Once again, I kept reminding
myself that I was there for one purpose and one
purpose only ... to perform my Hajj ...
As I was traveling with a non
Egyptian passport, I was told that my Group who
are all Americans will be staying at the American
camp, which was fine with all of us.
Somehow, Mohamed Elsherbini, managed to
break the law and took us (a foreign group)
to the Egyptian camp. Needless to say, as
much as I was happy to see other Egyptians, after
all they are my people, as much as I was very embarrassed
as an Egyptian in front of my group who are all
Americans. The behavior of the Egyptians in
the Egyptian Camp were just unacceptable or if I
may say uncivilized. The women in my group
who did not speak or understood Arabic, were
looking at me for help or an explanation of what
was going on around them. They were being
pushed, shoved, talked down to and food was
snatched from front of them before it even reached
them. Of course once again,
Mohamed Elsherbini was no where to be found and I
had to deal with Dr. Salwa who is the owner of the
Egyptian Travel agency, I spoke about earlier and
responsible for the Egyptian Group.
I demanded food and proper
shelter for my group who did not know how to
communicate with anyone there as they did not
speak Arabic. Fair enough, Dr Salwa sent out
for a numbered quantity of K.F.C. (Kentucky
Fried Chicken) boxes for my group. Once the
chicken arrived and was ready to be handed out to the ladies in my group, I was literally
attacked by the Egyptian Group who mobbed the
boxes and snatched them in a flash. Need I
tell you how embarrassed I was? .. I'll let your
imagination work this one out.
In a confrontational discussion
with Dr. Salwa, she admitted to me that for our
Group to be staying in the Egyptian Camp is
against the law and the Saudi Regulations.
She agreed with Mohamed Elsherbini to combine both
Groups to save money, knowing that it was
illegal. Her defense was, we always do
things like that. My answer was maybe you do
things like that in Egypt, maybe you can overlook
the illegal issues, but I don't break the law
because it is illegal and not because I can get
away with it
