Mother Theresa of Cairo

That is the way we refer to the remarkable woman we came to know 22 years ago when we first moved to Cairo. We had asked author and anthropologist, Andrea Rugh, how we could meet and help people who were working directly with the poor of Egypt.  Andrea introduced us to Madam Ansaf and her work. She probably invented the idea of “micro-lending” and engaged women in creative work that they could sell, how to rely on each other, and conversations about how to improve their lives.  Yesterday we spent the whole day with her son, his wife (an educator in Cairo), their daughters (one a translator in the movie industry), son-in-laws (all three men in the high tech business), and Ansaf’s new great grandson.  Ansaf’s son, Hanna, and his family took us to see her.

Madam Ansaf has become the center of near-worship by her followers.  She glows with the same radiant, loving nature that we have always known.  At nearly 90, she has never been to a doctor, nor does she take any medicines.  She doesn’t eat unless fed, telling us that “as long as she knows that anyone is without food, she cannot eat.”

She used to cook often for us (and made us promise to return so she could cook for us again), call herself our mother, and still asks about four of our children who came to visit while we lived here: Laura, Ellen, April and Tod.  A clipping on the wall reminded us of one of the stories of which she is most proud.  A young blind man was alone and had no prospect for marriage. And a young woman from upper Egypt had been disfigured by fire.  She suggested they marry—yet the young man hesitated. “I must touch her face,” he told Ansaf.  In the traditional family, it was unheard of to touch an unmarried woman’s face, but the father relented.  After lovingly touching the woman’s face, the young man smiled and said he would like to marry her.  They married and had four perfect sons.

Watch for more on the revolution…Linda and Morgan

This entry was posted on Monday, May 23rd, 2011 at 8:43 am and is filed under Education, Family, Leadership, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.