To be able to touch a miraculous work of my ancestors was life changing.
Climbing the Rock Tombs of Elephantine Island . Sam, James Robinson, and Breyiana Moody.
Playing rope with the children of the nubian villiage. - Breyiana Moody
In awe - Breyiana Moody
The way in which the Ancient Egyptians used natural light within the temples is absolutely amazing. -Breyiana Moody
..................................*sigh and deep breaths* I apologize for beginning this entry so unusually but after the class we just had....at this current moment that is all I can do. In fact, I do not apologize because that would give the implication that something wrong has been done ensuing a feeling of possible regret, which is not the case. There are so many words to describe today’s full day class session, but at the same time there are no words sufficiently expressive enough to describe it.
For almost two weeks now, we have traveled together, taught and learned from one another, lived together, and experienced something most of our people may never get to experience first hand together. With all this time that we have spent together getting to know one another, we probably know each other better than our closest friends; but at the same time you can know everything about a person and still know nothing about them. This was discovered today as my various peers and elders reflected about the trip and the connections and impacts it has made to and in their personal lives. As many people shared their thoughts and reflections, it was obvious that a certain feeling of familial trust had been established amongst us. It was this connectedness of such where if the person cried, you cried; the person laughed, you laughed; the person got angry, you got angry. The entire situation reminds me of the song “I Cry” by Ja Rule featuring Lil Mo. “When I cry, you cry, we cry together.” I was humbled by the entire class because it was finally clear that everyone understands why we came here. Everyone if not completely cognizant is at least aware of our memory dismemberment and can now work towards re-membering it.
Today’s class let you know that there were other people [there] with you. There are other people who have/are going through what you have/are going through or worse. This entire trip if nothing else has established this fact: there are people like you. There are countless times on this trip that people looked at the sculptures and figures on the walls of temples and had the epiphany: “That’s me. I look like that. Those are my lips and my nose.” For any black person who felt as if they did not belong or were not good enough to accomplish greatness or exceed such, that theory was and should have been completely decimated and shot to hell with whatever/whoever made you feel as such when you are re-minded of what your ancestors, the Africans, the Egyptians accomplished. They created EVERYTHING from NOTHING; as we will when we go back “home” to share with our family and friends what we have learned. They think they know.....but they have no idea.
Today’s wake up call is 5:30am for our three hour drive to Abydos. By now, I think everyone is used to the earlier wake up calls and driving long distances for hours. This just means one thing to us: NAP TIME!!
Abydos, although mostly buried, spreads over five square miles and is composed of archaeological remains from all phases of Kemetic civilization. It is the original center for Wosir (Osiris) and is most famous for its seven Holy of Holies dedicated to Sety I, Ptah, Re-Horakhty, Amun-Re, Wosir (Osiris), Auset (Isis), and Heru (Horus). There is a back gateway oriented to the site of the old royal cemetery at Umm el-Gaab. The most distinctive and memorable pictures on the wall were the ones illustrating the myth of Osiris. In this myth, Isis and her sister, Nephthys find Osiris after he was killed by Seth. His death is not erased nor undone, but integrated into Maat (the divine order of the world). Osiris is awakened from his slumber and through transfiguration, Isis is able to impregnate herself by him, in order to conceive a son, who will avenge his father’s death. The beauty of Abydos is seen through its imagery, which depicts more intimacy and affection between humanity than previously seen at other sites. We also got to see the archaeological site of where it is thought Osiris to be buried.
The second stop of the day was to Dendera. Dendera is the temple for Het Heru, also known as Hathor, the personification of love, motherhood, fertility, music, and dance. She is represented with cow ears. The thirty-four columns of the temple are headed with four sided heads of the cow goddess adding the spectacularity of the already amazing art on the walls and ceilings, which show off the extreme extent of the Egyptians knowledge of the sun, stars, and universe. The ceilings illustrated their discovery of what we know today as horoscopes and how they measured time based on just studying the stars. AMAZING? INCREDIBLE? UNFATHOMABLE? UNBELIEVABLE? I know. I gave up trying to find words to describe the works of the Egyptians a long time ago..........last week.
The whole time we have been in Egypt a real bond has grown between all of us. We have come a long way from the first day in JFK airport when we hardly knew anyone. Through our daily lectures, I have really gained so much insight on African civilizations and also the lives that African Americans are living right now through testimonies that were given.
During lectures, I don’t speak out like some others. I prefer to sit back and absorb everything that is said. The room sometimes gets filled with so much emotion. On Friday in particular, we opened the session with a brief talk by Mr. Clarence Jones on his blog entry. After he spoke, the floor was opened for reflections. It seemed that after about 30 seconds of looking around to see who would say something, the floodgates opened. Several people started to get up and share their experience and reflections on this trip.
