This is Magy! Magy died this past Tuesday as a result of the attack on the „Botrosia“ church on Sunday Dec. 11. Some of you know about Magy because we had asked for prayers for her. On Wednesday she had an extraordinary funeral, which has been described as more like a wedding. Her coffin was white, her lovely young mom refused to wear black and said she didn’t want people to mourn… she had returned „home“ to the One who gave her to them 10 years ago. Magy was our next door neighbor, and though we didn’t even know her name before, we feel blessed to have met her occasionally in the lift and to know her parents and little sister are still there, on the other side of our living room wall. The tears that Am Samir, our Moslem security man wept for her, were precious and showed us what an effect this little girl had had on him. This last week of Advent has sort of been „taken over“ by Magy and our …

In Cairo you can find some nice old Café where you love to sit and talk and enjoy good coffee and pastry. Two of them we found open. The famous Café Riche and Groppi. As Sr. Wafaa had her birthday we invited her and had a good time together in the Groppi with its“ Art Nouveau“ interior.

Before Friday afternoon we several times crossed Tahrir Square remembering the time when Karim El-Gawhary reported about the „Arab Spring“ on Austrian TV. We again saw people gathering for next demonstrations as these were just the days when Mursi made himself the next „Pharao“. Concerned about the large gap brought into the Egyptian Society by the Muslim brothers we stayed in the guest rooms of the Comboni Fathers in Cordi Jesu. There we could watch the places we visited a few hours ago in TV by webcams.

Two days before flying back to Austria, on a Thursday, we took the chance to visit the Islamic Cairo with the Al Azahr mosque and Khan Al Khaili. We went there by taxi and walked back. Both took us a long time through the total traffic jam mixed with all the portable sales booths along the whole way.