With
the Diving industry in demand of more Egyptian Diving
Professionals and being aware of the socio-economic
problems of Egypt and the limits it places on the
people, the Board of RSDASS came up with an imaginative
plan to make a difference in the lives of 20 young
Egyptians and at the same time achieve some of its
own goals of increasing the caliber of Egyptian
Diving Instructors.
Karim Helal, Chairman of the Board said “RSDASS
is proud of its efforts and the graduates, but more
needs to be done. With help from PADI, diving equipment
companies and local diving centres, RSDASS is changing
people’s lives and improving the diving industry.
Our second Scholarship Program is now accepting
applications, this time we are looking for 60 candidates”.
Here are the stories from three young Egyptian men
– Reda, Amr and Mohamed, they are three out
of the group of twenty who were the first to participate
and graduate as PADI Instructors with the RSDASS
Diving Scholarship in May 2003. We will trace the
outlines of their stories from their beginnings
to their hopes, then their RSDASS tie-in through
to their transformation, and finally to their place
as a PADI OWSI of the Red Sea and their plans for
the future.
All three men will do much retracing of their lives
as they journey forward, exploring the life left
behind, which may have been just as unknown as the
territory ahead, we wish them all the success for
their futures.
We
hope that this story will remind more individuals
or institutions that grass-roots causes are worthwhile
and that your actions can change the world.
 MOHAMED
EL KHATIB
With
a high-functioning intellect, Mohamed El Khatib
is much too self-aware to find talking about himself
that interesting but he rekindles his story for
us, with the hopes that it might be an inspiration
for others to follow their dreams.
Politeness personified, Mohamed is so familiar,
and so amiable, interviewing him is like chatting
to a nice old friend. Listening to Mohamed talk
is like floating on a flurry of cumulus nimbus.
His voice is a gently accented lull, soothing enough
to calm his most nervous diving students.
Teresa Simpson is his Manager at the Emperor Diving
Centre in Hurghada, she wrote to me about him, ‘Mohamed
known to us as ‘Momo,’ is very considerate
and patient with all his students, and as we are
told by our guests a lot of fun to be with. Nothing
is too much trouble for him and he is a valuable
asset to our team….’
All in all, there isn’t much to put a black
mark against. Even his childhood would give the
Walton’s a run for their money. ‘I had
a lovely upbringing,’ he coos. ‘I remember
it being an incredibly happy time.’ When Mohamed
was three years old the family moved to Jakarta
Indonesia, where his father was a professor of Islamic
law (Sha’riah) at the Al Azhar University
(one of the biggest Islamic Universities). A brother,
one and a half years older, a sister, six years
younger and another brother, eight years younger,
shared the domestic bliss.
In Indonesia, a paradise in every sense of the word,
Mohamed adored his playground with its lush tropical
surrounds – dancing in the rain, catching
butterflies, talking to his parrot and teaching
his monkey tricks are just some of the treasured
memories he has. Indonesia is home to the world’s
largest Muslim population, the people are friendly
and live a peaceful and harmonious lifestyle. Mohamed
has these qualities. It is said that a child’s
experiences up until the age of 5, are the ones
that leave the deepest imprints, so in attitude,
Mohamed is Indonesian (my speculation only).
At the age of ten, Mohamed’s family returned
to Egypt - to a desert climate of endless sun and
sand. The sights and sounds of his new home were
a new, unwelcome phenomenon for him. Roxy-Heliopolis,
Cairo was his new address and within this metropolis
he retreated to the Helio Club. This was one of
the very few places Mohamed could access easily
and independently without restriction. Here the
void he was feeling began to disappear, keeping
himself busy in his free time, playing sports, mainly
swimming.
Mohamed graduated from Ain Shams University in Cairo
with a degree in Business Administration, although
this was not the course which he had his heart set
on. It was his dream to become a Graphic Animator,
but Mohamed believes that he missed out on a place
because in Egypt when you are a young person, the
doors which open for you depend a lot on pulling
strings, i.e. the connections your father has. Sadly,
Mohamed’s father had already passed away.
After that Mohamed went to complete his mandatory
14 month military service & training. He was
based in the surrounding area (mountains) of Sharm
El Sheikh and sometimes on the seaside. One of these
times, donning mask and snorkel he made his first
splash into the Red Sea. The place was a non-tourist
area of Ras Mohamed National Park… ‘it
was eye boggling!’ to say the least. From
then on he would regularly walk over 2km to snorkel
there alone, this sparked some fresh thinking on
where and how to live.
