The Observer (Kampala)
Dismas Nkunda
2 July 2008
opinion
I was absent in these pages last week. That was not because the editors of this paper suddenly slapped a freeze on my writings, as the government is trying to do to the media, or rather burning of The Red Pepper, but rather that I was in a land of history and civilization where the internet creeps like the sand dunes that dot this land.
This year, the African Union summit is taking place in the city of Sham El Sheikh in Egypt. At first I thought I was entering an oven when we landed; the heat and humid taking the better of me. But when I looked to the west there was Red Sea and beyond, something else caught my eyes. Vast mountains and canyons all covered in sand. I began to wonder whether there has been any life in this place. I was reassured that yes, there was life and more.
This is Mt. Sinai.
I did not have a Bible handy. And given that most of the people here prefer the Quran, it took me time to find someone who could help me acquaint myself with the Old Testament since I was close to where the action happened those days.
As I wondered in this Domina Coral Bay hotel, which covers almost half the size of Kampala, stewed with all tribes of tourists, I spotted a waiter. His name was Michael. After ordering a drink, I asked him whether he was Christian, for I needed to borrow a Bible. Yes, he was Coptic Christian and proud to be one. The next morning at breakfast he was there with a well-preserved Bible.
For one hour I buried myself in reading about what happened in this place. I was to learn that Mt. Sinai was the peak where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. The mountain, also called Mt. Horeb and Jebel Musa
(the 'Mountain of Moses') is the place of the Burning Bush. A friend I was with wondered what bush was burnt since this whole land is a sea of sand with no vegetation.
The only shrubs were artificially planted. Another asked why the Red Sea banks have no vegetation, forgetting that this is a salty lake that cannot support any flora growth.
I was told that this mountain was also visited by Prophet Mohammed and Muslim pilgrims are some of the regular visitors.
Apparently the biblical Moses who was the founder Judaism was born in Egypt to a Hebrew slave. The Hebrews had been in slavery for four hundred years.
But then one day an Egyptian priest in the service of the Pharaoh (King) made a prophecy that a child would be born to the Hebrews and that boy would one day free them from slavery.
Upon hearing this, the Pharaoh ordered that every male child born to the Hebrews was to be killed. But Moses' parents, trying to avoid his death placed him in basket which they set adrift on the River Nile. Had the waters of the Nile been flowing towards Uganda, not the other way around, possibly Moses would have ended up in Jinja.
Moses was to be found by the daughter of the Pharaoh who happened to have gone to bathe on the River Nile. She took him and raised him as a royal. But at the age of 40, Moses discovered his true origins. He also learnt that his people, the Hebrews, were slaves in Egypt. Unhappy with their treatment, Moses killed his guard and fled into exile in the Sinai wilderness.
Another 40 years later, while grazing his sheep, Moses came upon a burning bush that was not consumed by its own flames. A voice speaking out of the fire commanded him to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt and return with them to the mountain.
Sham, as it is fondly called by Egyptians, is busy. A day after we got here, Egyptian First lady Suzanne Mubarak came to open a meeting we were attending. Speak about security for the First Lady. Then two days later, President Hosni Mubarak and Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were here for talks about Palestine.
And in a few days, more than 20 Africa heads of state would arrive for the Africa Union summit. Even selected President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was expected.
As I left this historical city, I had only one wish; that all these dear African presidents would benefit a lot if they climbed Mt. Sinai.
Probably they too would get a vision so that the burning bush might come their way. They would then realize that keeping us the ruled in bondage is against God's will!
Dismas Nkunda, The author is a human rights expert and specialist on refugee issues,
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