The becoming Journey of an African girl

by Simbiat Oladoja (Nigeria)

Making a local connection Egypt

The journey began with accomplice by the host and luckily another African Volunteer from Kenya, it was refreshing to see another African on the trip. We all introduced ourselves properly, and chatted about our trip, and asked questions about the country, and our destination city. The first thing I noticed at the airport was that a lot of Egyptians do not speak and understand English, this was a bit challenging, as communication was difficult. The host speaks and understands English so the chatting was interesting. We learnt a lot about the do's and don'ts of the country, the food, and fun places. I arrived at the apartment secured for me, took a shower and slept. The next day was arrival meeting at the NGO office to orientate me on my responsibility and work ethics in the community. The first look steeping into the street was the continuous stare by the local, through out my stay in Suez, I never met another black girl, the stare happened through out my stay, everyone always stated when i walk by, as time goes on I got used to it(maybe it's a good thing so i thought). My first day at the NGO was enlightening and reading about the community project made me to want to do more for humanity as a global citizen. I worked everyday from Monday to Sunday excluding Friday. During the break period there was a vacation to explore the tourist sites of the country, and the first stop was the Pyramid of Egypt in Giza, this was an amazing experience as I have always thought the pyramids weren't real and I only saw them in the movies. The history of the pyramid showed the hidden facts about the pyramids which includes them being the world's oldest monumental structures,the Pyramid of Khufu at Giza which I visited was known as the largest Egyptian pyramid,also known to be among one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still in existence. The camel riding was a first time experience and I noticed the animal look weak and not cared for but these men charge high amount, and i told the tourist guide to translate to them the importance of caring for these animals and the implication of animal brutality thus leaving a positive impact and good mentality about the health and living of these animals. The next visit was the city of Alexandria, this was the highlight of my travel experience, as I visited the Alexandra library which is one of the best library in the world with a lot of books. I spent two hours skimming and scanning books on history and psychology, and took amazing pictures. The next visit was to the Citadel of Qaitbay which according to history is known as a 15th-century protective fortress located on the Mediterranean sea coast. The fresh breeze and sea view is the most beautiful i have seen, the people are so friendly as a lot of them came to me for pictures so I felt like a celebrity snapping with the locals. This is a place everyone needs to visit for a good travel experience. The city is also known for having the best sea food, which I couldn't taste at that particular moment due to the health reasons. The travel back to Suez was sweet and swift as the road journey was fun, and travelling with other volunteers was interesting, sharing pics, history, and knowledge was such an experience and this was my favourite part of the journey. Documentation of this journey was key, as I was able to tell the sweet story in full to my friends and family back home. The end of the travel came with a closing meeting and farewell from the locals who shared amazing stories of their experience with me, and Getting gifts of their local materials was the sweetest thing ever, these gifts remain a life time treasure. I got back to my home country more fulfilled and more knowledgeable about another region of the world and with more thoughts of exploring more parts of the world