We wake up at about 10.00am today. I slept a little better last night with the improved ventilation through the balcony shutters. I must have been too exhausted to hear the misguided cockerels. I remember hearing the call to prayer at 4.30am but must have fallen back to sleep shortly after.
We get up and go downstairs where Peter’s mother is already cooking. Peter’s father has taken the water buffalo’s back out to the field.
We eat breakfast. On the table is boiled eggs collected from the chickens that morning (unboiled at the time!). Large chunks of bread, roasted spring onions, cheese, fuul, date jam and mish – a homemade cheese made from the milk of the water buffalo. http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jul/14/food/fo-55996
Although I’ve never been brave enough to try mish – probably because it is stored in a clay jar and kept on the roof of the house in the sun for a number of months – everyone in the family love it. Also on the table is tameya, tahini and Peter’s father also brings in some freshly picked rocket. Peter’s mother heats a pan of buffalo milk and places it on the table. I’ve always disliked the smell of boiled milk. It takes me back to my childhood somewhere but can’t quite pinpoint the circumstances.
After breakfast Ehab, Margreet and the twins come around. This morning we are going to the pottery.
Ehab, Peter and I set off for the pottery which is a short walk away. As soon as we are out on the street children spot us (or me) and start following us – some on foot and others on their bicycles. Peter suggests that I don’t respond to any of them if they speak to me as it could get out of hand. Although it feels odd ignoring children who only seem to want to say hello in English, I trust Peter’s judgement and do as he suggests.
We walk past a field that has dates laid out in large squares. They must be at different stages of the drying process as each square is a different shade of red/brown.
It isn’t long before we reach the pottery – a small complex built within the confines of a high mud brick wall and consisting of a number of separate buildings. Behind the pottery buildings is the shell of a large unfinished building – probably five or six stories high. I remember Peter telling me that before 1997 when tourists were stilling coming to the pottery, the Catholic church funded the building of a hotel. The hope at the time was that a hotel would be developed where tourists could come and stay, spend more time at the pottery and in the village and ultimately develop the small tourism economy in Garagos. The building has never been completed. Everything came to a standstill after the Hatchepsut shootings and travel to more remote areas like Garagos became difficult for tourists. The ground floor of the hotel is used as a nursery but apart from that remains empty and unfinished.
I shall write separately the story of the Garagos Pottery and try to do it more justice than I have in this blog. However, an interesting thing to note is that the pottery was designed by famous architect Hassan Fathy known as Architect for the Poor. http://www.hassanfathy.webs.com/ .
We enter the first building that, amongst other pieces of equipment, houses two potters wheels each located in front of a window that provides good light in which to work. Ehab’s father Mr Riad arrives and I also recognise Amjad and Louis from my previous visits. I’m introduced to Mr Abd al Masir who is working on one of the wheels. We watch him as he ‘throws’ a lovely curved pot. Once sliced off the wheel with a wire he places it on the side of the bench. Ehab takes some clay and begins to throw it on a bench, mashing it down with his hands to soften it. I’m then invited to take Mr Abd al Masir’s place at the wheel.
The seat is wooden and slopes at an angle downwards. As I try to put my feet on the kick plate I feel myself sliding down the seat. I find it difficult to balance myself on the seat without sliding down. I could do with some platform shoes or legs that are at least three inches longer. Once I start pushing the kick plate back and forth I find that holding on to the seat with one hand helps keep me stable. Anyway, a lump of clay is chucked onto the wheel by Ehab and I doubt I can attempt this with one hand. I shuffle myself onto the seat again and start working the kick plate back and forth – I’m not sure what the optimum speed is for this. I ask Ehab to start me off with the clay and after shaping and working the pot up a few inches he hands over to me.
I dip my hands in a pot of water and attempt to shape the clay into something that resembles some kind of receptacle. Ehab does have to rescue it a couple of times but I must admit – I do much better this time than the last. I place my pot next to Mr Abd al Masir’s and we all laugh at the comparison!
We spend a bit of time here watching everyone complete different parts of the process. A small machines squeezes out long thin sausages of clay which are cut into fixed lengths. These form the handles for cups. The machine looks like a grown up version of something from the Playdough factory – clay goes in one end and as the lever is pressed a long thin tube of clay comes out of the other. Matta attaches the handles to cups with slip that have already been left to dry. We are joined by a cousin of Peter's, Yousef and his little boy – another member of the family. His late father, along with Ehab’s father Riad and three others co-own the pottery. Yousef also used to work in the pottery but similarly to the others of his generation now works in tourism on one of the Nile cruises. Yousef seats himself at one of the pottery wheels and begins to produce a very intricate pot that curves in and out along its length. His son sits on the windowsill in front of him watching – so comfortable where he is that he’s clearly sat and watched his father many times before.
