I had the extreme pleasure of attending a women’s retreat with our church last weekend. It was only for one night, but any opportunity to escape the concrete of Cairo is a welcome respite. And when the place looks like Tatooine and is a photographer’s delight, that’s just gravy. Anafora is a working farm, as self-sustaining as they are able to make it. There are fruit orchards, a huge herb garden, dairy cows, sheep, goats, and chickens. They make their own jams and jellies, soaps, handcrafts, and herbal teas. I heard that nearly all the food we were served all week was grown right there on the grounds. Probably not the Nescafe. There are Bible classes taught and I very briefly met the priest who started the place about 20 years ago. He passed through the dining room as we were waiting for a meal and he had the most warm and welcoming personality I have encountered in all of Egypt. And that's saying something, because Egyptians are a mighty warm and welcoming bunch. I seriously sensed the Spirit of God in him and I was so moved I had trouble responding to him with more than a smile and I simple, "Thank you!" There was an official tour being given, but I hung back and took the unofficial tour offered by a few friends who had been there enough times to pretty much have it down. Mostly. I think our version was probably full of inaccuracies, but far more entertaining. For example, when C said, “I think that’s a mulberry bush,” B replied, “Excellent. Let’s all go around it!”
They also convinced me to try an olive, fresh from the tree. That bit of treachery is worthy of it’s own blog post. So just enjoy the photo gallery. - Jenni
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