Tipper star for Imbaba health centre

By Mariz Tadros

A truck arrived and downloaded flower pots which were arranged at the entrance to the centre. The black-and-white paint on the pavement was still wet.

Inside, 1.30pm: Posters on breastfeeding, family planning and infant diarrhoea prevention were brought in and plastered onto the otherwise bare walls. Members of the advance team -- dispatched from Washington prior to the couple's arrival to oversee preparations -- passed for the umpteenth time through the rooms Mrs Gore was scheduled to see during her 45-minute visit, eyeing them from all four corners.

2pm: Health Minister Ismail Sallam arrived to check out one of the rooms to be visited by Mrs Gore. He sniffed the air, and asked in an agitated voice: "Who has been smoking here?" Looking round at one of the centre's workers, he lashed out: "How could you have let them smoke here? Open the windows!"

2.55pm: Having arrived a little late, Mrs Gore immediately conferred a "gold star" upon the centre -- an award given to government clinics which meet rigorous service quality standards. She then visited the unit for homeless babies, where she asked about the prospects for foster parents for these babies. She also met with some of the mothers who have benefited from the clinic's programmes, which include family planning, reproductive health and child health services. Mrs Gore was shown various contraceptive devices available at the family planning unit. Then she sat down to talk with a group of mothers with children.

Reporters were told in advance that there would be no room for questions. Not that they would have been able to hear her answers anyway. She was seated next to a mother with a young girl who insisted on grabbing her parent's purse. When her attempts failed, she began screeching constantly. Mrs Gore removed her watch and showed it to the girl. This kept her quiet for a while. Mrs Gore seemed genuinely at ease as she tried to chat with the mothers about their health and the number of children they have. In between Mrs Gore's hailing of Egypt's immunisation programme and efforts to reduce maternal mortality rates, the little girl lost interest in the watch and started screaming again. A member of the USAID press staff hurried to the adjoining room to bring her a rattle.

Outside the centre, word had got around that Mrs Gore likes children. The outcome was a mass of Imbaba children spread out along the sidewalks, waiting to get a glimpse of her on her way out. Earlier in the day, hardly anyone in the neighbourhood knew of Mrs Gore's visit to the centre. Seeing the flower pots being brought in, one of the women mumbled: "The governor of Cairo must be visiting."

Madinet El-Ommal (Workers' City) was originally built by President Gamal Abdel-Nasser for textile workers. Now its residents are mostly pensioners, plus a sizeable proportion of civil servants. Although located in Imbaba, Madinet El-Ommal is lined with blocks of buildings on spacious paved streets. It is nothing like Western Mounira on the other side, which has long been synonymous with terrorism, poverty and shanty dwellings.

Most of the Madinet El-Ommal residents interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly said that the services provided by the Maternal and Child Health Centre were, on the whole, excellent, the best they have in the community. "Mind you," said one woman, "this is only recent, less than a year ago. Before that, nobody used to go there. It was a dump, and the services were really bad. At one point, they even closed it down." The clinic is one of 3,400 in Egypt which have received assistance from USAID.

Surprisingly, none of the people interviewed were aware that the centre is funded by USAID. The 73-year-old sheikh Khalaf Mohamed Abdallah of the nearby mosque saw nothing wrong in Egyptians accepting USAID because, as he argues, "after all this is our money. There are many Muslim immigrants who pay taxes with the sweat of their brows to the American government which, in turn, sends the crumbs to Egypt," he said.

Umm Hussein was surprised when she was informed that the centre was funded by USAID. A faint smile glimmered on her face. About 10 years ago, USAID had given her, as well as many other women she knew, a certificate of deposit equivalent to LE5 because she did not have many children (only three). "We also got good [cooking] oil and flour too. Hey, if it is funded by USAID, does that mean we will be getting flour and oil too?" she asked.