Letters from Cairo

By Anne Speake

A woman recounts her adventures in Egypt, the Middle East, and beyond in this absorbing memoir.
 
Imbued with a love of travel and adventure as a child through books her parents bought her during the Great Depression, Anne Speake would eventually go on to journey to many destinations in her adult life, from Paris to Thailand to Greece—but she particularly fell in love with the Middle East, especially the city of Cairo—to which she’s returned at least thirty times over the decades.
 
This memoir of her times in Egypt, from sailing the Nile to visiting with the Sadats to living for a while in her beloved Cairo—as well as trips to Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Palestine and Israel and more—is an in-depth, wide-ranging account of a well-traveled life that also provides a close-up view of late-twentieth-century history in the region, as well as the ways the Middle East has changed, and the ways it hasn’t, over time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781954779471

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Letters from Cairo

ANNE SPEAKE

BISAC Category:

TRV002050

TRAVEL / Africa / North

No part of this book may be reproduced without the express consent of the author. In order to obtain consent or contact the author for speaking engagements, email the publisher at:

[e-mail]

Copyright © 2020 Anne Speake

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9798656516853

DEDICATION

To my grandchildren

Joshua Mattson, Kate Rinard, Sarah, and Amelia Gillanders.

Life is a wondrous journey.

.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i

Small Town Girl 1

Saudi Arabia 1969 4

April in Paris 1970 11

Europe, 1971 14

Saudi Arabia 1971 20

Thailand, India, and Greece 1972 22

National Associations of Arab Americans 1973 25

Egypt 1974 29

LebanoN 1974 38

Libya 1975 40

Morocco 1975 45

Egypt 1975 52

Lebanon 1975 67

Syria 1975 73

Turkey 1975 78

Cairo 1975 82

The suez canal 1975 90

Holland 1976 93

Belgium 1976 97

France 1976 118

Switzerland 1976 124

Austria 1976 126

Hungary 1976 129

Yugoslavia 1976 134

Greece 1976 136

Egypt 1976 140

Alexandria 1976 142

Home in Cairo 144

Living in Cairo 151

Sadats of Egypt 171

Thanksgiving in Cairo 1976 176

Christmas in Cairo 1976 179

Jordan 1977 189

Palestine / Israel 1977 193

Cairo 1977 196

Saudi Arabia 1977 200

Studying in Cairo 204

Bureaucracy in Cairo 208

Sailing down the Nile 212

Back in Cairo 219

Left My Heart in Cairo 222

Preparing to Leave Cairo 227

Paris and London 234

Epilogue 236

About the Author 238

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My family and friends suggested that I write a book about my travels and Egypt. As I wrote the first memories that came to mind it was start and stop for many months until I signed up for a writing class taught by teacher Janice Stevens. My teacher and my classmates applauded my stories which encouraged me to keep going.

Kudos to Bill and Chris Speake who invited me to visit them in Saudi Arabia in the mysterious Middle East and who inspired my long-lasting fascination with this part of the world. Blessings to my former husband, Sam, who enabled me to enjoy an adventurous life, and for saving all the letters I wrote to him from Cairo. It was a god-send in remembering all those exciting memories.

Thank you to my daughter, Lisa Speake, who was there to fill in the blanks and add to the memories we both shared. She read and re-read the draft several times and edited, as needed, and assisted with the Epilogue making a lengthy draft much shorter and more readable. She also suggested an airmail letter for the cover and did a rough draft.

This book would not be possible if it wasn’t for my fortunate introduction to "The Cup and Quill Editing and Publishing Co. The founder and CEO, Dr. Linda Tucker, guided me through everything in such a graceful and easy way. She introduced me to Dr. Shannin Schroeder whom she assigned to do the editing. It was so much more than I expected. Shannin pointed out a better sentence construction besides comments in the margins with corrections. She made suggestions for a better way to express a certain passage or how to change repetitions. Linda, then, introduced me to Isaac Peterson with Emerald Design Company. Isaac specializes in art, design. He was assigned to format my book. He perfected the cover design, the text layout, and, photos. Being the perfectionist, which I’m sure he is, we texted and phoned each other so he could get it just right.

Special thanks to my closest friend Judy Lund Bell, of 50 years. She has always been there to inspire me to continue my sometimes-impossible decisions. This included encouraging me to start the International English Institute which was considered very risky since it was a male-dominated business. It became one of the most prestigious English institutions in the world. And, also, to my other best friend, Ruth Evans, who like me, struggled and eventually succeeded in a successful small business.