To give a more well rounded expression, many people drew from their past life experiences. Moments like that really give you insight into people’s lives and what they have been through. I applaud all of my classmates who have been through storms in their lives and are still making great things happen everyday. I was shocked by the struggles they described and I struggled to place myself in their shoes. In that moment, I gained a new appreciation for everyone in the room. I can honestly say, you can never judge a book by the cover.
Rise and shine at 4:30 this morning!!! It was all part of the plan to beat Re at his own game. First stop of the day was the colossi of Amenhotep III. These were the statues of Amenhotep III & Queen Tiye.It was a little difficult to tell because their faces were pretty much gone due to time.
Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir El-Bahri designed by Senenmut was the next stop of the day. I find her accomplishments as pharaoh during her reign to be incredulous. This is especially because there was no female who had ever taken the reigns of what was known to be a man’s job at that time. Her temple was an example of how they tried to erase her out of history by scratching her out of most of the wall drawings.
Next, it is what I have been waiting for since the Cairo Museum- the Valley of the Kings!!! We went into King Tut’s tomb, Ramases III’s, Thutmosis II’s, and Ramases IX’s.
Seeing King Tut’s tomb really did not help in giving me a viable explanation to where all the treasures we saw at the Cairo Museum were originally found. In fact, it added to my disbelief. The tomb is way to small to fit everything we saw at the museum, but unfathomably it did. We also saw King Tut’s mummy itself. It had to be taken out of the coffin and placed in a glass case because it was too weak to be moved. This is due to Howard Carter, who uncovered the tomb. It took him ten years to find it and five years to take all the treasures out. In the process of doing this he searched Tut’s mummy for pieces of gold, amulets, and other jewelry, resulting in the further weakening of the body.
Ramases III’s tomb was a little more complex than Tut’s and it was definitely bigger. The key thing about his tomb was that it depicted the table of races and therefore delineated how the Egyptians viewed themselves in comparison to the rest of the world. Did they consider themselves to be African? According to the pictures on the wall, they sure did!! Also, on both walls on either side of the tomb when you first walk in you see his declaration of innocence, which was a written depiction of his character-another key aspect of his tomb.
Thutmosis III’s tomb was unnecessarily overly complex. Before you even go into his tomb, you have to climb some very steep stairs that lead into a mountain. Then to enter his tomb, you go down another flight of stairs that were also steep which lead you to one room which connects the last room with a very small, steep staircase that is perfect for those who are vertically challenged. The last room has a coffin and hieroglyphs filled the walls in both rooms. These hieroglyphs were questionable in my eyes because they were unlike the other previous paintings on the walls we have seen. They looked primitive and unlike what we normally expect from the Egyptians. It seemed they were drawn with a Sharpie marker and they were stick figures. Dr. Carr’s explanation of this is these were earlier works that date back to the 1500’s and 1400’s.
Ramases IX’s tomb structure was pretty simple. This is probably due to the fact that it was unfinished. The last stops of the day were the worker’s village for the workers of Deir Al-Bahari Temple and Ra-Moses’ tomb. It is hard to believe the village was even a a real village at some point that housed 400 workers.
The biggest issue of the the day was the limitation on our ability to take pictures inside the tombs. Most of the day we were instructed to leave our cameras on the bus. Now if we really want to take pictures, we are going to find a way. We are African. It is in our blood to resist, esp. those limitations imposed on us that have no business being imposed. If you do not believe me, look at slavery. There were a couple of incidents where security tried to hold us down, figuratively. The first incident was in King Tut’s tomb where the “security guard" (I use that term loosely) clearly took 20 pounds ($4.00 U.S.) from a white man and allowed him to take a picture or two but literally got in our face at the slightest sound or hint of light. The other incident occurred at Ramases IX’s tomb where yet again one of my peers was accused of taking pictures. This time the “security” confiscated his phone and took him to the head of their joke of a department. As usual, Dr. Carr did what he does best and handled the situation. The point of the matter is that these incidents should have never occurred in the first place because these people have no right to restrict us from any means we take to feel close to our people. They are making a business on the backs of our ancestors which is just so disrespectful. But, I bet you are wondering if we really did commit these crimes we were accused of. Well, I will let you come to your own conclusion on the topic. All I suggest is that you keep in mind that we are African.
