Memoirs of an Egyptian

210715PBJoanElhamy A BUSY LIFE: Joan Rosier-Jones and Elhamy Elzayat are working on his memoirs. PICTURE / PAUL BROOKS

Elhamy Elzayat has done more than enough to warrant a memoir and he is working on it with Wanganui wordsmith Joan Rosier-Jones.
His home is near Cairo, but Elhamy is also a permanent resident of New Zealand.
He is owner of Emeco Travel in Egypt and partner in Innovative Travel in Christchurch; he pioneered travel between Egypt and Israel, running the first boat, road and air services between the two countries, flying a civilian aircraft from Cairo to Tel Aviv over Sinai.
Following the 2012 uprisings he was one of 50 prominent Egyptians appointed to draft a new constitution.
He was Honorary Consul General of New Zealand - until this country opened an embassy in Egypt - and was presented with the NZ Order of Merit by Helen Clarke.
He is Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation and on the the board of the Egyptian Holding Company for Tourism and Cinema, The Egyptian Holding Company for Egypt Airports and the Media City Company for Hotels.
He is a member of the General Assembly of the Holding Company of Egyptair.
He writes and he lectures worldwide, in particular on peace through tourism.
His business is travel and he says there is a need to diversify ... "Especially after the revolution in Egypt; we lost a lot of business which we had to replace with other destinations."
He says business is picking up but many tourists take the all-inclusive options in resorts by the sea. "It means these tourists don't spend the money. They don't visit, they don't go to shops. They come, they drink and they stay in the sand.
"Cultural tourism decreased from 2009 after the world economic crisis, especially to Egypt."
He says too many people stay away because they believe what the media tells them. "What you see on CNN is not what's happening." He doesn't buy the American propaganda, especially when they described the 2012 uprisings as a coup d'etat. "A coup d'etat is not made by 33 million people," he says. "And they were mostly women and children ... everybody did not want the Moslem Brothers. The women were crucial; they incited men to go in the streets. I would never go in a demonstration, but seeing my wife I was ashamed and had to go. On July 3 [2013] we asked the army to intervene. They hid [the President] somewhere until they put in place a tribunal to judge him."
To draft the new constitution 50 people were chosen. "With different backgrounds," says Elhamy. "We had Communists, the three churches, the University, fundamentalists, socialists, capitalists, trades, feminists ... five women and they were stronger than all the men. We made mistakes, but it's better than anything we had before."
"We have delivered three things," says Elhamy. "The President, Parliament and the constitution."
Elhamy met Joan through her daughter Carol, who works at Innovative Travel.
"Seven or eight years ago I was in Queenstown, walking beside the lake in the snow, because I like it when it's cold. I had a Dictaphone and I was dictating. One day I was with Carol and John [her husband] at their home, and I said I want to write this but I don't know how to put it together. Carol said, 'My auntie is a writer; she's fantastic.' Three years ago I met Joan and now we are in the final stages of reviewing the text."
The book covers everything from his birth in 1942, through various Egyptian governments and his life from mathematics teacher to influential businessman.
He studied Latin and Ancient Greek, speaks Arabic, French, English and Spanish ... "I love languages, history and mathematics." He taught statistics at the American University in Cairo.
He joined Pan Am as a sales rep and 10 years later opened his own company.
He writes about how he met his wife; how he went to Israel and commenced the travel business between Egypt and Israel. He writes about his long association with South Africa, with Mandela, and how he hosted de Klerk in Egypt. "I try to do things out of the usual, but I do it with conviction," he says. "I was convinced that peace would prevail one day. I'm not convinced anymore."
He has many Jewish friends ... "But the new generation, they don't know each other. If the momentum started by Sadat continued, we would be in better shape. I don't think it will change in the near future."
Joan Rosier-Jones says the book should be completed before the end of the year. It is being published by Wanganui's Tangerine Publications.