I adored my brilliant brother, Robert H. Harbison, who was a photojournalist for the Christian Science Monitor and covered the world’s hotspots. He lived in Arizona with his lovely wife Susie. Due to his travels and his Masters in English, we had long conversations and his suggestions were invaluable. He died February 2019 and we all miss him terribly.

Love to my other two daughters, Judy Hardinge, and Barbara McIllhenny, who have always been there for me. I especially enjoy our daily phone conversations. My three daughters are my very best friends. Lucky me! Kudos to my beautiful granddaughter, Kate Rinard, and handsome grandson, Joshua Mattson. Much love to my granddaughters, Sarah and Amelia Gillanders, with whom I’ve had the pleasure of watching blossom into talented and lovely young ladies and have enjoyed the many travels and adventures we’ve shared. They are a joy! Hugs for my adorable great-granddaughters Brooke and Brennah Rinard who are going to grow up and set the world on fire. Boone Mattson, my great-grandson will be right behind them!

Robert (Bob) and Estelle Harbison, my daredevil parents (of whom I have a photo skiing in their bathing suits at Mt Hood, Oregon in the 1920s), who broke the social rules when, engaged to others, secretly eloped. They worked hard, played hard and there was never a dull moment in our house. They put me on a train alone at age ten for an all-night trip to visit my grandparents in Hood River, Oregon I’m so happy I grew up in this fearless, adventurous family. When friends commented that they would be afraid to travel alone all over the world as I have over the years, I give credit to my parents. I have so enjoyed meeting interesting people and seeing new places as far away and diverse as Yemen, Borneo, and Hungary. What an adventure life has been! Thanks, Mom and Dad.

Saving one of the best for last is my dear husband, Mike Hamzy also known as Sheikh Merwan Kamel Abu Hamzy. Without his constant encouragement (and a bit of nagging when I’d rather read a book than write my own) this book might have never been finished. It was his idea to name this book, Letters from Cairo. Thanks, my love.

.

Chapter 1

Small Town Girl

As a small-town girl growing up in Oregon, with parents struggling through the Depression, I was lucky because I traveled around the world. How could this be? My travel phenomenon was called Book House published between 1930 and 1935. It consisted of a set of 12 beautifully bound books that my parents somehow managed to purchase out of their meager income.

Each Christmas, starting as a toddler, I eagerly opened my treasure starting with nursery rhymes from around the world. Each book was progressively designed for children from two or three through the teenage years. Through books, I traveled to India, Germany, Japan, Scotland, and olland Holland and read about their folk tales, then fairy tales from Denmark, Spain, and Czechoslovakia. By the time I was ten, I was reading Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allen Poe, Percy Shelly, and Rhodopes, the first Cinderella story from Egypt.

Book Seven enthralled me with childhood biographies of Anatole France, William Shakespeare, Phineas Barnum, and Selma Lagerlof. Book Nine opened up with explorers like Rogers and Clark, The Conquest of the Northwest by Theodore Roosevelt Hiawatha by Longfellow, and the Greek myth, Labors of Hercules.

By age twelve, I had devoured stories of knights in shining armor Don Quixote, Robin Hood, and the Red Cross Knight by Edmund Spencer.

The Middle Ages continued with Book Eleven and its wondrous tales of Bannockburn by Robert Burns, The Story of Cid (a Spanish Epic), Beowulf, Chaucer, and Robert Bruce (Scotland’s hero). In my mid-teens, I consumed adventure books, especially those written by Richard Halliburton, a famous explorer who disappeared sailing a Chinese Junk out of Hong Kong.

In my late 30’s, my fascination with the Middle East exploded after reading about the British explorers like Richard Burton who was the first European to see Lake Tanganyika and also traveled incognito as the first Westerner to penetrate Muslim areas in Saudi Arabia including Mecca, Wilfred Thesiger who lived with the Marsh Arabs and fortunately wrote a fascinating history of these people The Marshes were later destroyed by Saddam Hussein. One of the most fascinating adventurers was Gertrude Bell, from the Victorian age, who was an English writer, traveler, political officer, and spy who traveled through Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, and, who along with Lawrence of Arabia, helped establish the Hashemite Dynasty in what is Jordan today.

Since my parents had the only florist shop in our small town, Coquille, hence they worked 24/7. I had no siblings until I was eleven; no TV, FaceBook, or other distractions. I entertained myself by exploring worlds and philosophies that were not only intriguing but also educational. Oh, how I yearned to travel to these exotic countries and untangle the thoughts and actions of peoples in this incredible world.