As we begin our journey to Ancient Kemet, I was unsure of what laid ahead. After 6 days of site visits, lectures and readings, covering centuries upon centuries of rich history, I could only begin to attempt to absorb it all. How could I go back to my family, university, and nation with this abundance of new knowledge and pour the truth back into the masses. I finally stumbled upon the something that was in front of me for weeks. In our travel packets /reading there is the Teaching of Ptah Hotep. Which reads,
“Don’t be proud of your knowledge. Take counsel with the ignorant as well as the wise.” . . . .Good discourse is more hidden than green stone, yet may be found among the maids at the grindstones. “
Coupled with the corresponding lecture I learned that Ptah Hotep strongly lived by the concept of the Medu. The Medu stood for the staff of old age, something sturdy to pass on to the next generation. Basically the strength of a legacy: if you pass on this truth, this truth will make the next generation live, therefore battling against the fear and reality of non-existence.
While reading this material and learning about the Medu I was reminded of a poem I once learned, which could aid me in the way in which I could create My MEDU, or strong legacy by passing on the truth.
“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.”
More than a year after the surgery I was leaving a meeting and one of my Howard University co-workers stopped me to inquiry about my health. I indicated that I was doing fine. He mentioned that I helped him to renew his faith. In amazement, I asked him how this was so. He said it was because of what I said to him during a visit he made to my hospital room. I asked, what did I say? He stated that I said that I knew that there were Angels watching over me (undoubtedly my ancient ancestors, my father and mother, and a host of others). He then said that he could see the peace and calm in my face. Moreover, a year later he was a witness to my marvelous recovery.
It has been more than three and a half years since my diagnosis. The statistics suggest that the survival rate beyond five years is around five percent. The doctors and nurses all marveled at my recovery. Some called it a miracle. But, I know that Jesus is the marvel worker and I am just the vessel. It is with gratitude that I thank the nurses and doctors at Howard University Hospital.
A note of special is extended to my surgeon, Dr. Wayne Frederick, a gifted prodigy that journeyed from his home in Trinidad at the age of 16 to begin his undergraduate education at Howard University. He then went on to graduate from Howard’s medical school. He is a talented Surgical Oncologist and acting director of Howard University’s Cancer Center. Dr. Frederick is the protégé of the legendary Dr. LaSalle Leffall, who is currently the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at Howard University Hospital. It is noteworthy that Dr. Leffall was trained by the iconic Dr. Charles Drew, a legendary pioneer in the field of blood transfusion. I thank God for the skill, dedication, and compassion of these exemplars of medical excellence. Their work is consistent with the spirit of Imhotep (2655-2600 BC) who was one of the world's most famous ancients from Kemet and is often recognized as the world's first doctor, a priest, scribe, sage, poet, astrologer, and a vizier and chief minister. Imhotep is considered the father of medicine. In fact, Dr. Eric Anthony Joseph, a scholar from Lincoln University asserts the following:
When the Egyptians crossed the Mediterranean Sea, becoming the foundation of the Greek culture, Imhotep's teachings were absorbed and sampled there. Yet, as the modern Greeks were determined to assert that they were the originators of almost everything, Imhotep was forgotten for thousands of years. In his place the legendary figure Hippocrates, who came 2,000 years after Imhotep, became known "incorrectly" as the "Father of Medicine."
This falsehood is so woven into the pedagogical fabric of western higher learning that upon graduation from western medical schools students must or will take this erroneous and rightly called "Hippocratic" oath! What a hypocrisy made by my so-called learned scholars who continue to perpetrate this known "lie" to the next generation of physicians
In conclusion, although the journey is not over, I have learned that faith and grace are enduring dimensions of a God-center life. Five themes emerge that are critical to staying on course. These include:
The most important of these is Faith. Hebrew 11:6 says, Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Praise the Lord my Rock, Redeemer, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I lift Him up. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen.
Yours in the spirit of Ma’at (truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice.)
Clarence Jones, CPA
The Karnak Temple is the most important and archaeological site in Kemet. It is the largest temple complex ever constructed with Amun as the central figure of the temple and is referred to as Ipet Resyt (the southern private chambers). The prominent local divinities of Karnak were Montu and Amun. We saw the sandstone columns and still painted ceilings of Hypostle Hall, the Kiosk of Taharqa, Hatshepsut’s obelisk, the Sacred Lake, and the Festival Temple of Djehutymes III. One of the most impressive things I found about the Karnak Temple besides the fact that it took about 31 people to make a full circle around one of the columns, was the sphinx-lined processional way that stretched to the Luxor Temple.
As usual, in order to further enhance our general knowledge, we took a detour to the White Chapel. The White Chapel was built by Senwosret I and is also known as the world’s first university. The beautiful and tragic thing about the White Chapel is that many people are unaware of its existence. Because of this, they are missing out on the legacy and history. It is in this quaint, little building that students learned astronomy and theology and how they are but one science rather than two which is used as direction for their daily lives. At this temple, I was blessed with an out of body experience as Dr. Carr performed a libation. There is nothing that can compare to or describe the thoughts and feelings I had that makes me even more thankful and appreciative of having the opportunity to have this experience.