Mohamed’s first job was working for his Uncle
at his plastic manufacturers and importers business
in Cairo. In the two years there, he learnt a lot
and held a top position as his Uncles assistant.
Nevertheless, he knew he would never be happy there,
so, on a wing and a prayer he left to go to Taba,
Sinai. At the Hilton Hotel he was lucky to get a
telephone operator position. He was quickly promoted
to Reservations and after one year, again promoted,
to Senior Reservations and Acting Supervisor. Mohamed
spent three and a half years living & working
in Sinai, it was an idyllic environment he felt
at ease in – he told me ‘there is a
lot of nice energy in the air’, there he could
rekindle his ‘natural world’ sympathies.
One day Mohamed was reading the Al Haram newspaper
when he spotted the advertisement by RSDASS inviting
applicants for the scuba diving scholarship. ‘This
is it!’ he thought ‘a chance to maybe
make a dream come true.’ He sent his application
off in the post and waited. Two weeks passed and
to Mohameds dismay his letter had come back ‘return
to sender.’ After a desperate and tricky search
for the RSDASS fax number, Mohamed quickly sent
his application again. Shortly afterwards Lillian
(wonderful secretary to Karim Helal) called Mohamed
to come in for an interview. Mohamed finally got
his lucky break, he was accepted as a candidate
for the OWSI scholarship.
Several months had passed but still there was no
word on when the training would commence, he called
sometimes to enquire but didn’t want to be
too pushy, anyway, he was no stranger to heartbreak
and wouldn’t have been surprised if someone
else with a connection had taken his place. Mohamed
stopped thinking about the scholarship and went
back to his regular life. Then one day out of the
blue… Lillian called to announce the start
date – 20th June 2002.
For his training, Mohamed was placed with Emperor
Diving Centre. He remembers how he felt at the time
‘the realization that you’re free to
go chasing after dreams and wishes previously out
of reach made this an exciting time.’ Mohamed’s
journey from non diver to Divemaster took only one
and a half months. His instructor for the OWD and
Advanced diver courses was Luciano Lilus, for his
Rescue course, Instructor Fe Fe (Fredrique) Morisod,
and his Divemaster training was completed with Instructor
Bjorn Ramault (who is now a Course Director). For
the IDC he was instructed by respected Egyptian
Course Director Mustafa El Sayad and the IE examiner
was PADI’s Mr. Rupert. Mohamed is now qualified
as PADI MSDT and shortly will be going for IDC Staff,
he enjoyed all the training and admits the pressure
was on for the IDC. Mohamed has been with Emperor
Diving Centre since day one up until today, where
he now works as a permanent full time Instructor.
Even though he has been expected to work harder
than ever and with all the serious stuff about being
a diving instructor, his love for it has left him
feeling pleased and fulfilled, rather than wrung
out. ‘Throughout my time at Emperor, apart
from the all encompassing proficiency of management
and staff, which you can’t help but emulate,
it is being exposed to people from many different
countries that is a great education, this sort of
time sharing, has given me a better understanding
of diversity.’ The ‘gifts’ he
has received through his diving are simply seeing
someone enjoying themselves and being able to teach
someone something new and fun. He is geared up to
fulfill his promise to RSDASS – to “certify
another five people as divers.” As for his
other promise – “to represent and protect
the Red Sea,” he says ‘this was part
of my training – to respect my environment
& fellow divers, so it is a natural progression
for me as a teacher to pass down this message.’
Mohamed’s family, especially his dear mother
have been kept regularly updated on the ins &
outs, ups & downs of his diving journey, he
says ‘even though I am always away, that doesn’t
mean I am away with my feelings.’ His mother
is just content to know that he is happy.
Mohamed has a strong sense of direction, a purpose.
‘I like everything in my life to be unique
and distinguishable.’ At the same time he
concedes that his plans for the future are somewhat
up in the air, ‘Who knows? Life’s full
of twists and turns and can change in the blink
of an eye. I have some different ideas but I haven’t
made definite plans yet.’ His diving has had
more impact on his life than he ever thought possible,
and he has one secret I cannot tell, but I can say
Mohamed is about to go through a very purposeful
phase of his life.
For Mohamed the sweetest victory is being able to
proudly say ‘I am Egyptian, I am an Instructor
and I work at Emperor Diving Centre,’ to him,
this truly exemplifies the meaning of ‘Man
of Honor’.
 REDA
EL SHESHTAWY
Unless
you’re the jealous sort, you can’t help
thinking that Reda El Sheshtawy is a great bloke.
