الاهرامات اولا

;إلى من يهمه الامر

 عرضت هذا المشروع في مؤتمر المغتربين والاستثمار في مصر المنعقد في فندق الميريديان يومي 4 و 5 ابريل هذا العام وقد تحدثت عن الفكرة في عدة لقاءات تليفزيونية.

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كل مرة ذهبت فيها وحدي او مع اولادي او ضيوف اجانب لزيارة الاهرامات وكل اثار هضبة الجيزة الا وينتابني شعور بسؤال , بل الف سؤال

   : بعض من هذه الاسئلة هي

     * هل حقا كانت الاهرامات ساعة الانتهاء من بنائها على ما هي عليه اليوم ؟

   *لماذا القائمين على هذا الامر يبيعون صورة مشوهة لم تكن بخلد بناة الاهرامات يوما ما؟

* هل فعلا عندما بنى القدماء هذه الاهرامات كانت بهذا الشكل من القبح والحجارة المتناثرة في كل مكان؟  لتشعرك انك ترى جثة رجل عظيم كنت تتمنى ان تراه ولكنها متعفنة , ولهذا رغم حبك فيه   فانك متافف ان تجلس بجواره او ان تشم رائحته 

 * لماذا يفضل  بعض القائمين على امر اثارنا ومهمة تسويقها ان افضل شيئ للاثر ان يظل على حاله من الاهمال حتى ينهار او على الاقل يتوقف الناس عن رؤيته؟

واذا سالنا هؤلاء المختصين في الامر سيقولون لك انني غير متخصص ولا افهم في الامر وان صيانة اثر مثل الاهرامات سيسبب امرا  خطير وهو اننا ربما خرجنا بالشكل النهائي عن الشكل الاصلي , واعذار اخرى كثيرة , اكثرها محبط ولا يقف ورائها سبب علمي او اقتصادي. ولكن ردى على هؤلاء ان اعادة الاثر لرونقه وجماله ولو بنسبة 99% سيكون افضل مليون .مره عن تركة حتى نجد الهرم الاكبر يوما في ارتفاع تبة الرماية في مدرسه ثانوي

: وهنا اجد سؤال ملح وهام 

 لماذا رمموا واصلحوا تمثال ابو الهول عندما كان على وشك الانهيار؟

! فالسائح كما شعرت وسمعت ومن خبرتي في البلاد التي تبيع الهواء له

وهذه على فكرة ليست نكته ولكنها حقيقة, يريد ان يري السائح اثارنا في اوج جمالها .وتكاملها ليستشعر عظمة البناءين ومهندسي الديكور ومخططي الميادين في الدولة القديمة

.تعالوا معا لنرى كيف يبدوا هذا الاثر لنا وللسائح على السواء

فلا شيئ يدل عليه الا رؤيته من بعيد وعندما نكون في الموقع لا نري الا الرمال والحجارة المتناثرة , وكشك من مخلفات عصور الاقطاع يبيعون فيه التذاكر مثل اكشاك السجائر في حي بلدي ,وكم من عساكر مثل خفر الدرك في قرية في اقاصي الصعيد لا يعرفون من اصول الضيافة سواء بالعربي او الاجنبي الا القليل, ومجموعة جمال (ابل) ومالكيها هم اقوي من   .القانون يدفع السائح مرة حتى يركب ويدفع الضعف حتى ينزلوه من عليها

. كان لزاما علي ان ابدا بهذه المقدمة حتى اعرض اقتراحي وهو

هل نستطيع الوصول بالسائح كما بانفسنا نحن الى رؤية هذه الاثر الانساني الخالد بطريقة افضل واكثر عصرية مما هي عليه الان من اهمال مقصود او غير مقصود ؟

وهل يجد القائمون على امر اهراماتنا واثارنا في انفسهم الشجاعة للدخول في حوار بناء محكم لتطوير هذه الثروة التاريخية والاقتصادية بما يخدم مصرنا العزيزة ارضا وشعبا؟

وقبل ان اسهب في طرح افكاري فلابد من مقدمة بسيطة تلقي بالضوء على اول الخيط الذي يقودنا للنهاية

فما من احد في كل المعمورة الا وسمع باهرامات مصر واثارها الشامخة عبر الاف السنين الي يومنا هذا

