From Pyramids to Tahrir - Journey through time.
Civilization Ambassadors Winter Camp – Egypt (January 22-February 2)
Author: Branislava Bakalovic
The Flamenco hotel, where we I stayed, was located in Zamalek, a district of central Cairo situated at the northern part of Gezira Island in the Nile River. Zamalek is one of the affluent residential districts in Greater Cairo. The quiet, leafy streets and 19th-century apartment blocks and villas make this one of the most attractive parts of the city and a favored residential location for many of Cairo’s European expatriates.
We all gathered there to become the first Civilization Ambassadors of Egyptian culture, more than 30 participants from all over the world, about 20 countries. Oyoun Masr Association from Alexandria had the unique idea about organizing Civilization Ambassadors Winter Camp in Egypt long time ago, but finally the idea was realized in January 2012 with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of foreign Affairs. On the first day, both, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign affairs prepared a warm welcome for all the participants, future Egyptian civilization ambassadors. We were supposed to promote Egyptian culture after we come back to our countries and we had all their support. As a representative of Balkan and Middle East Regional Cooperation organization and the country of Serbia, I was honored to be among those carefully selected people who are expected to be civilization ambassadors of Egyptian culture.
The first 5 days spent in Cairo were filled with excitement, many different things happened, but not all of them were expected. Future Egyptian civilization ambassadors were invited to the building of the Egyptian Parliament on January 24, 2012 where the 1st session of the parliament took place. But only 5 selected participants, and among them myself, were given the opportunity and honor to actually attend the 1st session of the parliament. It was a unique experience indeed.
On January 25, the participants who wished to take the walk and experience famous Tahrir Square, one year after the revolution, had the opportunity to go and become a part of this important day for Egyptian people. Personally, it was one of the most incredible experiences and even though many would say it wasn’t safe and it was not a very clever thing to do, I must say it was a peaceful event, and as we walked in groups, we were welcomed and greeted by cheerful and friendly Egyptians.
While travelling through the history of Egypt, starting from modern times and going backwards, we came to the Pyramids. We were all expecting much of this visit as many of us have been dreaming about seeing Pyramids. But talking about surprises, after we got back to the hotel, an unpleasant surprise was waiting for us, a part of the hotel was burnt, but luckily we were safe as well as our belongings.
We continued exploring Cairo and visited famous Khan El-Khalili, major souk in the Islamic district of Cairo. The bazaar district is one of Cairo’s main attractions.
After leaving Cairo, our next stop was Siwa Oasis. Many of us were more amazed by the old fortress in Siwa than by the Pyramids. It was a completely different picture of Egypt, the escape from crowded streets of Cairo. We spent three days in Siwa and one of them was in the desert, only 30 km far from the border of Lybia. It was the best and the most exciting day in Egypt as we were driven through the desert entire day and at the end, we were taken to a small house in the middle of the desert where we spent the evening by the fire eating traditional food prepared by the “King of Siwa” (a man who was the manager of the hotel in Siwa and the “expert” for the desert).
Many Egyptians come to Siwa when they are on holidays, but not many tourists who come to Egypt visit this amazing place. There are many different man made sites to be seen as well as the wonders of the nature.
As we left Siwa, we were on our way to Alexandria, the beauty of Mediterranean Sea.
Many of us agreed that Alexandria was more beautiful than Cairo. Not only because of the sea, but Alexandria is less crowded and people are more friendly. The sea and the streets of Alexandria were as friendly as its people. We visited magnificent Library of Alexandria, we were all eager to see, as it was the largest and most significant library of the ancient world. Those days spent in Alexandria were enough to start feeling attached to this amazing city and its people.
The last day in Alexandria was the closing ceremony day where the organizers gave out certificates and announced the winner of the best video. All the participants, before coming to Egypt, were supposed to make a video about the motivation for participating in this project, talking about Egyptian and the culture of their own country. The video I made in Serbia with the help of my colleagues and friends won the prize for the best video. It was said to be very emotional and especially Egyptians were deeply touched by the video.
Every day, apart from visiting and exploring Egypt, we had workshops where we learnt more about Egyptian culture and customs. We were in direct contact with young Egyptian people and used this opportunity to find out more important facts about Egypt we couldn’t easily find on the internet. We had different tasks, we explored and did the research in groups with other co-participants.
One evening was dedicated to the cultural presentation of all participants. Every one of us was expected to talk about the country we came from, our culture, history and if possible, bring some traditional food, dance traditional dances etc. I talked about our sport successes as one of the best products of our country.
Branislava Bakalovic
Balkan and Middle East Regional Cooperation
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Biography
Branislava Bakalovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia. She has studied the Arabic language and literature at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade, as well as economy and tourism at the College of Tourism.
Branislava was involved in different projects such as Belgrade International Model United Nations (BIMUN), first as a delegate in 2010 and then as a member of the organizing committee of BIMUN 2011. Soon she got involved with "Generations for Peace" organization founded by HRH Prince of Jordan and supported by the Olympic Committee of Serbia. In November 2011, she was sent to a "Generations for Peace" camp in Sochi as one of the representatives of the Olympic Youth Council of Serbia and now, she is to become a Peace Pioneer. In 2011, Branislava became one of the founders and the board members of Balkan and Middle East Regional Cooperation (BAMERC) organization in which her current position is Coordinator for Intercultural Cooperation. In September 2011, she volunteered for Ministry of Foreign affairs of Serbia at the 50th Anniversary of Non-Aligned Movement, which was the most important event held in Serbia in 2011. In January 2012, she was selected to attend the first Civilization Ambassadors Winter Camp in Egypt and became the first Egyptian civilization ambassador in Serbia.
Branislava speaks English, Spanish, French and Arabic, and learns German and Greek.
She is fond of arts, history, dancing, literature, theatre, martial arts etc. Since an early age she had a special interest in two things: Arabic culture and psychoanalysis, as she always admired the work of Carl G. Jung.
