A friend of mine, Amal, has started up a personal lifecoaching service, based here in Cairo, for Muslim women, and, as far as we know, it’s the first service of its kind here in Egypt.
So what is lifecoaching? Basically it’s a process that helps clients to articulate their dreams and aspirations, to clarify their purposes and goals, and to then help them achieve outcomes in any area of their life: personal, professional, relationships, health… A coach uses various methods derived from management and leadership theories, behavioural therapy, and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), to assist their clients to reach their personally identified goals.
Coaches are not therapists or consultants for psychological problems, neither are they counsellors who delve into the past, or mentors who are experts in a given field, they are future-focussed sounding boards and motivators, who lead from behind. It’s their clients who identify their own goals; the coach’s job is to ask probing provocative questions, provide insights and motivation, really listen, give honest feedback, and help the clients to develop strategies to achieve their goals.
Lifecoaching is very popular in the UK and the Australia now, and spreading to the US and Canada, but the unique aspect of Amal’s service it that it is only offered to English speaking practicing Muslim women. She was trained in Canada by Muhammad Alshareef (the founder of AlMaghrib Institute among other organizations) through DiscoverU (www.discoverulife.com) to use techniques and methods that are successful in secular coaching, and apply them within an Islamic framework.
Although she is based here in Cairo, the service actually is international, as she carries out her 2-weekly coaching sessions by phone or internet and is supported by the DiscoverU website, through which clients get access to NLP techniques and personal development tools, forums, and coaching calls. She does however offer a special discount for people in Egypt who are on lower incomes, knowing that western fees may be beyond the reach of many here.
If you’d like to know more about her service, please email her on
Email Amal (her website is transferring webhosts and will be back soon!)
Showing posts with label muslim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label muslim. Show all posts
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Funerals in Cairo
A question concerning my friends out here is what to do with me in the event of my demise.
On the assumption that I don't have an insurance policy that covers repatriation of my body to the UK, and on the assumption that my family in the UK won't want to fork out the necessary (cost to be entered when I find out what it is - something like $13000 - $20000 is what I have been able to gather), and following an incident where I got sucked into a pile of quicksand not far from the pyramids... the subject arose in conversation.
My closest friends here are all muslim - I don't know what I am - probably default Anglican Christian until I've pondered it all out - and out here, families tend to have a family plot, and burials normally take place within 24 hours of death.
So, anyway, my good friend did some ferreting out for me and here's what she found out in relation to 6th October City, Giza (where I live) ...
Went to the cemetery today as we were passing and asked about Non Moslem burials.
This is what we found out.
6th October Cemetery has a christian area right up at the very back.
If a Christian dies here and they have no plot as such, they can buy one for around 40000le. This is the average price for a family plot ( like little house) which houses about 10 members of the family.
They are built differently to moslem ones.
The typical family one is a little building with an entrance and gate up some starirs which leads 2 ways to a street level basement although it is on ground level if you understand. To the side of the steps going up to the gate are 2 little metal 2 foot square doors with crosses on them and a padlock. The dead person can either go through one of these doors to the cell structure, or up the stairs and then go inside and walk back down stairs to ground level to the cell.
Christians are buried in their own wooden coffin and they remain there. This coffin is laid on the sand ( not under it) alongside any other family members, the door locked and left there. Over time as it it gets crowded the bones are scooped up and the rotted coffins are burned and the bones are all put together into a new coffin and the floor cleared to make way for other members.
There are also little church type structures that ONLY house the bodies of priests in the same format.
There are also little church type houses that are owned by the different types of churches and they are used by the church to bury 'poor' members who have no plot. To go there you HAVE to be a member of that particular denomination.
There are then little structures they call eyes!!, this is what the man said??
These are around 12000le to buy. These are for individual Christian burials. Bit like a plot in a western cemetery but in a little brick house type of affair.
All of them need to be allowed to bury a death certificate from the hospital and another certificate from the Health Dept?? we deduced this was the 6th october Government office where you register everything etc....
If you are Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Baptist whatever you will be housed in their own church type one if you have none of your own and are poor, but must be known to the church.
Not sure about buying them? Maybe have to pay cash or a mortgage type affair? Didnt find that bit out sorry.
----------------
Anyway, a couple of us living out here without families have briefly discussed the idea of buying a plot between us...
I have also been informed that there is a foreigner cemetery somewhere in Cairo.
-----------------
And by the by - if you are a foreign woman (esp Non Muslim) married to a Muslim man then you need to be very clear on the inheritance laws which operate out here in the event of his demise, especially if you don't have the full marriage but an orfi or the other one 'missing a stamp'. Shan't blog them as I'm not in full knowledge of them, but you need to check it out!
On the assumption that I don't have an insurance policy that covers repatriation of my body to the UK, and on the assumption that my family in the UK won't want to fork out the necessary (cost to be entered when I find out what it is - something like $13000 - $20000 is what I have been able to gather), and following an incident where I got sucked into a pile of quicksand not far from the pyramids... the subject arose in conversation.
My closest friends here are all muslim - I don't know what I am - probably default Anglican Christian until I've pondered it all out - and out here, families tend to have a family plot, and burials normally take place within 24 hours of death.
So, anyway, my good friend did some ferreting out for me and here's what she found out in relation to 6th October City, Giza (where I live) ...
Went to the cemetery today as we were passing and asked about Non Moslem burials.
This is what we found out.
6th October Cemetery has a christian area right up at the very back.
If a Christian dies here and they have no plot as such, they can buy one for around 40000le. This is the average price for a family plot ( like little house) which houses about 10 members of the family.
They are built differently to moslem ones.
The typical family one is a little building with an entrance and gate up some starirs which leads 2 ways to a street level basement although it is on ground level if you understand. To the side of the steps going up to the gate are 2 little metal 2 foot square doors with crosses on them and a padlock. The dead person can either go through one of these doors to the cell structure, or up the stairs and then go inside and walk back down stairs to ground level to the cell.
Christians are buried in their own wooden coffin and they remain there. This coffin is laid on the sand ( not under it) alongside any other family members, the door locked and left there. Over time as it it gets crowded the bones are scooped up and the rotted coffins are burned and the bones are all put together into a new coffin and the floor cleared to make way for other members.
There are also little church type structures that ONLY house the bodies of priests in the same format.
There are also little church type houses that are owned by the different types of churches and they are used by the church to bury 'poor' members who have no plot. To go there you HAVE to be a member of that particular denomination.
There are then little structures they call eyes!!, this is what the man said??
These are around 12000le to buy. These are for individual Christian burials. Bit like a plot in a western cemetery but in a little brick house type of affair.
All of them need to be allowed to bury a death certificate from the hospital and another certificate from the Health Dept?? we deduced this was the 6th october Government office where you register everything etc....
If you are Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Baptist whatever you will be housed in their own church type one if you have none of your own and are poor, but must be known to the church.
Not sure about buying them? Maybe have to pay cash or a mortgage type affair? Didnt find that bit out sorry.
----------------
Anyway, a couple of us living out here without families have briefly discussed the idea of buying a plot between us...
I have also been informed that there is a foreigner cemetery somewhere in Cairo.
-----------------
And by the by - if you are a foreign woman (esp Non Muslim) married to a Muslim man then you need to be very clear on the inheritance laws which operate out here in the event of his demise, especially if you don't have the full marriage but an orfi or the other one 'missing a stamp'. Shan't blog them as I'm not in full knowledge of them, but you need to check it out!
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