No one went home

Amidst the darker side of Egypt today - including increased concerns about the military's power and increased fear among Christians - it helps to remember that still, there is hope.

While organizing some things today, I came across a few notes I took in October 2010, while listening to a human rights activist who had come to speak to the students on our program. He was frank and blunt about the myriad of problems facing Egypt: endemic torture, a terrible public education system, terrifying healthcare, a government full of corruption and dictators, lack of religious freedom, and growing intolerance. Near the end, someone asked him if he had any hope. He replied with the story of Indonesia: in the late 90s when Indonesian students started protesting in public against many of the same problems present in Egypt and against their dictator Suharto, the Indonesian government was recorded as saying something to the effect of, "just arrest 50, kill a few more, and they'll go home." But, no one went home. And Suharto eventually resigned and was kicked out of the country and Indonesia is moving - albeit slowly - forward. The speaker followed by saying, "The little things add up. Hopefully, in our lifetime, the people will speak up and they will not go home." And just three months later, they didn't. They didn't go home from Tahrir, and I firmly believe they're not going to walk away from the re-building that happens now. The situation is precarious (and perhaps growing more so every day) but no one thought this was going to be easy.

The conversation continues publicly among Christians - the largest minority here - about their role in the future of their country and their safety here, as extremist groups continue to show their face. But many Christians are also on the forefront of calling for their fellow believers to stay involved instead of backing off in fear: to be an integral part of standing firm as Egyptians who have every right to the future of this country as any other citizen. As Anne Zaki, an Egyptian pastor living in Canada writes in the Christian Courier, "My prayer for the church is that we remain engaged and invested in the present and future of our country, holding in tension the truth that we are in the world but not of it. To do otherwise is to tear ourselves from the forming fabric of the new Egypt, only to find ourselves living on a margin of our own design."