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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 March 1999 Issue No. 422 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 March 1999 Issue No. 422
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
'The bonds of friendship'
By Fayza Hassan and Khaled Dawoud"I am here on behalf of my husband and of the American people to strengthen the bonds of friendship and partnership between our two countries, deepen our dialogue and see first hand how Egyptians are moving toward the future while preserving their extraordinary culture and heritage." The statement issued by Hillary Rodham-Clinton was distributed as she and her daughter, 19-year-old Chelsea, disembarked from their 13-hour flight from Washington on 21 March. It was Mother's Day in Egypt, a coincidence the public in attendance at the airport felt was a good portent. Mrs Clinton had taken advantage of Chelsea's spring break from Stanford University to plan this short trip to the Arab world.
It was a visit that set tongues wagging from the start. The press release did little to quell speculation: why was she here? And why now? Where would she go? What would she do? Tight organisation and little time for interviews only increased the frustration. But one could follow the First Lady, if only from a certain distance. And the soundbites were coming through loud and clear.
From the airport, the Clinton party was driven to the Citadel, where the American First Lady indulged in a few photo-ops despite the strong Khamasin winds blowing on the hilltop. The scarf carefully arranged about her head by Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Director Gaballa Ali Gaballa fluttered in the gusts of tepid, sand-laden wind, but the First Lady, clad in a flattering brown suit, battled bravely on. She then visited the Mohamed Ali Mosque, one of the several restoration projects undertaken by the SCA and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
From there, it was on to Fatimid Cairo, where the small group entered the Mosque of Al-Saleh Tala'i to admire the newly restored minbar. They then walked through Bab Zuweila to visit the Sabil of Nafissa Al-Baydaa, where Gaballa told Mrs Clinton: "You know all about conservation; I am preaching to the converted." Mrs Clinton, whose interest in conservation was kindled at home by her successful drive to restore the original Star-Spangled Banner, is now on a tour to gather public and private funds for the preservation of historical landmarks and artefacts. She suggested to Gaballa that the SCA create outlets through which to sell books and other souvenirs to tourists to raise additional funds.
Clockwise from above: At Khan Al-Khalili, Hillary Clinton watches an artisan at work; at the Citadel, with Chelsea; SCA Director Gaballa Ali Gaballa arranges Mrs Clinton's headscarf; at the American University in CairoLater, Mrs Clinton visited the Ben Ezra Synagogue and Saint Sargius Church in Old Cairo -- stops intended to emphasise the message of religious tolerance.
Restoration and religion, however, were not Hillary Clinton's only preoccupations. On Monday, the second day of her busy sojourn, she was received by President and Mrs Mubarak to discuss American-Egyptian cooperation in the field of development, health and women's issues. The conversation, Mrs Clinton noted, added a geographical dimension to topics that have preoccupied her for the past 25 years.
On the same day, Mrs Clinton visited Khan Al-Khalili to see four small businesses and a youth centre that have received US funding. She also pledged $10 million for family planning activities in Egypt and $14.5 million for Healthy Mother/Healthy Child activities in Upper Egypt. She made the announcement at the inauguration and ribbon-cutting ceremony of the newly opened Bassatin One Day Surgery and Maternal and Child Health Centre. The hospital offers low-cost, one-day, outpatient surgical services to the poor, thus avoiding the high costs of hospitalisation. "Outpatients pay one pound for a consultation in the morning," explained Nabil Agami, assistant-director of the hospital. "If the patient needs an operation and can't pay the nominal fee, we do it for free and if he or she needs to remain an extra day for observation we also arrange free accommodation and medical services during that time."
Another unit of the centre provides integrated mother and child health care, family planning and reproductive health services including immunisations, treatment of respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases and other common ailments.
Minister of Health and Population Dr Ismail Sallam stressed that Egypt had made impressive gains in the health of women and children. Infant and under-five child mortality rates declined by 45 per cent and 53 per cent respectively between 1983 and 1995. Child survival programmes have prevented the death of more than 80,000 children; approximately 90 per cent of Egyptian children have been immunised.
Hillary Clinton arrived at Al-Bassatin Hospital after spending time at the Zeinhom Youth Centre and with the women participating in the New Horizons Programme, also established at Telal Zeinhom, where she heard the programme's literacy success stories. She recounted that she had been impressed by a woman of 65 who had proudly told her that not only could she read the names of streets now, but could even manage articles in the newspapers. Mrs Clinton added that she was happy to visit Cairo five years after the International Conference for Population Development (ICPD), at a time when the projects launched by the conference were starting to bear fruit.
While taking questions from American and Egyptian reporters at a brief news conference at the Bassatin One Day Surgery and Maternal and Child Health Centre, the First Lady, who had been reluctant so far to speak publicly about her plans to run for the US Senate, admitted that she was considering it. She confirmed that she was determined to have a public role but had not yet made up her mind as to its formal nature. She refused, however, to dwell any longer on future plans. "Tomorrow, I'll be visiting Luxor," was all she told reporters as she departed for the next call on her busy schedule.
During her Cairene tour, Mrs Clinton's poise and understated elegance inspired much sympathy and admiration. Security was not as tight as for an official presidential visit; the atmosphere, in fact, was rather relaxed. At the American University in Cairo, dressed to kill in a sharply tailored black suit with leopard-print lapels, she preached tolerance once again to a packed house: "We have to bring forward those lessons of... understanding that truly do stand the test of time, and we have to reject the calls to violence, prejudice and discrimination," she said. Many in the audience, however, were equally interested in the First Lady's new look: short, slicked-back hair and no-make-up make-up. Sober and chic, she spoke in friendly, intimate tones, managing, perhaps, to convince her listeners that this was not a prepared speech but a heart-to-heart chat.
On Tuesday, her arrival in Luxor had the tourism industry buzzing in the hope that such a high-profile appearance would herald the end of the slump that set in after the 1997 shootings at Deir Al-Bahari. Mrs Clinton visited the temples of Luxor and the Valley of the Queens, as well as a school and health clinic funded by USAID. Gaballa, who accompanied the First Lady, said that she had admired the splendour of Luxor's monuments, and opined that the museum rivalled its international counterparts as far as lighting and display were concerned. Luxor was the last stop in Mrs Clinton's Egyptian visit -- a visit as brief and busy as it was memorable.
photos: Mohamed El-Qi'i and Thomas Hartwell
Related story: Achieving the impossible
