I was four hours ahead…

I could not believe that I was going to Egypt!

I was informed by a colleague about the Active Citizens Programme of the British Council and its collaboration with Pratham. Few of my colleagues even participated in their workshop. It was part of an exchange programme between Pratham (India) and National Literacy Trust (UK). I was disappointed at the thought that I missed the opportunity to participate in the workshop. However, I got my chance in November 2011, when I was asked to apply for an International Study Visit (ISV). I submitted my application and participated in a three-day workshop organized by British Council and Pratham in Dec 2011.

Later, I was informed of my selection for a study visit to Egypt. I was excited! The visa processing was underway when news of the political revolution in Egypt reached us. Although I was a little worried, I decided to go ahead with the visit.

There were pre-visit tasks assigned to each participant. I had already started looking up for information on Egypt on the internet. Representatives from several other countries were participating in the workshop. Each representative was supposed to prepare a PowerPoint Presentation on his/her respective country to share with the other participants.

Talking about a country as diverse and complex as India in merely five minutes was a challenging task. I decided to highlight the progress made by India since Independence and the current issues in the sectors of education and employment. To give an idea of the cultural and ethnic diversity of India, I put in some information on the Indian tourism, cuisine, film industry, etc and connected it to current issues. Meanwhile, my preparations for the visit were going well with the help of Radhika from British Council and Shailendra and Manisha from Pratham.

I woke up at 5 am on 3^rd March 2012 and headed for the Mumbai International Airport. After checking in, I called my colleagues and seniors for their wishes for the journey.

Most of the passengers on the flight were going for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca-Medina in Saudi Arabia, known as Umrah. They all were wearing the prescribed white attire (Ihram). I spent a delightful time on the flight learning about Umrah and Ihram from my co passenger.

After three and a half hours in the flight we flew over Saudi Arabia. I could see the deserts outside and the bright sunshine almost blinded us. 

Whatever, the view was spectacular.

Finally, we landed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – Jeddah International Airport at 1.30 pm. I spent five hours in the Saudi Arabian Airlines transit terminal. My long tedious wait for the transit flight came to an end at around 7.50 pm.

When the flight reached Cairo, it was already dark. The bird’s eye view of the city from the plane was breathtaking. My travel representative, Carlson Wagon was waiting for me at the arrival lobby. He helped me get immigration clearance, obtained my baggage and whisked me off to Safir Hotel. It was 11.30 pm in Cairo, which meant that it was 3.30 am in Mumbai. I realised that I was 4 hours ahead of my motherland.

Next morning I looked out of the hotel window just to admire the great Nile and Cairo city. This reminded me of South Mumbai - it was beautiful. We reached Fairmont and received a formal welcome by the British Council. I was teamed up with a Mr. Awadalla from Practical Action in Sudan.

Introductions were followed by presentations on the different countries by the representatives. It was interetsing to know so much more than I ever read online or in books from representatives from countries like Syria, Lebanon, England, India and Sudan. After lunch we visited an Egyptian cultural center. It was fascinating to see how a garbage dump was changed to a cultural center by Mr. Mohamed El Sawy. It had now become a hub of cultural and literary activities. We also had the opportunity to meet Mr. Aberlrahman Magdy, the founder and CEO of Egypreneur, a platform inspiring and supporting entrepreneurs in Egypt. His lecture on business model development was really insightful. He talked about the Mobile App he had developed on live Traffic information on Cairo City. The app is now widely used across the city to deal with the traffic problem.

We returned to Fairmont and continued with the presentations. Bangladesh, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine, Azerabijan, Scotland and Egypt introduced their countries now. We split up into smaller teams for group discussions. 

On the second day Ms. Kate Dempster, facilitator from British Council UK reviewed the previous day’s session. We used our personal learning reflection templates to share our experiences. We Worked on a 20-minute session on tool market and were made to develop and sell items pertaining to our country. After much thought, I settled on making greeting cards with pictures depicting various festivals, slogans and messages from India. The idea became a hit! People were constantly visiting my counter and asking for cards on Indian themes. Post lunch, we were asked to choose one of the topics - Volunteerism, Advocacy and Debates. I chose to be part of discussion on volunteerism.  A great learning.  

And finally, it was time to visit the Pyramids! The entire group was going to split into three smaller groups and travel to three different parts of Egypt. One group went to Alexandria, another to Fayoum and the third to Cairo. I was to visit Fayoum. We all visited the Giza Pyramids first.

The Great Pyramid of Giza (called the Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact. We were then taken to the spot from where we could see all the pyramids from a point. Our cameras clicked non-stop. We then saw the Great Sphinx of Giza, commonly referred to as the Sphinx. It is a limestone statue of a reclining or couchant sphinx (a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head) that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt.

It was time for us to leave for Fayoum. On our way, we passed by an oasis. The sights and sounds of the city continued mesmerise us. There was so much to see. We reached the hotel and had dinner together, all the while discussing our experiences.

On 6^th March 2012, we visited three different villages in Fayoum where we met Active Citizens working on their Social Action Projects. In Desya, we met Mr. Mohammad who set up his community center under an initiative called Future Building. His group was providing computer skills, library and vocational skills to the young people of the village. He invested his own resources in starting this initiative. We also met a team from FOUDA (Fayoum Agro Organic Development Association) working on agricultural reform. This organization is actively working on organic farming and has impacted the lives of many farmers.

We visited three more villages the next day. It was overwhelming to see the dedication of Egyptians in working for the betterment of their community.  We visited Women Literacy Centers, Vocational Training Centers, Pre-Schools, etc. We were escorted by the military during our entire trip. On 7^thMarch 2012, we returned to Cairo. We went to Khan Khallili market, saw the Tannoura show. It was an unforgettable experience.

On 8^th March 2012, we made presentations on the field visit and were provided with inputs on networking. Ms. Rasha Abdel Fattah Raslan guided the group on networking and its importance. In the end, we were asked to think and decide on further action plans after returning to our respective countries. We presented our 4-D plan to the whole group.  

The rest of the evening was spent interacting with other group members followed by promises of staying in touch. We felt connected and decided to work together to further the development of the community that we all represented.

This was a memorable experience for me and I am deeply thankful to the British Council (India) for giving me this opportunity. I hope the knowledge and exposure that I have received during this visit will help me contribute better to the development of the young population of India.

Smitin is Principal of Pratham-IGNOU Community College (registered with IGNOU) and spearheading various training programmes in the sectors of Education (Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary), ICT and Vocational and Soft Skills. He is also Head of the Admission and Certification division of Pratham Institute.