The Luxor Temple is dedicated to Amun Re. It is referred to as the southern Opet (place of seclusion). At this temple, we got to see first hand the greatest example of these modern day crooks participating in one of their favorite activities-restoration of the temple. (ie. the desecration of the original work in attempts to make it look pretty and the way it might have originally looked in the ancient times.) Personally, I do not see why they find restoration to be necessary because it takes away from the natural, personal affect the original Egyptian works give. In my opinion, they should be allowed to age without interruption.
Today, we visited Kom Ombo famous for its double Holy of Holies and where there are engravings of the first representation of medical instruments for performing surgery, including scalpels, curettes, forceps, dilators, scissors and medicine bottles.
It seems crazy to me that things we still use today were created or discovered and used for the same purposes thousands of years ago. Kom Ombo later became a Greek settlement during the Greco-Roman period. The Greeks did not try to impose but tried to synthesize Egyptian culture.
Edfu is the temple of Horus and is the second largest single most preserved temple in the world. It tells the story of Horus’ triumph over Set (disorder, conflict, seek of power) -never deleted but defeated in order to maintain order in the universe. The engravings were so immaculate, so incredulous, and so intricate. It was so unfathomable. 
Also, everything in every temple is so perfectly aligned and carved. The Egyptians oriented this temple as they did the others in line with the solar cycle. I do not know why we are still amazed by all of these things after a week of seeing all these extraordinary works. One of my peers is still so amazed that she posed the explanation to this greatness as the Egyptians having magical powers. I said, “No. They were just African.” That in itself should have you expecting greatness beyond measure.
because if I still had that little cold I would not have been able to handle all the activity we did today. Nothing but rocks, sand, and sheer personal strength, endurance, and will power to reach the top. It was definitely a hike. 
But we all made it. Next stop was our tour guide, Faruk’s village where we were welcomed with open arms by the mayor and children. We were shown great hospitality and were entertained by the children as they sang us songs and we jumped rope with them. It was a great honor and privilege for them to open up their personal space to us and even consider us family. We ended the day with a swim in the Nile. The boat ride to the area designated for swimming was proof of the family we have created with each other in the last week. The energy of this connectedness we have established resonates to others when we are together so intensely that they want to add to the energy. When we arrived at the swimming area, that’s when I think we all reverted back to our childhood ways where nothing mattered except us having fun by any means necessary. This includes jumping off the top of the boat into the Nile. Now how many people can say they have done that?! Yup, it is ok for you to be jealous now.
Egypt is everything I wanted it to be and also everything I could have never imagined it to be. It's quite funny how things can be so different halfway around the world, but also the same as what you see on a daily basis in your own backyard. For instance, the highest price I've paid for a can soda is $4.00! (I was DESPERATE!!!) But contrastingly, I saw the effects of "gentrification" in Egypt, something that is no stranger to the city of Washington D.C. It's also interesting to see how the tourist industry vigorously drives the country of Egypt and how vital it is for the survival of the Egyptian people.
It's quite amazing to view the impact history can have on a person. When I was a second grader, my mom gave me a CD that had a virtual tour of Egypt on it. Everyday for at least three months I would watch the tour and learn various things such as how mummies were prepared, what lakes emptied out into the Nile River, and the names of various kings, queens, and pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. For a long time, I have always said that Egypt would be my first international trip. And what do you know? I am here in the great country of Egypt on the magnificent continent of Africa.
Although I had been studying this country off and on for many years including skimming of the summer reading, it dawned on me that what I had studied could only compare to one tiny spec of salt, in regards to the the concrete history or better yet OURstory that actually engulfed this country. As I looked out the window of my flight before it entered Cairo, I noticed the vast area of nothing but sand and wondered to myself if there may have been ancient ruins still buried in the actual sand. And sure enough, from the assurance of my outstanding professor, Dr. Carr who is well informed about Ourstory of ancient Egypt my thoughts were correct the artifacts that have been recovered from the ruins of Ancient Egypt is actually the tip of your pinky fingernail in comparison to your entire body. Amazing! As I walked through the terminal, went through customs, and stepped out in the 106℉ weather with a blazing sun hitting the back of my neck, I decided I wanted to be stripped. I wanted to be stripped of the National Geographic virtual tour of Egypt (although it was a great CD), stripped of western thought from western textbooks, and even stripped of the thoughts of Egyptian Egyptologists like Zahi Hawass, who should probably go back and rethink his theories, especially on the issue of race of the Ancient Egyptians. So Egypt, you have my permission to strip me. Let your statues, temples, and artifacts strip me of HIStory and begin to tell OURstory.
