Author of “Cairo: The Family Guide talks about discovering the city
CAIRO: School is out for the summer and the kids are on the loose. While trying to figure out how to keep them occupied and out of trouble during the holidays, this is a good time to explore Cairo, and Lesley Lababidi, author of “Cairo: The Family Guide is the definitive manual for touring the city with the children in tow. The guidebook is one of a kind and not only is it targeted to families, but it breaks away from the generic prescription that mainstream books follow.
“Most guidebooks have a formula, says Lababidi. “The person who is writing it doesn t necessarily live in that city. I am a long term resident of 16 years. I wanted to make sure that this guidebook presented Cairo from having a deep sense of it, not superficially. In that sense, Lababidi has succeeded. Apart from the barrage of information and trivia about the capital’s places of interest, the book offers advice to excursionists that only a true native would know about. It is apparent that Lababidi, though a foreigner, has gained a good understanding of Egyptian culture and, most likely because she is not a native, she explores the city with a voracious appetite to learn and understand that which most of us natives take for granted.
A United States citizen married to a Lebanese-Syrian, Lababidi first arrived with her family in the 1980s with the purpose of exposing her children to their Arab heritage. “When I was raising my children, I didn’t quite know how to introduce their culture to them. That was the reason we came here, for them to learn Arabic and the culture. So I started to take them to museums, and with such an age difference, I was really going to a lot of places.
“I found that I got a lot of information. It was really over time, I didn’t start out and say, ‘I want to write this book.’ All of a sudden, around 1999 when the first two were off at university and I still had my youngest, I said, ‘Gosh, I have so much info here. How can I use it? Why not put a book together?”
And that’s precisely what she did. Lababidi approached The American University in Cairo Press with the concept – “Cairo is a living museum, and we’re living in it so why aren’t we using it? That was the way I presented it [to AUC]. In 2001, the first edition of The Family Guide was published. In the six years since it first appeared on bookshelves, it is in its third edition. The second edition completely sold out, indicating that there was definitely demand for a guidebook that catered specifically to families.
Despite having gathered an abundance of information while touring Cairo extensively over the years, Lababidi felt that the guidebook would be more exciting if she could rally material from a few experts. The collaborators on the guide include Lisa Sabbahy, an expert in Egyptian archaeology, Jayme R. Spencer, who has coauthored a comprehensive book on Khan Al-Khalili and a long-time resident of Cairo, Kelly Zaug, who offered her expertise on additional reading material for children gained from years of bookselling (two working for the AUC bookstore), and Janice Gill-Haring, a geologist who provided the material on Wadi Digla. For those who find the prospect of making an educational excursion with the family fun, Lababidi offers a nugget of advice. “I never said, ‘You have to learn.’ We just went for the fun and adventure of it, she explains. “My advice is not to expect anything but provide the experience.
“A day that promotes curiosity and adventure leads to an excitement at . trying another place on another day. Being allowed just to observe the surroundings often stimulates the delights of learning and a quest for knowledge, she adds.
In turn, the ministerial authorities are enhancing the experience of touring Cairo. Museums are providing visitors with a more interactive experience; it’s no longer simply browsing through series of artifacts and reading the inscriptions. Also, there are more opportunities to attend cultural events at historic monuments. The Amir Taz Palace in the Khalifa district, for example, hosts musical evenings in Ramadan and during the summer.
“I’m very impressed with how they’re opening up not only to people who can pay but the community. So if you took in, last Ramadan, any of these cultural opportunities, you’d be sitting with a carpenter or taxi driver. So you really [are] part of the people that live in that area, describes Lababidi.
Lababidi’s enthusiasm and appreciation of Cairo’s culture and heritage is contagious. “I love Cairo. I really love it. You get to feel like it’s your home, and I’m not Egyptian, she exclaims.
Cairo: The Family GuideBy Lesley Lababidi in collaboration with Lisa SabbahyThe American University in Cairo Press3rd Edition, 2006
LABABIDI’S TOP 5 SITES TO VISIT:
1. Post Office MuseumLocated in Midan Al-Ataba, the museum is dedicated to Egypt’s postal history since pharaonic times. A must-see is a mosaic of the first postmaster made of 15,000 postmarked stamps.
2. Children’s Museum Recommended for families with young kids, the museum features interactive displays that encourage children to learn.
3. Ethnology MuseumOne of Cairo’s “well-kept secrets , tucked between the government buildings in Qasr Al-Aini. The museum portrays life in the countryside and the city during the past century by displaying common artifacts used in everyday life.
4. Gezira Arts CenterPrince Amr Ibrahim’s palace now houses a collection of Islamic ceramics. A two-in-one experience: the ceramics plus a beautiful example of revival Islamic architecture.
5. Museum of Modern ArtFirst conceived by notable artists such as Yusuf Kamel, Mahmoud Khalil, Mahmouk Mukhtar and Raghib Ayyad this collection of contemporary Egyptian art has finally settled within the grounds of the Cairo Opera House since 1991.
Click here to see our museum listings
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