Even though I’ve been avidly traveling for about five or six years, I’ve never been far away from ‘home’ for long enough to seek out my true home. Not until I ventured on my first long trip which took me all the way from the capital city to an oasis in heart of the Great Sand Sea in Egypt. Over the past six weeks, I have lived amongst a population of no more than 30,000 as opposed to Cairo’s 12+ million – and that’s just Cairo, not Greater Cairo. Preserved in isolation far from the tight corporate grip which has mutated the urban identity, Siwa has served as sanctuary for my soul away from everything mainstream and conspicuously fake. It was there that I met my soul family, and it was there that my strong held beliefs on identity were for the first time really challenged, provoking me to question who I truly am. The Pleasant Numbness of White Noise Born and bred in Cairo, much of the identity that I have tailored for myself was highly influenced by the city. While many Egyptian youth have continued to express their…
