After our day in the sun, we had a change of pace on Monday when we went to visit with CEOSS (Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services - this is an in-country NGO, run by Egyptians, for Egyptians). They presented several short videos regarding some of their projects, such as training farmers in better fertilization methods, job training for women and equal rights for handicapped persons. It was a lively morning since there were many questions – all of which were graciously answered by our hosts. Perhaps most interesting was seeing Egypt through their eyes and seeing the problems that the poorest members of their society are facing. Their methods involve training people to help themselves and sustain themselves with the available resources. It was an engaging morning and gave us all a lot to think and talk about regarding the good work in social services that COESS is providing in Egypt.
Our next stop was to the Evangelical Seminary in Cairo where Stan got a chance to be reunited with some of his old colleagues and friends and we got to meet the seminary president, Dr. Atef Mehanny, and several of the faculty and staff (such as Dusty Ellington and Brice Rogers). The seminary currently has about 200 students and offers some resident housing on their campus. We lunched at the seminary and then participated in a panel discussion with faculty from Union and ETS regarding approaches to theological education. There is no doubt that we have many common bonds between our seminaries and share the same call to service. It was both interesting and enlightening to hear both the challenges and successes of a seminary operating in a country where Christianity is a minority religion.
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