along the nile

During our time in Egypt we had the chance to take a nice boat ride down the Nile. It was so refreshing from the hot day. We cruised, took photos and just reflected. It so crazy to think of little Moses floated in a basket in that same river. Our contact told us how 70% percent of Egypt revolves around the Nile. Its their life source. Thinking about that, and thinking of the first plague of turning water to blood, it makes sense now the gravity of what that meant. Everything they drank, every form of water, comes first from the Nile. It was a huge show of the Lords power to take away their sole life source. Sitting on the boat looking out on the water I couldn't images it to be completely crimson. Such a crazy thing that would have been to witness. My visions of the Nile were of a gigantic river of water with desert all around it and tall grass reeds. Of course it looked quite different with all the skyscrapers and buildings that are now lining the banks.

We also got to walk through Tahir Square on the way to the Nile. It was crazy to think large protests had recently gone on. Everything seemed mostly back to normal, we passed by one building that had been burned and many of the windows had been broken out. As we drove to these locations I noticed what looked like a deserted city, truth be told it was what they call the "city of the dead" Our contact told us, "as Egyptians, we are ashamed of this." A once giant graveyard that has now become a place for impoverished people, a refugee camp of sorts. The families of the deceased let people live there for really cheap, and they in return help keep guard over the dead. Ideally they should move it out into the desert to make more room in Cairo for homes but in this culture that would never happen. The Arab people have very high respect for the dead.