وكان هذه الحجارة الضخمة وبنائها ونحتها وهندستها الى جانب روعتها البصرية وما استتر في طياتها من كنوز علمية وفلكية اثرت ان تبقى شاهدا على قدرة المصريين القدماء وابداعاتهم في مجال الهندسة والعمارة والفن

يقول احد البحاثة انه عندما زار فيلون البيزنطي مصر في منتصف القرن الثاني قبل الميلاد لم يتردد ان يضع الهرم الاكبر علي راس عجائب الدنيا السبع , واليوم وبعد مضي 22 قرنا على زيارة فيلون اختفت تلك العجائب كلها او تحولت الى انقاض اثرية لا تبين معالمها فيما عدا اهرمات مصر التي ظلت بنجاة من يد الزمن ومعاوله الهدامة

لقد تلاشت عجائب فيلون الاخرى وظل هرم خوفو وحده لا يختلف كثيرا عما كان عليه عندما اقيم قبل هذه العجائب جميعا بعشرين قرنا من الزمان

ولنا ان نقول ان الهرم الاكبر ليس واحد من عجائب الدنيا السبع وانما هو اعجوبة العجائب , وانه عندما تنمحي كل اثار الانسان فوق كوكب الارض ستكون اهرمات مصر اخر ما يطويه الفناء من المعالم التي شيدتها البشرية

فهل توقف المصريون عند هذا الحد واكتفوا بما صنع اجدادهم ام عليهم مسؤولية جسيمة تبدا بالحفاظ على هذه الاثار وصيانتها وتجديدها ان امكن ؟

انا اري ان اكوام الرمال والحجارة المتناثرة والتي تحف بالا هرامات وبابي الهول , وكذلك الاكشاك الفقيرة المعدومة والتي وضعت كواجهات رثة امام السائح ولخدمته!, وكذلك الاشخاص الذين يمثلون الدولة من حرس ومرشدين وباعة في اكشاك بملابسهم المهملة المتسخة لا يمكن ان تمثل واجه مصر الحضارية في عالم حديث يبيع ويشتري حتى الهواء للسائح كما ذكرت سابقا

وعليه فيجب مراجعة شاملة للسياسة السياحية في بلدنا ولا يكون ذلك الا بمشروع حضاري ضخم يمكن ان نطلق عليه ببساطة احد المشاريع السياحية للقرن الجديد ولنطلق عليه (الاهرامات اولا في عشرين عاما)

وانه لتحضرني وانا في باريس وعندما اعلنوا عن وضع هرم ذهبي فوق مسلة الكونكورد استمرت الدعاية والعمل في هذا المشروع ثلاث سنوات عملوا لفرنسا دخل سياحي يغطي تكاليف هذا المشروع بمائة ضعف

المشـــــــــــــــــــــروع  

وهو من مهندس وفنان تشكيلي منذ اكثر من عشرين عاما في باريس وعواصم اوربية .  وعالمية اخرى

:اقتراحي هو

 .ان نعيد الاهرامات الى حالتها الاولى وقت ان انتهوا من بنائها اجدادنا الفراعنة

مشروع كبير ارجوا ان تبادر به مصر ومسئوليها وتطرحه دوليا وعبر جميع وسائل الميديا وتشارك في التخطيط والدراسة والاعداد كل المنظمات الانسانية العالمية والمؤسسات الخاصة ذات الاختصاص , ولن يعدم هذا المشروع العملاق وسائل التموين اذ سيجد من يبادر الى تقديم الهبات والمساعدات التقنية والمادية ومن كل نوع لهذا الاثر الانساني النادر العظيم

وكل المطلوب من الدولة وممثليها ان يعلنوا في مؤتمر صحفي عالمي وحبذا لو كان هذا الاعلان مع احتفالات مصر ببداية الالفية الثالثة تحت سفح الاهرامات كما قرانا بالصحف

" انها ستبدا في مشروع اعادة  الاهرامات وكل الهضبة على ما كانت علية من 4600 عام وذلك  في عشرون عاما , وتطلب من المجتمع العالمي بكل هيئاته ان تساعد وتسام في هذا المشروع سواء بالمال او التقنية والعتاد