A young Marlon Brando reincarnated, he swaggers
into the garden where I am waiting for him, proffers
a hand and smiles like an old friend. Expensive
sunglasses wrapped around his eyes and his skin
is Red Sea Riviera sun-kissed. He might be the burgeoning
star instructor at Divers Lodge, popular with his
students and co-workers alike, but Reda doesn’t
do ego.
As I interviewed him and got to know him, it became
apparent that there is solidity to him and a formidably
mature attitude that could have stemmed from his
father & older (six years) brother who are both
incredibly strong. When he was growing up in Kafr
El Sheikh (on the eastern outskirt of Alexandria)
they worked hard trying to build up their respective
businesses in agricultural trading (his brother
worked a second job to help prop up his business).
After Reda graduated from Tanta University with
a degree in Commerce he went to work alongside his
father for 5 years. ‘I took a lot away from
that,’ says Reda. ‘I’m not really
fazed by anything, and I know that in order to really
make something of yourself, you have to put in the
time and the effort.’ For Reda the notion
of working hard to reap the rewards was tested to
the limit during Reda’s training from open
water diver up to divemaster; he held down a full
time job, working at night as the Front Office Cashier
at Giftun Hotel and diving/ studying by day –
this compounded by a lack of sleep would even be
too much for a Trojan to bear, but Reda did it and
at the end he was offered a divemaster job by Divers
Lodge (then he was able to give up his hotel job).
Sorry, I didn’t mean to get ahead of myself,
on with the story…Not enough to just emulate,
Reda had the burning ambition to outdo both his
father & brother in the same business, but this
required more funds than he could make and save
working for his father. Then a gutsy 23 year old,
his cousin had told him about the virtues and opportunities
in Lebanon. A two year stint in Lebanon working
as a waiter then as a professional footballer ended
in disappointment. ‘My time there was difficult
and at times lonely but now I am really glad I went.
I’ve had a life experience outside of Egypt
and it has helped me to be a better instructor,
on a social level.’
This was not the end of Reda’s intrepid travels,
he returned to Egypt but only because it was necessary
for his visa application to Amsterdam, Holland –
where his four cousins lived and ran restaurants.
A slightly dodgy travel agent organized his travel
and visa’s for a nice price, it was a sort-of-round-Europe
trip; Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany,
Holland. Reda made it to Poland where he waited
to meet the brother of the slightly dodgy travel
agent, who was supposed to arrange the visa’s
to Germany & Holland. He was too late in applying
and Reda’s Polish visa expired and he was
sent back to Ukraine and then back to Cairo. Reda
went back to work for his father for another three
years. Reda has always been incredibly close to
his family, he would always do anything to help
his other siblings, (an older sister, younger brother
and sister) in particular his sisters, one of whom
was preparing to marry. Egyptian tradition requires
the bride to supply all the household contents,
the cost of this can run way beyond what the average
Egyptian wage earner can make in a couple of years.
After his sister was married and with little cash
left in reserve, Reda arrived in Hurghada during
the year 2000, he thought of making a go of it in
diving. He was a strong swimmer and doesn’t
remember when he learnt to swim because he always
had, growing up close to the Mediterranean Sea.
Since the first time he had dipped into the Red
Sea snorkeling, he got carried away by its magic
and beauty and became immersed in following his
scuba diving dream. He started by making some inquiries
but found that the costs were beyond his present
means.
As luck would have it, one day Reda was sat in an
internet café when he overheard the conversation
between two of the workers, one telling the other
about the RSDASS Diving Scholarship program. Without
delay, he made his way to the RSDASS office and
submitted his application along with the hundreds
of other hopefuls. Reda guesses it was ‘just
luck’ that he was selected. He was ecstatic,
despite a tricky start with the first diving centre
he was designated, there was a complaint about his
English skills (although I didn’t find his
accent particularly strong and his English was very
good, he must have improved a lot quickly!) he was
neglected there and he was kind of beached for a
short while. He was rescued by Karim Helal (ironically,
the man who conceived the scholarship program) he
placed Reda in his Diving Centre - Divers Lodge
where he completed his training up to divemaster
with Lebanese Instructor Wassim El Rabaa. The Course
Director for his IDC was Mustafa El Sayad and the
examiner was Mr Rupert from PADI. For someone who
worked so incredibly hard during his training I
was a little surprised to hear his answer when I
posed the question: “What part of the training
did you find most difficult?” his answer was
‘I love diving, when you love and want something
so much, there is nothing difficult.’ His
favorite part of the training was the divemaster
course and IDC.