I ask Mr Riad if he thinks there will be another generation of family to take over the pottery. He is unsure. All of the sons of the current owners, although trained in the pottery since childhood, work in the tourism industry – out of economic need rather than choice. Mr Riad says that to work in a craft such as pottery, you really need to love the work. I ask Ehab at what age he started learning to make the pottery. He says he was about 8 or 9 years of age. They used to come after school and during the holidays. It never felt like work to them but almost like an art class. One of the first things the children are taught to make is a palm tree. He then takes a framed black and white photograph down from the wall. The photograph is of Ehab, his brother Andre, a couple of other children and Yousef’s father Sabit teaching the children to make the palm trees. Ehab takes the opportunity to show us how to make a clay palm tree!
We go next to another outbuilding. I remember that this is where the finishing is done – Louis hand paints the pottery in the traditional designs of the Garagos pottery in blue/grey, green, turquoise, browns and yellows. This room also serves as a display room. The walls house shelving and cupboards stacked with examples of the wonderful pottery from floor to ceiling. Cooking pots such as Egyptian style tagines, baking dishes, tea sets and Arabic style coffee pots. There are a collection of figures representing local life – groups of musicians playing traditional instruments, figures standing by waterwheels and women carrying waterpots on their head. There is a collection of nativity scenes, large fish shaped platters – some glazed and some not and a massive variety of different shaped vases and jars. As always there is also a large box of Ankh’s glazed in dark blue or turquoise and another of Coptic crosses. I have hundreds of photographs of the pottery - please look at my Flickr page to see more.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1001-nights/sets/
Matta asks us if we would like a cup of tea. Of course we accept. Ehab, his father, Peter and I take a seat and Mr Riad starts to tells us some of the stories of the pottery. Again I will leave a lot of the detail out at this stage and save it for the story of the pottery. But Mr Riad tells us about Father Montgolfier, a French Jesuit priest who came to Garagos in the 1950’s. He had been working in village to help the locals attain better lifestyles by helping to improve skills, health and the physical environment. There was also Father Ackerman who had a nephew in France who owned a pottery. It was this connection that brought pottery to the village of Garagos. Mr Riad tells us that at the time the village had a lot of scorpions and they were a big problem. If anyone got bitten by a scorpion their life chances could be slim as the village was so far away from a doctor or a hospital the poison may have killed them before they received medical attention. Father Montgolfier used to pay the local people for collecting the scorpions which were later disposed of – only a few piasters each but this helped to significantly reduce the amount of scorpions and ultimately the health risks to local people.
There were no roads in the village at this time – just mud tracks. Father Montgolfier owned a car – the only one in the village and everyone was amazed to see this vehicle enter the village for the very first time. Father Montgolfier oversaw the building of an asphalt road leading to the pottery. For decades this road was known as Montgolfier Road. There was no street lighting but local men would walk ahead of the car holding lanterns to light the way. The road that we walked down past the drying dates was this very road. One thing you notice is that the roads and the rest of the village is elevated some five feet above the green land.
I ask Peter why the roads are so much higher than the land. He tells me that when the roads were built, the soil was taken from the agricultural land and banked up onto the roads before they were asphalted.
I’m going to save the rest of this story for another time.
We all walk to another building – the store room. As we approach this building we walk past the kiln which is still cooling down from the last batch of firing.
The store room is just floor to ceiling shelves stacked full of pottery – some glazed and some unglazed. Ehab tells me that they leave some unglazed for two reasons. Some customers want to specify their own design and others just prefer the terracotta look. We spend ages routing through the shelves and photographing the products. Ehab reaches up onto high shelves and brings down pots and jars so that we can see them¸ feel them and admire the beautiful colours. I love the shape of the old style Arabic coffee pots.
Thinking about our luggage allowance and how we got stung on the way into Egypt, we carefully select some products to take back with us. Ehab goes to fetch a pair of balance scales with kilo weights to help us determine how much we can take. Peter and I have already decided to leave clothes and toiletries here to accommodate any samples that we want to bring home. It’s very difficult deciding what to take and chop and change our minds several times – so much to choose from! We settle on a number of ceramic Ankhs and Coptic crosses and also some nativity scenes which have a charming hand-made appeal. We have got about seven kilos of pottery in total. Mr Riad packs it tightly for us – that’s Peter’s hand luggage accounted for! As Peter pays for the products Mr Riad tells us that this will cover the cost of the salaries for that week.
We actually spent most of the day in the pottery. It’s nearly tea time and we go to leave. As we walk out Amjad, Louis and Matta are preparing the kiln for the next batch of pottery to be fired. Not everybody gets to see this part of the process Ehab explains, as they need to have enough pottery to fire to fill the kiln. This is an electric kiln which is expensive to heat up so every spare inch of space is utilised. Shelves of pottery are stacked on top of what look like ceramic egg cups or short candle sticks. Once a shelf of pottery has been inserted, more ceramic legs are placed along the edges of the shelf and another shelf stacked on top. We leave the guys to it and say our goodbyes.
As we leave the confines of the pottery we walk down Montgolfier Street and pass a row of men sitting with their backs against the mud brick wall. They are drinking tea and smoking shisha. I notice from the corner of my eye that one of the men has a rifle between his legs. Although I’ve been told about the amount of guns being carried by citizens this is the first time I’ve seen a gun being openly displayed by someone who’s not from the authorities.