وبين مؤيد ومعارض في العالم كله تجني مصر الاهتمام الاعلامي والسياحي والمادي  بلا  حدود

رجائي ان نجعله نداء عالمي لاكبر مشروع سياحي في العالم للالفية الثالثة , وهو مشروع في جدواه الاقتصادية والسياحية والدعائية التي لا تقدر باي ثمن لمصر و اثار مصر يفوق ما عداه من مشاريع سياحية حالية او مستقبلية

دعوتي للمختصين عن الاثار في مصر ومن يهمه الامر من المثقفين والكتاب والفنانين وكل قطاعات الشعب المصري ان نعلنها على العالم  اننا نريد ان نعيد الاهرامات  لتصبح كما كانت يوما في الزمن الغابر .وساعتها نسمح لكل من يريد ان يساهم بفكرة من كل انحاء العالم او .بجهد او بمال

وبهذا سنجعل الالاف في عمل ودعاية لمصر في كل ركن من اركان المعمورة بلا مقابل لعشرات السنين ولنجعلها عشرون عاما

يبدا هذا المشروع بدراسة المخططات القديمة المتوفرة عن الاهرامات ومحاولة وضع تصور للحالة التي كانت عليها بعملية مسح ارضي وعبر الاقمار الصناعية لنحدد بدقة المساحة :الفعلية التي قامت عليها الاهرامات وتوابعها من مقابر ومساكن وذلك لعدة اسباب

سنعيد الاهرامات للصورة التي يجمع عليها المختصين في العالم ولو بنسبة غير ال 100% .ونعيد تخطيط كامل المنطقة في هضبة الاهرامات على وضعها وقت ان انتهوا من بناءها

حلمي ان تعود هذه الاثار الى الحالة التي تركها عليها بناتها منذ 4600 عام لا اكثر ولا اقل

فانا لا اتصور ان بناه الاهرام بعد ان انتهوا منها تركوا الحجارة كما يفعل عمال مصر الان عندما يرصفون طريق او ممشى , فغالبا ما يتركوا بقايا الرمل والطوب والزلط في ذات المكان وكانه مكمل للمنظر الجميل الذي من اجله تحمل دافع الضرائب من اجل تجميله وليس  تشويه صورته

 :والمشروع ولنقل انه حلم يحتوي علي عدة  نقاط اساسية هي

اولها : وهو الاهم ان نعيد بناء الاهرامات وتوابعها كما تركها القدماء وقت الانتهاء من بنائها وحتى لو خرج هذا العمل عن الاصل ب %1 

وثانيها : احاطتها بسياج على اعظم تصميم هندسي وبتصميم من افضل تصميم لمهندسي العمارة في العالم وبوابات تليق بهذه البقعة التي هي الاندر في العالم  مستوحاة من طبيعة المكان وعظمته و بخلود هذا الاثر ويضع المنطقة في مامن من تدخلات مثبطة

 وثالثها: تزال الكثبان الرملية التي تحيط بالا هرامات حتى الوصول الي الارضية الاصلية وتوضع الحجارة والصخور التي يصادفها المهندسون حتى يتم دراستها وارجاعها الي اماكنها الاصلية وما يتم استبداله بحجارة اخري فيكسر قطع صغيرة لتباع للسائح بالثمن الذي يحدده هو من اجل تغطية جزء من المشروع

ورابعها: ترصف المنطقة بطرق حجرية تؤدي الي المرافق المهمة تحف بها اكشاك بيع تذاكر والهدايا والماكولات والمرطبات وحتى دورات المياه باحدث تصميمات هندسية ثبت نجاحها في اماكن جذب سياحي في اماكن اخرى من العالم ومن وحي المعمار الفرعوني ولتاخذ شكل .الاهرامات الصغيرة مثلا

انا لا ادعوا بالطبع ان نبني الفنادق واماكن اللهو التي تغير من طبيعة المنطقة.