Reda still works at Divers Lodge, now as a Diving
Instructor (PADI MSDT & TDI Nitrox) he loves
it there and says ‘I can’t imagine ever
leaving.’ He explains how Divers Lodge is
unique – (when the logistics of operations
are set aside) it is a combination of stuff, but
most distinctly it has a “young at heart”
atmosphere. Reda gets a kick out of finding out
what his diving guests really want to see, then
schedules dive sites where he takes them down for
their special underwater encounter or experience.
He has an affinity with the dolphin and over the
years has collected many dolphin charms given to
him by his guest divers as a token of their respect
and gratitude.
Reda hopes that in the future he will be able to
open his own diving centre, for now it’s just
a dream but Reda is nothing if not tenacious, and
the more we talked, the more I realized how this
just might become a reality.
I asked Reda about his promise to RSDASS “to
represent and protect the Red Sea,” ‘I’m
proud to be an Egyptian’ he smiles. ‘It
means the world to me to be a diving instructor
and it now truly makes me who I am.’ On the
day he passed his IE, being aware of the responsible
position he now had and determined to do the right
thing, he promised himself to always be a professional
and a very good instructor. Reda threw himself into
perfecting his craft by watching the PADI training
videos over and over again, as well as reading anything
related to instructing. Nobody’s fool, Reda
can’t cope with being tagged as “unprofessional”
just because he is an Egyptian Instructor, he says
‘that too many foreign dive instructors are
making these indiscriminate and disdainful comments’
he explains how this is disconcerting to the many
great instructors who have unfairly been put in
this basket. Reda insists that he and his fellow
Egyptian collaborators take even more care (than
the foreigners do) for marine life and guests ‘because
we respect our Red Sea environment as well as ourselves,’
he says. Reda has already fulfilled his other promise
to RSDASS; to train and certify another 5 Egyptians
to be divers – he has certified more than
10.
Finally, a short morality tale for you – “Bad
guy can’t win.” Reda is without doubt
a winner; he is a ‘Man of Honor.’
 AMR
RUSHDY
While
growing up, everything about Amr’s life was
very typically middle Egyptian (ordinary). He lived
with his middle class family - father a medical
facilities manager and full-time mother, he is the
middle child of five; two brothers, Amr, and two
sisters. Amr was quiet and obedient to his parents.
He enjoyed his many friendships and played football
and ping pong. They had a river front home but Amr
had only ever dipped his fishing rod (and toes)
in the Nile. He was born and raised in the village
Nakada - Kena, a town pretty much slap bang in the
middle of Egypt, 60 km north of Luxor. This is a
place where the majority of children have a comfortable
bed in which they dream about becoming (wait for
it…) a school teacher! Yes of course, how
middle of the road. Strange, then, that this young
man should be dreaming of something a little more
out there. But the young Amr was already showing
signs of single-minded determination when he enrolled
to university to be a physical education teacher,
a move that would characterize his later life and
career.
The next few years at Asyut University (280 km north
of Kena on the Nile river) were enormously mould-breaking
for Amr. Through his course he learned to swim and
became a lifeguard, he also qualified as a volleyball
referee and gained massage, jacuzzi and sauna qualifications,
as well as gaining desert safari camping skills.
During his school holidays he filled the role of
lifeguard and volleyball referee on the beaches
of Alexandria – here he displayed an extraordinary
talent for taking charge and giving direction. “I
realized it was not just about me that I cared about”
he said, “I started to become excited about
sports and the outdoors. I was interested in leading
people in activities and doing something different”.
The beach became a magic classroom for him, giving
him real life lessons and along with this his self
esteem grew.
18 June 2002, had started like any other university
day for Amr. With less than 2 weeks until exams
and graduation, his mind was on securing good grades
and then getting out of university to search for
interesting employment. Then his uncle, Amged Mostafa
asked him to make a trip to Hurghada, “when
my uncle asked if I had thought of scuba diving
as a career, I was so happy”. Amr told me
“it’s a job I never thought I could
do because of my countries low economy, but I was
always fascinated by the films I saw on TV about
diving and the underwater world”. Naturally
his conventional family felt very cynical about
the idea. And like so, the spawn was released into
the big blue...
Chance, divine intervention – call it what
you will. After two days Amr was in Hurghada and
meeting the man who would change his life forever
– Karim Helal. His uncle knew Karim from the
Captains Bar of the Intercontinental Hotel, where,
over the many years Karim would have his meetings
and the uncle worked as a Bar Manager. It didn’t
take long before the chat turned to diving and Amr
expressed his interest to Karim, after which Karim
invited him to apply for the traineeship. Amr returned
to Asyut University and completed his exams on the
11th of July 2002. The very next day he was back
in Hurghada at Divers Lodge Diving Centre for day
one PADI Open Water course with Dive Instructor
Wassim El Rabaa, Amr says this is the course he
enjoyed the most out of the entire traineeship program.