Peter tells me later that guns have always existed in the village but now the police are scarce people don’t care about carrying them in public.
We continue walking home, the children spot us again and one starts circling me on his bicycle. Ehab tells the boy to go away. We arrive home and Peter’s mother makes us a cup of tea. Cousin David pops in and asks us if we are coming to see their new house. We also need to go and see his Aunt Matilda and family so we go there first. Ehab, Margreet and the twins walk with us until they take a right turn to go home and Peter and I continue another twenty yards to the house of Labib and his Aunt Matilda who is the sister of Peter’s father.
This large house is surrounded by a painted wall to form a small courtyard. Tall bushes of Rahan (basil) grow next to seating area – I still remember this fragrance from previous visits. As we arrive we are greeted with handshakes and kisses. I notice that there are two moustachioed young men sitting at a table facing the members of the family. Everyone is sitting opposite on palm seast covered in brightly coloured rugs and cushions. The two men are from a water filtration company and have come to give a demonstration of how their system works. On the table are three glasses of water. Two of the glasses have a brown slimy substance in them and in the other the water is crystal clear. I don’t really need to understand the language too well to understand the demonstration. The ‘audience’ is given the opportunity to ask questions – which they do and shortly after the two men pack up their sales materials, and after handing out their business cards say goodbye and leave.
Matilda brings out a large tray of tea for everyone. There is Labib and his son Kissinger with his two young sons Mina and Shenouda. Mina has grown a lot since I saw him last. Labib’s other son Gerges who has just got engaged is with us. There is also Shoaib and Ayad both younger siblings of Kissinger and Gerges and shortly after we are joined by sister Yvonne. Peter’s cousins David and Madios are also here (sons of his Aunt Mariam – another sister of Peter’s father). Michael is here too. Although during my previous visits to Garagos I have been introduced to a lot of family members in a short space of time, I remember everyone easily, their bright happy faces always smiling.
As we drink tea and hold conversations on a variety of topics – the standard of hotels in Egypt, the benefits system in the UK and of course the subject of the Egyptian uprising takes centre stage. Everyone is in agreement that the uprising has left the country in a terrible state. Mubarak was a dictator but he kept stability in the country – and now he is gone everything is in chaos. Labib tells us that today in Cairo, they are holding the protest to end all of the protests. People are gathering in Tahrir Square which has now become the iconic location for the revolution. He says that there has been trouble during the protests and that there was concern that this may spread to other parts of Egypt. I detect a sense again, just the same as when visiting family in Cairo, that this is another family that feels unsafe, even within their own community.
Matilda says that she wants to cook for us and asks if we can stay to eat. Unfortunately we have to decline but say that next time we hope to stay longer. David and Madios had left earlier but we follow shortly in their tracks to go and see their new house which is currently being built next door to their existing house.
Two minutes around the corner we arrive at the new house. Wasfy, Mariams husband has been laying a new concrete floor in preparation for tiling. We are shown around and shown the ceramic tiles. Wasfy is a carpenter and has completed most of the work on the house himself. David arrives and takes us to their existing flat next door. Mariam greets us and invites us to sit. It isn’t long before we are joined by Wasfy and sons Madios, Maximus and Bishoy. Also there is Gerges and Michael. They all speak in their thick, heavy sa’idi accents. I know Peter speaks fast but the Arabic words are being shot out like rounds from an automatic weapon. Peter told me some time ago that his Aunt Saffa used to call him a barbarian because of the way he spoke – particularly the speed. They find themselves reminiscing over their childhood adventures. Peter begins to recount a story about a particular fight he got into with some other local boys. He describes how a gang of 50 boys were chasing him through the village and how he feared for his life. His cousins roar with laughter and all shout something to each other then start slapping each other’s hands. At this point I didn’t know what was being said but David who seems to have taken over from Peter as translator tells me that Peter is exaggerating and that there was only a handful of boys chasing him on this particular occasion! Most of the young men in this group speak English and all have impeccable good manners. Most are university graduates and all speak of the lack of employment opportunities for young Egyptians. However, Peter’s family is more privileged than many others. David teaches in the morning and then runs his own computer business outside of these hours. Madios works for the insurance company Alico and the only brother who isn’t present is Matero who is a tour guide and had left for Hurghada a few days earlier.
Mariam brings out plates of sunflower and pumpkins seeds and also a bowl of salted popcorn. This is followed by glasses of a green fizzy apple flavoured drink. Shortly after she brings out a sweet bread that tastes and has a similar texture to brioche. A tray of tea is brought to everyone – Mariam (as with all other Egyptians) is surprised when I say I don’t take sugar (and this isn’t the first time I’ve had tea at her house) – everyone else piles sugar into their glasses – even Peter who doesn’t have sugar in his tea at home.
We have another visit to make that evening – over to Mr Riad’s house to see Ehab, Margeet, the twins and the rest of the family. We sit outside on the palm seats again and drink beer, chat, and feel the benefit of the fresh air circulating over the green land. Lizards dart across the warm bricks at the front of the house and we are serenaded by a chorus of grasshoppers. A donkey brays occasionally in accompaniment.