و باختصار اريد ان تعود الاهرامات الى سابق عهدها وحتى بالطلاء المميز لها وبرفع الكثبان الرملية ودليلنا في ذلك هي الارضية التي توصل لها المنقبين عندما رفعوا هذه الكثبان الرملية ووجدوا مقابر عمال بناة الاهرام

.ولا باس ان تشجر المنطقة او حتى في اطرافها بما يمنع زحف الرمال من جديد

هذا تصور مبدئي ومخطط اساسي لمشروع قد يضع مصر وحضارتها القديمة من جديد في محك عالمي بكل نواحيه التاريخية والاقتصادية والاعلامية والسياحية

وبعد ذلك وعند نجاحنا باذن الله في ذلك بحسن التخطيط والدعاية ان نتبعها بتجديد كل اثارنا القديمة الفرعونية والقبطية والاسلامية ليكون المشروع الاكثر استثمارا والاكثر بقاء من كل مشاريع مصر السياحية الحلية والمستقبلية

لن اقول في نهاية الامر اللهم اني قد بلغت اللهم فاشهد , لكني سوف ابقي صوتي عاليا حتى اجد صدي صوتي لدي الجهات المعنية

والله ولي التوفيق.

محمد حلمي سعيد

لوس انجلوس في 3/7/99

SAID MOHAMED

 NIITTYTIE 1 B 16- 03100 NUMMELA FINLAND

FINLAND home:+ 358- 922-35763 -Mobil: +358- 40540- 9385       

Email: said_mohamed@hotmail.com

.  

  The Pyramids First

Whenever I have been alone, or with children, or with guests from other countries to visit the pyramids and all of the things around Giza, many questions come to my mind…sometimes even a thousand questions; some of which I would like to share with you today.

•  Did the Pyramids look like this when they were first finished?

•  Why do the people who take care of our antiquities allow the vision of the Pyramids to become so dim? The people who built it never thought it would come to this.  It was built to last thousands of years and to always be beautiful.

•  When the Pharaohs built these Pyramids were they this ugly?

With stones everywhere? Holes everywhere?

It is as if you have heard about this great man. You really want to see him, and you have waited to see him for a long time, and you finally get there and all you find is a rotting dead body. Even if you like this man, you can’t sit beside him or stand to smell him.

The question is: Why do some people who work in antiquities and with publicity and marketing feel that the best thing for these antiquities is to keep them exactly the way they are until they are broken, disappear, or people no longer come to visit them?

If I ask these specialists: “Why all this mess?” They say,” You are not a specialist, you don’t understand. Because to repair or take care of the pyramids will cause damage to the original form”, and other such excuses.

Most of them just try to shoot your ideas down and they don’t even have any economic or scientific reasons behind it.

  And my answer to these specialists is: “Repair the pyramids and bring them back to at least 98% of their original beauty. This will be a million times better than to leave them the way they are now.”

What are we waiting for? The day when we find the pyramids are only a small hill like the shooting ranges in high school?

As I know and hear from my many experiences, there are countries that actually sell air to tourists (by the way this is not a joke, this is seriously true), and the tourists actually buy it!  Tourists pay good money to buy the air of Paris, for example. We have the Pyramids, some of the greatest antiquities in the world, and yet we still are not attracting the maximum possibility of tourists worldwide that we could be capable of attracting.

From this experience I believe tourists want to see our antiquities in the best light possible. The best shape, the best beauty and the best wholeness. What an experience it would be to feel the greatness of the people who built the Pyramids! To re-create the original ideas of the engineers and architects who designed them during the time of the old country of the Pharaohs.

Come with me and see how the Pyramids look for me and for the tourists who come from far away. Imagine you are a tourist having traveled far to get to Egypt. It is your first time in Cairo. There are no signs to guide you, nothing that says, ‘here are the Pyramids’, until you finally see them as you start to get closer by taxi going in that direction.

And when you finally arrive at the Pyramids you only see dust and stones and holes everywhere. There is one kiosk that sells tickets, as if it was an old kiosk in the countryside with an old man sitting in it selling cigarettes or whatever. There are some soldiers for security that look like the official from the countryside of Upper Egypt. These soldiers don’t know how to be polite in Arabic much less in a foreign language. There are also some camel owners who take advantage of  many of the tourists. They charge the tourists one price to go up and then the tourists are often charged double – twice as much -- to be brought back down. There is no kind of control in this matter. It is as if these camel owners are stronger than the law, above the law.  The sad thing is the tourists are left with a bad memory.

I started this way in the beginning to be able to paint a true picture of what exists now and to tell you my proposal of what could be.