The training from OWD to OWSI took just over ten
months to complete. When I asked Amr what part of
the training was the most difficult? He answered
breezily that he had enjoyed the entire program
and that there was nothing difficult, perhaps that
may have something to do with his mentor - described
by Amr as a “completely great instructor”
Hassan Abdel Aziz took Amr from Advanced diver up
to Divemaster. He took his IDC with the respected
Egyptian PADI Course Director Mustafa El Sayad.
The Instructor Examiner was PADI’s Mr Rupert.
On the 26th of May, 2003 Amr Rushdy became a PADI
Open Water Scuba Instructor. But all the excitement
of his success and the celebrations, his diving
and his new career plans were to be put on hold,
because on exactly that day he was to commence his
mandatory military training and service. For the
next 13 months and 19 days he was sat guarding the
Aswan Bridge, always busy with tourists and not
a bad place when you consider some of the alternatives
but still it didn’t compare to diving in the
Red Sea - for Amr, his patience was to be tested
to the limit. Not surprisingly, he spent every moment
of his 13 weeks holidays in Hurghada either working
as a freelance instructor or just diving for fun.
When Amr returned to Hurghada for good in September
2004, he was supplied free of charge all the diving
equipment basics a diving instructor needs and applied
for a job at the French diving centre Dune in Safaga.
The owner, Lea Besse gave him a chance and within
a few weeks, he had started his 2 months training.
For the safety of the guests and to maintain the
standards and procedures of Dune diving centre,
Amr has been supervised whilst working as a dive
guide on the liveaboards, Lea tells me that she
is pleased with his work and if he continues this
way that in six months he will take full responsibility
for leading dive safari’s. In the last seven
months, Amr has clocked up enough time underwater
that any experienced instructor would tip his cap,
he proudly claims to have dived all the Egyptian
Red Sea sites, and has been captivated by the life
he has encountered in his new underwater world,
especially the manta rays. With the clientele being
French, he is learning to parlais Française
very quickly and as I observed has almost perfected
the french pout, on the boat he can now teach courses
in three different languages (French, English &
Arabic). He has added TDI Nitrox Instructor to his
diving CV, and plans to continue on a technical
diving path up to TDI Trimix Instructor.
Amr’s family is thrilled with his new vocation,
the only setback is that they now do not see each
other often enough and each misses the other dearly.
But nothing could turn Amr away from diving now
‘c’est moi’ (‘it’s
me’) he says. Amr is a fine young man –
well mannered and self respecting, combined with
his RSDASS training he has been transformed into
just the type of person to fit the bill ‘Representative
of the Red Sea’. When asked about his promise
to RSDASS to “represent and protect diving
in Egypt’s Red Sea” he says repeatedly
“for sure, for sure”, he explains how
educating the divers about marine life protection
is the first and most important thing. “There
are so many cool things about being a diving instructor
but the best is teaching people to dive” and
he is eager to fulfill his promise to give back
to the community by training and certifying five
people starting with his friends.
Nowadays
when Amr sleeps in his cabin bunk he dreams of owning
a diving centre – quite ambitious I guess,
but I suppose that when facing your future from
the abyss, then you have to eventually go up! (If
you know what I mean). To his family and the people
in his ordinary town of Kena the opportunity given
to him and what he has achieved is an extraordinary
thing, to them he is nothing less than a Man of
Honor.
|
Travelouge: 
Nature
tourism is often used to link wildlife management
with economic incentives to promote conservation,
particularly in developing countries. It is also
becoming an increasingly important component of
the global tourism product. 
The
Size of the eco-tourism market, Ceballos-Lascur?in
(1993) reports a WTO estimate that nature tourism
generates 7% of all international travel expenditure
(Lindberg, 1997). The World Resources Institute
(1990) found that while tourism overall has been
growing at an annual rate of 4%, nature travel is
increasing at an annual rate between 10% and 30%
(Reingold,1993). Data which supports this growth
rate is found in Lew’s (1997) survey of tour
operators in the Asia- Pacific region who have experienced
annual growth rates of 10% to 25% in recent years
(Lindberg, 1997).WTO (1998) stated that ecotourism
and all nature-related forms of tourism account
for approximately 20 percent of total international
travel.
Why
Wadi el Gemal ??? 
Wadi
Vegetation