Six months ago, the Egyptian Minister for Emigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs, Nabila Makram, visited Sydney on a diplomatic tour. While she was there she spoke to a group of Egyptian-Australians about a ‘back to your roots’ style tour of country which her ministry was funding with the support of the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Since then, I have been working hard to make this possible for a group of 28 Egyptian-Australians in Sydney who were joined by around 50 Egyptian-Australian youth from Melbourne. Here’s my diary of return, rediscovery and revival. This trip gave me new insights I didn’t think possible and rekindled a love for our ancient yet ever new country of origin. A spiritual ‘mother of the world.’ Day 1: Visiting the New Suez Canal At once both a symbol of her military prowess and the frequent exploitation suffered at the hands of invasive Western powers, this ‘new Suez Canal’ stands for much more than a bridge between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. For our group of 70 young Egyptian-Australians visiting the country, this half-day long Suez Canal tour was a fascinating, if not somewhat…