Can we, along with tourists and people from all over the world, see these antiquities –some of the greatest antiquities on Earth – in a better way? More improved than how they are now? With the way it is now, we have to ask ourselves: Do people not care on purpose or care without a purpose? Do people want to bring this down or just let it fall apart?

 Can the specialists who handle these matters of antiquities and our Pyramids find within themselves the courage in a serious discussion to update our historical wealth and treasures? And by doing this serve our country and our public?
And that is why, before I tell you about what my ideas are, I would like to start at the beginning, the entrance, and guide you with a spot of light from the beginning to the end.

From the beginning, I believe there is no one on the Earth today that hasn’t heard about the Pyramids and all our other antiquities that have existed for many thousands of years up until today.

The Pyramids, as these huge magnificent looking stones, are true treasures. What is inside, what is hidden underneath – scientific, astronomical and astrophysical – the Pyramids are living proof, they stand as witnesses to the capacity of the old Pharaohs in engineering and architecture.

Some researcher said: When the Byzantine Filon came to Egypt in the middle of the 2nd century BC, he never hesitated for a second to put the Pyramids at the top of the list of the Seven Wonders of the World.

And today, after 22 centuries, of all the people who visited the other six Wonders of the World, everything else has disappeared, nothing is left but the Pyramids of Egypt -- the only original Wonder still standing -- affected by time, but not yet completely destroyed.

We have to say that the biggest Pyramid is not only one of the Seven Wonders, but it is a special wonder -- the Wonder of all Wonders. When everything in human civilization will have disappeared from the Earth, the Pyramids will be the last things that time and infinity will take away.

The question is will the Egyptians stop at this limit, this point, and are they satisfied with what their grandfathers did? Or do they have a responsibility – a big responsibility – to take care of the antiquities and to take care to repair them and revive them if possible?

I see the huge amount of sand, the broken stones and the holes all around the grounds of the Sphinx, the broken Pyramids and this poor miserable kiosk.

 It is as if this has all been put on an old dirty canvas in front of the eyes of tourists to please them.

And I see the people who work for government security, the tourist guides, the camel sellers, the children who sell plastic blue scarabs and warm coca cola in old dirty clothes…this can’t be the way to show the model or civilization of the Egyptian face! Not in a world which sells even air for tourists as I said before.

Then we have to refresh our antiquities. Refresh our strategy for tourists for our country. And this will only come with a big civilized project. We can call this project simply: Tourist Project for the New Millennium: The Pyramids First.

Rebuild the Pyramids in 20 years!

The ideas for this project come from an engineer and artist who has been professionally working for twenty years in France, the U.S. and other countries throughout the world.

My assumption, my proposal is: Do we want to re-build the Pyramids and take them back to the way they were 4,000 years ago? The way they were originally left?

This is a big project. I hope Egypt announces it all over the world by all the media and with a big responsibility. With a plan, a study and a preparation  

that will include all the humanistic and specialist organizations around the world. And I believe this huge project will not have any trouble attracting funding, finding money; because it will find many organizations around the world that will want to help by hand, by money, by everything everywhere for this unique and great undertaking.

And if we really want to collect millions of dollars to finance our part as a country, for this big and expensive project,  what we can do is take the broken stones from the reparation of this project and sell parts of the stones to tourists and collectors as an incentive or thank you for their donation to the Pyramid Project.

  I hope this will be a big call for all the tourists and international media for this Millennium Project – Re-build the Pyramids in 20 Years.

Another important point is that this project is also economical and financially prudent. It is a tourist and publicity project that will have a huge value monetarily, a huge return on the investment. This project for Egypt can also include the updating of all other antiquities as well. And for Egypt, I believe it will become more important than any project that has ever been done or will be done in the future.

My invitation is to all of the people of Egypt. I invite the people who take care of the antiquities in Egypt, the educated and the uneducated, the artists, and all the different sections and populations of Egypt; that we say to people around the world: WE NEED TO RE-BUILD THE PYRAMIDS THE WAY THEY WERE A LONG TIME AGO.

And in this time we will allow anybody who wants to share in this project with us to share whatever they have, whether by money, by idea or by hand. And in this time we can go and raise millions around the world. We can make publicity this way at no cost and we can limit the project to a time of a projected 20 years.

