(1920-2004): Mountain climber One year after his passing, Gertie El-Naggar* reflects on the friendships and kindnesses keeping the legacy of her late husband alive Allow me to start with a few personal words about Said. I think few people knew he was a good mountaineer and a good cross-country skier. We met mountain climbing in the Alps. Climbing mountains teaches you specific qualities: fitness, teamwork, patience, endurance and above all, a great love and respect for nature. You start out to reach that summit for many reasons; perhaps one of the most important being the challenge of reaching it while appreciating the powerful beauty surrounding you and the friendship and solidarity created among those in your following. It is not necessarily a solitary sport. Said was one very rare Egyptian who was ready to learn to ski when he was about 50 years old. He said it made him feel so young! He loved life profoundly. He was a firm believer in keeping up exercise until the last days of his life, and rarely missed the opportunity to have his one-hour walk at sunrise in the Orman Garden next to our home. Said had a blessed sense of humor. He would tell a story after sailing downhill on his skis, recalling the fellah who got on a bicycle and did not know how to stop, his galabeya getting caught in the wheels ... I can still hear the warmth of his laughter. He always showed great courage. And his courage took many different forms. This part of my story has now become familiar: a year ago he attended a lunch meeting in Heliopolis, held to discuss economic and political reform in Egypt. The audience was given the opportunity to ask questions. Most of the government "establishment" was present, as well as most foreign countries' ambassadors. I was told that Said was the first to rise. He said that with respect to economic reform, he would admit that there had been some progress made in Egypt, but when it came to political reform he could not say the same. Said asked whether the president of the republic might be willing to allow more than one candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, in which case he would be willing to give the president his vote. He also added that he thought it a humiliation for the Egyptian people to be presented with a referendum, simply having to vote yes or no. I was told that the audience of some 350 people rose and gave him their applause. One ambassador telephoned me after Said passed away to say that during the five years of his service in Egypt, he had never witnessed similar courage, and that he had reported the event back to his government. When Said later told me about this occasion, it was one of the last times I saw him happy and in full vigor. Three days later, despite running a fever, he went to give an interview on Dream II television, in which he reiterated these viewpoints and that the Constitution of Egypt had to be changed. Two weeks later he was no more. Said was deeply concerned about the situation of education in Egypt. In particular, he strongly resented the establishment of so many foreign universities. He often spoke of the inevitable loss of a sense of identity that would occur: one student would be graduating from an American university, another from a German university, yet another from a French university. How would these students grow up to have the sense of an Egyptian identity? How could they feel a belonging to the culture and rich, literary tradition of the Arabic language? Said knew that the Arabic language is an essential part of the Egyptian culture. He would often recite the old Arab poetry by heart, texts in which he would find great solace and beauty. His generation was steeped in the thorough knowledge of the great poets and writers in the Arabic language, and so they themselves became masters of it. He took the trouble of translating some of these texts to me with great patience. The last couple of books left on his desk were Adba' Al-Arab fil Asour Al-Abbasiya, and what was for him one of the most important books written, Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty. When Said decided to create The New Civic Forum (NCF) at the age of 70, he faced yet another of the many challenges life had placed before him. Towards the end of his life he often expressed his concern that when he would be gone, The New Civic Forum would be gone with him. So when I lost my husband and best friend, I decided to try to focus all my energies towards helping to preserve the organisation that he had founded in 1991, together with other friends and colleagues here in Cairo, and to which he devoted the last 14 years of his life. Some of you may already be familiar with the NCF, an NGO whose objectives and basic concepts are the promotion of liberal reforms in the economic, political and social fields, in order to ensure a decent standard of living, human rights for men and women, genuine democracy and social justice for the Egyptian people. Texts on these objectives are available in pamphlets in English and Arabic, published by the Forum. The NCF seeks to achieve these objectives through lectures, research, seminars, conferences and other means of communication. Following the death of my husband, a meeting of the Board of Directors was held, and the new president of the organisation, Mahmoud Abaza, a founding member, was chosen. I wish to take this opportunity to convey my appreciation to the Board of Directors of the Forum, as well as to its devoted staff, for the friendship and support they have all shown me throughout this past year. A special thanks goes to Hossam Mahmoud, professor of mathematical statistics and computer science. He has offered invaluable assistance towards creating a new important aspect of the NCF's activity, which we have worked on together for the past few months: our website. Hossam did this work on a voluntary basis in honor of the memory of Said, and the ideals that the NCF stands for. The site was revamped, re-organised and launched on what would have been the 85th birthday of my husband last January. The address is: www.newcivicforum.org. I would like to invite you to find out more about the Forum. On this site you will find out about the new Board of Directors, the schedule of our meetings, which take place at its headquarters at 14 Abdel-Hamid Lutfi Street, behind Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque in Mohandessin district, Cairo. These meetings are held every Monday evening at 7pm. There is a lecture by a distinguished speaker, followed by open and free discussions, which take place in Arabic. During the week of 22 March, 2005, for instance, we had the honour of hosting Rushdi Said, the eminent geologist, who lectured to us upon the topic "Egypt, the Gift of the Nile". We will shortly be placing a summary of the lectures on the NCF site. All are cordially invited to participate in these meetings and discussions. Under the link "publications" you will find a list of the titles of our monthly bulletins, as well as a list of seminars and other events that have been organised by the Forum. The listed publications are available upon request by e-mail, or when attending lectures at the Forum. We are at present in the process of placing summaries of our publications on the site mentioned. It is our plan to move towards bilingual content in the near future. It is my hope that the progress achieved by the Forum during this year will continue. Together, we at the New Civic Forum will work hard so that the organisation will stay on course to the benefit of Egypt and its people. Through this new window to the world, which we are constantly working to improve, our Internet presence will reach out and spread the ideas, thoughts and dreams for Egypt that the founding fathers of our Forum had in mind at the time of its creation. * The writer is widow of the late Dr , and honourary president of the New Civic Forum, founded by him. Mrs El-Naggar is also member of AFICS-Egypt and of the editorial board of Beyond Quarterly.