As a product of the ’40s and ’50s, I followed the path of most women during this time by going to college, getting married, and having children. In 1962, I moved to Fresno California due to my husband’s job transfer. Of my three daughters, only one remained home. Barbara had moved back to Oregon and was soon to be married. Judy had joined the Army, and Lisa was in elementary school. Since I never finished college, I decided to enroll at CSUFRESNO. My love of history had endured, so it was a natural decision to major in history.

Chapter 2

Saudi Arabia 1969

In 1968 my stepson, Bill Speake, was hired by TWA in Saudi Arabia to teach English, the lingua franca of international travel.

President Roosevelt had presented a DC-3 as a gift to King Abdul Aziz Ibn Said in 1945. This was the beginning of the gradual development of civic education in Saudi Arabia. The nation’s flag carrier, Saudia, was founded as Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) in September of 1945 with TWA running the airline under a management contract with the Ministry of Defense.

This was a huge undertaking by TWA which hired many Americans. Bill moved into the American compound surrounded by white stucco walls, as were most of the homes in Saudi Arabia. He traveled alone to Jeddah since his wife, Christine, had just given birth to a baby boy and Sandy couldn’t travel until he was 6 months old due to the necessary shots he needed.

Soon after Christine arrived in Jeddah my husband, Sam, and I was invited to visit them. When we received the invitation, I was thrilled to realize that I was going to visit the Middle East at last.

While I was attending CSUF, I met several Saudi students. When I mentioned that I was going to Jeddah to visit my step-kids, one of them suggested that I meet Mohamed (not his real name, for protection) whose father was a prominent government official I asked Mohamed if he would like to come to our home for dinner so we could learn more about this interesting country we were about to visit.

We looked forward to that evening although with a bit of anxiety. He was a Moslem. We knew he didn’t eat pork and probably did not drink liquor. Were there any other restrictions we didn’t know about?

The appointed evening arrived, and I greeted him at the door. Asking Mohamed what he would like to drink, he replied, Scotch on the rocks. To risk, at this point, at making a silly pun, it did break the ice. We had a great evening full of laughter and interesting conversation primarily about his country and his family. This was the beginning of my firsthand introduction to the culture of the Middle East.

The 1967 Arab-Israeli war had devastated the Arab American relationship, as the U.S. supported the State of Israel in the fight against the Arabs. The Israelis had captured the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. Between 1948 when Israel was declared a state and 1967; over two and a half million Palestinians had been displaced and fled to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. It was the beginning of the reawakening of many Arab’s hatred towards the West.

Since tourists were not issued visas, we could only visit The Kingdom if we had a special invitation. Our visa was secured by Saudi Arabian Airlines. After a flurry of obtaining tickets and our visas, we flew to Jeddah. We soon discovered, much to our delight, that as parents of a TWA employee, we were given two free tickets a year to fly anywhere in the world. As a bonus, for a $10.00 surcharge, we could fly 1st class, if seats were available. We were only able to fly on standby, which could be a bit nerve-racking, but worth the anxiety.

Upon arrival in Jeddah, we entered the terminal, which looked like a big shack. Several soldiers were standing around with rifles in this rather odd excuse for an airport. We walked inside and approached a bearded, rather dour man sitting behind an old wooden desk. We gave him our passports, which he stamped, and then proceeded to put them on a pile of other passports. He told us we could retrieve them upon leaving The Kingdom. I must say I had misgivings leaving them in that jumbled stack of other passports.

Today, Jeddah is a large metropolitan city, but when we visited it looked like a small sleepy village on the Red Sea. However, it was an ancient gateway to Mecca and an important port between Suez and the Indian Ocean.

Fishing dows were beached on the seashore. Wild dogs and feral cats roamed everywhere. There were few people on the streets, no foreigners, and the women were veiled from head to toe in black.

As a foreigner, I was not required to wear a veil. In my following eleven visits to Saudi Arabia, I wore western clothes, no veil, and never had a problem. I have to admit that as a westerner, I found it disturbing to see women so attired. Even today, I don’t understand it, especially as no place in the Koran requires this custom.

Jeddah was another world to me. It was fascinating to see people on the streets, and wherever they happened to be when the call to prayer started, they placed their rugs on the sidewalk and the prayers began. The call to prayer from the mosque was nothing I’d ever heard before. It was powerful, enchanting, a mysterious sound to a Westerner who had never encountered such devoutness.

The days were spent touring around and outside of Jeddah. The young Saudi student, whom we had invited to our home, had returned to Jeddah and invited the four of us to visit Taif.

We accepted his invitation, and as we traveled through the desert, we watched herds of camels roaming. Sometimes we would have to stop as they passed across us on the road.

