Think Outside the Frame

The recent events in Alexandria, His Holiness Pope Shenouda weeping during a lecture, the shambles they call "elections" in Egypt, the second international Coptic Conference in Washington...its been a crazy couple of month for Egypt. And that's just a couple of months. Naturally all these events force you to think. I love this country and am immensely proud to belong to her. That's why I've been thinking about all this madness.

It is natural when you live in Egypt to be constantly aware of your religion. That's how people are defined over there (and indeed in many Muslim countries). Even if you're not really a religious person...doesn't matter. Your religion is printed on your official ID card for all to see.

That's something we all get used to until we get out of Egypt. Until we understand that your race, religion, gender, or disability DON'T define you as a person. Well at least for me, this realisation came when i left Egypt...I left Egypt when I was only 15 you see.

In my humble opinion, this is where the trouble is with Arab/Muslim nations. People there still call Western countries "Christian" countries. Completely unaware of the fact that the Western countries they refer to (USA, Britain, France, Italy, Australia...) have SECULAR governments. Real secular governments though. Not governments that say we are a secular democratic country...but we'll base our laws and constitution on the Islamic Sharia!!!!

What's the problem with this?? It labels all non Muslims as "Dimmi" who at best, shouldn't be trusted or involved in important positions in society...at worst, infidels that have no rights and must be converted or killed.

that's why we must start to look at each other as just people. People who deserve respect and freedom regardless of their faith.

Fresh wave of bombs strikes Iraq

OK, so the Iraqi insurgents are not happy with the allied forces...they'll go and blow up any Americans they can reach...the normal behaviour you'd expect from these fundamentalists. But what intrigues me most is that they'll go blow up their own people!!!
"A car bomb attack on a crowded south Baghdad market left 13 dead and injured at least 20. Another attack in the city centre wounded at least four people."
"At about sunset, a suicide bomber drove into the crowd at a funeral procession in the village of Abu Saida, north of the capital. At least 40 people were also injured."
"The market bomb was hidden in a car near Diyala Bridge - a mostly Shia area."
"A day earlier, twin suicide bombings at mosques in the east of the country during Friday prayers left at least 80 people dead."
(excerpts from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4451860.stm)

So these nut cases decided that they'll go around killing other Iraqis...why?? and at a funeral for God's sake? they bombed a mosque??

You know I've always thought that if you put all Muslim countries together, and built a huge wall around them, then left them alone for say ten twenty years, they'd probably finish each other off. That is after they kill off minority groups, including liberal educated Moslems...they ARE a minority in the Middle East you know!

Coptic Girls Forced to Convert to Islam

Until when will they terrorise us in our own homes, then tell the world that theirs is a religion of peace and love???
The following is from the website http://www.human-rights-and-christian-persecution.org/coptic.html

Heidi Hakim Mankerious Salib was a student in Year 12 at Road El Farag Secondary School for Girls. Heidi was planning to come to Australia in 2005, live with her brother, and begin tertiary study.

However, her plans never came to fruition. On April 6 last year, when Heidi was just 17, Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed — a man belonging to a local Muslim extremist group led by Sheikh Osama El Batta — threatened Heidi with violence if she refused to meet him later in the day. He told her to bring her bank book and valuables with her.

"...scissors were used to try and cut out the Christian cross tattooed onto her wrist."
Heidi did as she was told. Over the next 27 hours, Heidi was drugged, raped, forced to wear the Islamic veil, and scissors were used to try and cut out the Christian cross that was tattooed onto her wrist.

When Heidi did not return from her schooling on that day, the Salib family became very anxious and reported her disappearance to the police. They named Mustafa as a suspect – he had been watching Heidi from his balcony across the road from their house. The police brought Mustafa in for questioning, but then they refused to fill in a missing persons report for the family, since Mustafa presented Heidi’s valuables and claimed she was running away from her family. He also said Heidi was staying over at his friend’s house that night. No charges were laid against him.

On April 7, Heidi was taken to a police station where she was made to sign a paper that she had converted to Islam. She was told by Sheikh Osama that they would use this document after she turned 18 on February 14, 2005.

At 1:00pm that afternoon, the police told the Salib family that they had found Heidi. But the Salibs were prevented from seeing her and were told to come back later. When Heidi’s father and her priest were finally able to see her, Heidi seemed drugged and delirious—clearly she had been terrorised.

