Normalcy returned: toots, gear changes and people hanging out in the Medan gossiping.

Around here, even if Mursi was not their cup of tea, there’s relief that process was followed and allowed to succeed.  Interestingly the cleaner, who was vehemently for Shafiq yesterday, is today completely for Mursi – saying that Shafiq was from the army and no good.

Egypt appears to have taken a step away from dictatorship – what to remains to be seen.  The revolution has taken so many twists and turns, confounding the pundits, that it’s a brave person who foretells the future.   It does seem though that a page has turned.

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published in June 2012 in ‘The Chronicle’

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Published in The Chronicle on the 1st May 2012.

Today the city is quiet, Kurds in traditional clothing have taken to the hills for family picnics. For many, these days, this is the only time, apart from weddings, that men and women wear their traditional clothing.
For men, this consists of brown or khaki coloured baggy trousers caught at ankle in a narrow band and at the waist with a large colourful piece of material wound round like a cummerband. The ladies and young girls dress in vibrant, diaphanous, shimmering colours of reds and yellows, the long sleeves and long baggy pants caught at ankle and wrist.

The souqs have been besieged all week with families buying traditional clothes and readying for the picnic.
Although this festival has its roots in the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, which began in ancient Persia, it is uniquely Kurdish affair and affirmation of their identity, synonymous with revolution and resistance – the continual pursuit of freedom for the Kurdish people through the centuries.
This nation of about 30 million (according to Wikipaedia), an unreliable figure since Turkish census do not record ethnicity of Kurds in their census, is the single biggest group of people without statehood anywhere in the world.  The message of Nowruz has never been as sweet as in these times in the Kurdish enclave of north Iraq.
After UN created safe-haven and no-fly zone for Kurdistan in 2003, for the first time in their history, Iraqi Kurds have been able to freely observe their New Year celebration.
The tradition behind Nowruz, as I understand it, is that long ago the Kurds were ruled by a tyrant named either Zhakroj or Zuhak. Two large black snakes lived in his shoulders, which had to fed with human blood every day.
A blacksmith called Kawa vowed to rid the land of the tyrant. He told the people that if he was successful he would light a fire on the mountain to tell everyone of his victory and their newly-won freedom.
Needless to say, victory was won and the fire was lit.