Taifs’ elevation was over 6,000’ above sea level in the Mecca province on the slopes of the Sarawak Mountains. According to many Saudis, it is one of the most beautiful cities in Saudi Arabia. It was an escape for many during the unbearable summer heat of Jeddah. Upon arrival, we immediately visited the suq. We strolled through the fascinating warren of shops until we came to the rug shop. Mohamed insisted on buying us a very large woven Arabian rug, which still graces the entry-way in my home today.

We were amazed at the plethora of merchandise and I especially loved the gold suq. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves when Mohameds’ face turned white and said, We must leave immediately! We rushed to his car and when we were safely inside, he told us that the religious police were following us. If we’d stayed any longer, they would probably beat our bare legs with their batons. Chris and I were wearing dresses a little above our knees, and we’d had no problem in Jeddah.

The religious police are very strict Wahabis and acted as the moral conscience of their religion. It is a very austere, fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam. Moderate Saudis didn’t like them, but they were tolerated, especially by the royal family. Until recently, the Wahabis could cause the downfall of the Kingdom if the royal family didn’t adhere to the religious hierarchy. (The new ruling Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has recently severely restricted their activities).

That evening, Mohamed invited us to dinner at a hotel where he had rented a small banquet room. It was then, that we had the opportunity to meet his beautiful wife, Sara. She sat next to me and was a bit aloof, but as the evening progressed, she opened up.

The couple told us about their honeymoon in Switzerland. Since the marriage was arranged, they didn’t meet until the wedding. In many cases, such as this, the honeymoon is a chance for the couple to get to know each other. Very often there is no sex, in which case, it is called an onion moon. They confided to us that theirs was an onion moon.

At one point, she asked about her husband’s time in Fresno, and then she whispered that she wondered if he had been faithful to her. I assured her when he wasn’t attending class and studying, he spent time at our house with other Saudi students. She beamed and I could see that this had been of some concern to her.

The meal was quite sumptuous with waiters carrying large trays of food and several trays of bottles of alcohol. It was surprising to us since alcohol was banned in Saudi Arabia, but evidently, it depended upon who you were.

Since that time the country has tightened up and my future visits did not include alcohol. In the ‘60s and ‘70s the western employees at the oil company, ARAMCO were secretly distilling their booze. Unfortunately, it was killing off a number of them. Therefore, ARAMCO invented an alcoholic recipe, which was distributed to the workers. It tasted like a potent gin and they named it Sidiqui, (my friend). They would distill it in their bathtubs and then hide the bottles in their closets so the servants wouldn’t find and report them.

While we were visiting Bill and Chris, we were invited to dinner at the homes of various American friends. We were surprised to see bottles of scotch, vodka, and gin, which had been smuggled into the country, and were prominently displayed.

One evening, Bill and Chris arranged for us to go into the desert and have a meal in a Bedouin tent. We arrived at dusk just in time to see the glowing red sun slowly settle on the desert floor. There was a peaceful silence, and I felt as though I had been transported back hundreds of years. As we entered the tent our Bedouin hosts warmly greeted us, bowing with their hands clasped. We were then invited to sit on luxurious Arab rugs. We were served mezze, which included at least twelve small dishes, such as babaghanoush, falafel, grape leaves, tabouleh, kibbe, hummus, and kalamata olives. After this feast, we were served the main meal, which was a whole lamb and rice. My only discomfort was flying bugs, attracted to the fire, which kept attacking us. I spent the evening slapping my face and arms, much to the amusement of our hosts.

They serenaded us with old Bedouin songs while dessert and coffee were served. It was amazing to see the beautiful inlaid copper coffee pots being held at least two feet from small cups with no handles and poured from this distance, not a drop spilled.

Then the big moment arrived. My husband was considered the honored guest and was about to receive a special honor. He was offered the eye of the lamb. Without hesitation, Sam put this round, slimy object in his mouth and chewed it as though he thoroughly enjoyed it. I was certainly pleased that I, as a mere woman, was not so honored. Later, he laughingly admitted that it was not as bad as he expected. A true Arabian Nights adventure.

Our visit was coming to an end. The last day we went snorkeling in the Red Sea. I’d snorkeled in Hawaii and Fiji, but they couldn’t compare with this wide array of fish in all sizes, colors, and shapes. It wasn’t until the stingrays showed up that we headed back to the shore.

We were amused to see a shepherd, who was herding his sheep, come as close to us as he thought safe, to see these blonde apparitions come out of the sea in bathing suits.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to the old suq. Unfortunately, today it is no longer there, having made way to paved freeways. At this amazing jumble of tiny shop, we saw merchants, not just Saudis, but from all over Africa hoping to get the attention of these rich