Heidi, her father and the priest were taken to a magistrate of the National Security Office, who questioned her about her relationship with Mustafa. Heidi said he was her husband. (However, any marriage Heidi took part in would be in contravention of Egyptian law, which forbids a man to marry a woman under the age of 18, without the consent of her parents.) The party returned to the police station, to find the local Egyptian Assembly member for the Road El Farag Electorate, Abd-El Rahman Rady, speaking with authorities in support of Mustafa and Sheikh Osama.

Following this incident, the Salibs’ car was rammed by a car full of men – Mustafa among them – and the Salibs were forced to flee for their lives. They took refuge in a monastery for several days, and later took Heidi to Alexandria for treatment for the effects of the drugs and the trauma she had endured. Then, on June 2, 2004, Heidi went missing while in Alexandria. The family believe she was kidnapped by the same men.

To date, the family have repeatedly contacted the authorities in Egypt – including the President, the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights, and Egyptian consular representatives in Australia, with little response. Police continue to describe her as a "runaway".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neveen Maher Albert Morcos, 19, was a student at a tourism college in Alexandria. She was a devout Coptic Christian who regularly attended St Demiana Church, El Wardian. When she told her parents she was considering becoming a nun, they urged her to take time over the decision, and go to see her confession father - who at the time was in the neighbouring city of Damanhour.

"When a second session was called, Neveen didn’t turn up."
Neveen made an appointment to see him on February 14, 2005. Though she left the morning, she didn’t return. Her confession father confirmed she never arrived for the appointment. The Morcos family filed a missing persons report with the local police station and State Security Office. Over the next week, the family repeatedly contacted the authorities, but police had nothing to report. Finally, on the eighth day, police informed the Morcos family that Neveen had decided to convert to Islam.

Two priests were summoned by the authorities to hold a “religious guidance session” with Neveen. (Egyptian law mandates these sessions for people wanting to convert from Christianity to Islam.) When the priests interviewed Neveen, she appeared to be under intense pressure, was slow to answer simple questions, repeated the same statements over and over, and became very anxious when they mentioned her family. When a second session was called, Neveen didn’t turn up.

A number of breaches of the law implicate the authorities in the mistreatment of this young woman—the religious guidance sessions were held in the National Security Headquarters (instead of a neutral location), Neveen’s identification papers were manufactured by SSS officials at the last minute, and the Morcos family was prevented from attending any proceedings. Since March 3, the Morcos family has received no information from the Egyptian police or State Security Service. Protests and letters to President Mubarak, the Interior Minister, the General Prosecutor, and the Governor of Alexandria, have received no response. Neveen’s whereabouts is still unknown.

A Mother's Journey

Most girls grow up thinking it's the most natural thing to have a baby. Millions of women have done it and millions more will. Like most girls I thought that it's a natural and therefore relatively easy thing to do.

What we hear about motherhood varies from "you forget all the pain when you see the baby" to "it's the happiest time in your life" and "the bond between mother and child is instant and strong"...and the one I HATE the most "Oh you'll find out when you have the baby"

In this post, I'd like to share my experience of becoming a mum. An experience that I have heard echoed several times by other mums when they say "oh yeah that happened to me too"...and it left me wondering. Why don't we talk about it more?? Especially to women who aren't yet a mum? Do we perceive ourselves as members of an exclusive club...we can't tell anyone our secret...they must earn it (there's that dreaded "Oh you'll find out when you have the baby" again)

My husband and I wanted a child so badly, and when we found out I was pregnant it was pure joy. Then I went ahead and had PND (Post Natal Depression). I can tell you now I never felt so low and miserable as I did then. This was over two years ago and I'm happy to say that I'm feeling fine now. But the memory of those months has stayed with me till now.

When I was diagnosed, I was actually relieved. I was relieved because I knew why I'd been fantasizing about an accident or a fire ridding me of my life, and my pain along with it. I went mad for two months after the birth of my precious daughter. I thought "it couldn't be PND, because I can't bear to be without her...I don't want to harm her...I want to harm ME" That's how ignorant we are as a society about PND. We view all PND mums as someone who can't love their child and would probably want to harm them.

I found out that's a huge misconception. My version of PND hell was in the form of anxiety attacks, loss of appetite, no sleep, couldn't bear anyone touching my baby...sometimes even her father!! and suicidal thoughts...and of course tears...lots and lots of tears.

One of the things the therapist suggested I do to help me out of my depression was to keep a mother's journal. It was extremely helpful to me. But when I got a blog, I thought; why not share my experience? Maybe there's a lonely mum out there who's feeling the way I did, or someone who knows someone feeling this way...I just want them to know they're not alone.

Welcome to my journey.