Hays Travelogue

Mr. Abu Bakr, our guide in Siwa, is a tall man in his mid to late 40s. In addition to being a guide, he is a member of the Siwa Town Council and curator at The House of Siwa Museum. He is an avid reader and reads any books he can get. His list includes Unamuno, Cela, Dostoyevsky, Alex Haley. Each October 5000 men and children attend a three-day event that is aimed at restoring relations that might have gone amiss during the previous year and preserving peace in the village. We were sitting with Mr. Abu Bakr on a concrete bench on Gebel Dakrur overlooking the campground where the Reconciliation Festival takes place when he told the following story.

“It was an American movie that changed my life. I was a very good student in school, number one in my class, and I was sent to university at Matrouh. This was my first taste of freedom. At this time, there was no paved road between Siwa and Matrouh, so I would not go home for 9 months at a time, only in the summers.  For the first time in my life, I was not an A student. I spent my time playing soccer and watching movies with my friends.

“One night, we watched a movie about people who were trying to cross the border between the United States and Mexico. They wanted a better life, and it looked like a fine adventure. Of course, there were some hard things that happened to them, but it gave me an idea. I wanted to have this adventure, and I came up with a plan to cross the border into Libya to work for the summer. At this time, Libya was wealthy and Egypt was poor. There was more work in Libya. If I came back to Siwa for the summer, I could only work in the garden.

“I convinced one of my friends to go with me. Our plan was to hire a car to drive us to the border, and when we reached the border, we would jump out of the car into Libya. As we approached the border, Egyptian soldiers fired at us, but we used the car as a shield, jumped out and ran into Libya straight into the guns of Libyan soldiers. “I am a Siwa boy!” I said. People from Siwa have a reputation for being honest and hard-working, so the soldiers took us to a nearby town where we both found jobs for the summer.

“Meanwhile, my father heard about what I had done. When I came to Siwa at the end of the summer, he was very angry and threatened to beat me. Here, fathers beat their children by flogging them across the soles of their feet. I asked my grandmother to intercede. My father would have to abide by her wishes, and so I did not receive a beating.

“However, he did not allow me to return to the university. Instead, he insisted that I join the army where I was sent to serve three years on the Egypt-Libya border, exactly where I had crossed the border that summer. So you see, I never finished the university. My life might have been different, but I am happy here. I enjoy working with tourists and explaining our culture and traditions to them. I learn many languages this way. I read and I try to improve my mind, and I work as a volunteer with the Reconciliation Festival.”