And Shebin here, of course, is Shebin El Kom the capital of Menoufia, the governerate right on the bottom tip of Delta, and home to 2 of 3 Egyptian Presidents (4 if you count Mohamed Naguib) My Father's family lived in Shebin from 1940 to 1958.
For my aunt to get into Medical School, they moved to Cairo when she was 16 years old. However, these 16 years seem all what really affected her and shaped her memories. My aunt moved to London in 1971 and never came back to settle in Cairo. After over 30 years of practice in the UK and travelling most of the world, she only talks and remembers fondly Shebin.
Obviously, not only Cairo was cosmopolitan in these times. The chief nun in her school was French, her best friend was Lebanese and the grocery store where they used to go to buy treats was, certainly, Greek...
"Every day the Hantour would come and pick me up and your dad to go to school" she remembers laughing. And she goes on and on telling about how great this city was and how lovely was it to walk on the Shebin Sea Courniche.
"Your grandfather was a member of the Shell club. He used to take us on vacation days. I just cannot forget how sumptuous the club was with the neat pool tables and the huge Chesterfield sofas." She adds.
She never mentions Heliopolis in the 1960's, where she spend her college days; or my grand grand mother house in El Maleka St. She never talks about her life and career in foggy London. To her life stopped in 1958 and Shebin El Kom.
Egyptians belonging to their land is just incredible. Seven thousands years of farming and civilisation tend to do that to people.
It is certain that everybody loves his/her country. But, I sincerely do not think that any other people are so rooted in their soil like Egyptians.
"Egypt is not a country we live in. It is a country that lives in us" (Pope Shenouda III)
