So I blogged a while ago about trying to meet other mums and babies / mums-to-be in Maadi. I had been asking around, convinced that there must be a group somewhere and I just needed to find them. I knew that there was a group in Rehab, but surely there must be one in Maadi too. I was quite surprised that there wasn't a group at the CSA, or at the Maadi community Church - as I had heard that both places did have groups.
This didn't put me off though and so over the last few weeks I have been trying to visit the CSA regularly with the hope that I would meet people or at least have my face known around the place. I would have coffee on my own in the coffee shop and then visit any sale that they had on (like the book sale last week and the Cook's Day Off events), or would attend their free 'Connect @ CSA' sessions. These sessions were a little hit and miss I thought. They were themed and generally aimed at people new to Egypt. The themes I made sure I attended were; baby, child and family health (run by Tabibi), Things to do in Cairo, and finally Networking. One way that they were a little disappointing was that I'd hoped that these would be a way to meet other people, but although over half a dozen people came to the 'things to do' session, only one or two other people came to the other sessions I went to. The other thing I felt was that there wasn't always a 'dialogue' at the sessions - they were more 'one way'. I kept going to them though as I thought it was something to do and at least I was meeting some people, even though they weren't really the 'type' of people I'd hoped to meet.
Meanwhile I spoke to the lady at the CSA who runs the monthly programme to ask her if there were any baby groups she knew of. She didn't know of any, but did suggest the Baby Massage course that they planned to run in November. I said that I planned to sign up for this and mused the idea of putting up a notice to start a baby group. She suggested that instead I leave my name/number for her to pass on to other interested people, as she felt that there were interested people out there.
At the session yesterday about Networking I mentioned that I was looking for other mums and babies to meet up with and had a bit of a breakthrough. It turns out that one of the CSA volunteers stopped working for the CSA before the summer to have a baby, and so later that afternoon I was put in touch with her by email.
Within a few hours she had emailed me to introduce herself and she was able to give some useful health professional contacts she had. I was in and out doing things in the afternoon, but managed a quick reply and then later had a reply from her with an invite to coffee with some other mums / mums to be. :-)
I was really excited that things were starting to come together and this morning even treated myself to a taxi to the CSA rather than turn up sweaty from the walk there!
I met one mum and her 5mo son, a mum-to-be (due three weeks after me) and another mum / mum to be (already got a daughter at nursery, but has another on the way in the next few weeks). We were all around the same age, all Brits and I thought I got on pretty well with them. Chat focused on baby stuff and baby stuff in Egypt. We didn't get on to Cairo/Egypt general things, or much stuff about work or other lives (!), but that was fine. It felt good, not forced, and was nice to be there just chatting with new people.
I am going to meet some of them again tomorrow along with another new mum and have been invited to meet a group of other mums at one of their houses in a few weeks time.
So finally my trips to the CSA for coffee are paying off, as I have found some mums and babies in Maadi and maybe some mum and baby friends.
This didn't put me off though and so over the last few weeks I have been trying to visit the CSA regularly with the hope that I would meet people or at least have my face known around the place. I would have coffee on my own in the coffee shop and then visit any sale that they had on (like the book sale last week and the Cook's Day Off events), or would attend their free 'Connect @ CSA' sessions. These sessions were a little hit and miss I thought. They were themed and generally aimed at people new to Egypt. The themes I made sure I attended were; baby, child and family health (run by Tabibi), Things to do in Cairo, and finally Networking. One way that they were a little disappointing was that I'd hoped that these would be a way to meet other people, but although over half a dozen people came to the 'things to do' session, only one or two other people came to the other sessions I went to. The other thing I felt was that there wasn't always a 'dialogue' at the sessions - they were more 'one way'. I kept going to them though as I thought it was something to do and at least I was meeting some people, even though they weren't really the 'type' of people I'd hoped to meet.
Meanwhile I spoke to the lady at the CSA who runs the monthly programme to ask her if there were any baby groups she knew of. She didn't know of any, but did suggest the Baby Massage course that they planned to run in November. I said that I planned to sign up for this and mused the idea of putting up a notice to start a baby group. She suggested that instead I leave my name/number for her to pass on to other interested people, as she felt that there were interested people out there.
At the session yesterday about Networking I mentioned that I was looking for other mums and babies to meet up with and had a bit of a breakthrough. It turns out that one of the CSA volunteers stopped working for the CSA before the summer to have a baby, and so later that afternoon I was put in touch with her by email.
Within a few hours she had emailed me to introduce herself and she was able to give some useful health professional contacts she had. I was in and out doing things in the afternoon, but managed a quick reply and then later had a reply from her with an invite to coffee with some other mums / mums to be. :-)
I was really excited that things were starting to come together and this morning even treated myself to a taxi to the CSA rather than turn up sweaty from the walk there!
I met one mum and her 5mo son, a mum-to-be (due three weeks after me) and another mum / mum to be (already got a daughter at nursery, but has another on the way in the next few weeks). We were all around the same age, all Brits and I thought I got on pretty well with them. Chat focused on baby stuff and baby stuff in Egypt. We didn't get on to Cairo/Egypt general things, or much stuff about work or other lives (!), but that was fine. It felt good, not forced, and was nice to be there just chatting with new people.
I am going to meet some of them again tomorrow along with another new mum and have been invited to meet a group of other mums at one of their houses in a few weeks time.
So finally my trips to the CSA for coffee are paying off, as I have found some mums and babies in Maadi and maybe some mum and baby friends.
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