The project will start with studying all the old lines and maps and instructions about the Pyramids and the entire area of the Pyramids. We will try to put a picture to the face of how it was by scanning by satellite and by geometric calculations to know exactly the real area by which the original project came into being – the Pyramids, the temples and whatever else was there.

We do this for several reasons:

( and the most important) To re-build the Pyramids and all the surrounding parts even if we go out of the original by 1%.

1.  We make several beautiful entrances to one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

2.    Surround the area by a wall – the greatest wall that can be created from the

greatest  architectural design that captures the spirit of the place, and the greatest wall that honors and depicts the history of the place.

At the same time, this wall will stop people from coming in from anywhere and destroying things.

It is very important to protect and re-create this sacred space.

3. We take all the mountains of sand which surround the Pyramids until we reach and uncover the original land and we collect what is NOT sand to study it and take it back to its original place or put it in a museum or whatever.

4.  We make routes and streets by stone to guide us to the important points in the area. And on either side of these roads we can have kiosks that sell tickets, good Egyptian food and drink, clean bathrooms, and souvenirs that better represent the time of the Pharaohs. 

I don’t mean to create hotels and amusement parks here – this is not an amusement park – it is a sacred place. What I mean to create is an atmosphere where people can comfortably spend a good amount of time, all day if they want.

Our guide for all of this is to go down to the level of land where the bones of the dead laborers are buried. This is our guide and we will not go below this level.

After we clear all this away, it is not a bad idea if we put trees around the area to keep the dirt and dust from coming back in. The trees will serve as a protection of this area.

This is the beginning of the picture and an outline of the construction for this project that will put Egypt – the entire civilization of Egypt from its very beginning – to be brought to the attention of the whole entire world.

After that, and when we have success with this first part of the project – The Pyramids First: Re-build the Pyramids in 20 Years - by continuing our good plans and good publicity and good study – we can follow up with this by re-building ALL our antiquities – Pharaoh, Islamic, and Christian. This can be the most interesting project to make money and also be attractive to tourists, students, scientists, engineers and people all over the world. Every time we re-build something, we will bring everyone back to Egypt again and again and again.

I will not say at the end of this, God be my witness for what I have said, but I will try to keep my voice and ideas high until I find people who are interested and who take my ideas seriously.

I have a dream. I want to see the Pyramids how they were in the time of the Pharaohs.

I have a dream to see some wall around the Pyramids, beautiful and strong, to keep it a sacred and special area.

I have a dream to see the most beautiful entrance for this holy place.

I have a dream that the streets inside are made from stones placed in beautiful designs, with kiosks on both sides selling things of the Pharaohs, with Pharaoh clothes, the atmosphere of the Pharaohs. Pharaohs serving food in the cafeterias.

I have a dream to see the area lush and green with trees all around that hold the earth in place. A nice vision filled with fresh air. That’s all. That’s my dream.  

God Bless us all!

Thoughts of Ruth de Sosa Said

When I was speaking to my husband on the phone before we were married, he told me he had a surprise for me in Cairo. He asked me if I wanted to know it now or later. Being a woman, I said, “Now.”

He told me his idea to re-fresh and bring the Pyramids back to their original condition, and I knew in that moment 2 things: 1.) It was not a mistake to marry this man I had never seen before in my life. And 2.) This was a sign from God, the moments of destiny in my life were coming together. I cried tears of happiness.

Let me tell you where this story started. In 1991 I had the great good fortune to film in Cairo with a television series with George Lucas. My whole life I had dreamed of seeing the Pyramids, the Sphinx, Egypt – a romantic faraway place filled with ancient wonders and mysteries. The first moment I arrived in Cairo after checking in at the hotel, I was very excited. I threw down my suitcase, put on a skirt and sandals, grabbed my water bottle and ran to find a taxi driver to take me to the Pyramids. He seemed completely bored by my request. There were no signs, no directions, the taxi driver actually had to ask a few people how to get there, and then finally I think there was one blue sign with an arrow: Pyramids…And he left me--all alone at the Pyramids. Within seconds there were seedy camel sellers with flea bitten dirty camels coming up to talk to me and some small children selling warm coca cola and plastic blue scarabs. They did not take no for an answer.  I bought one very warm coca-cola (and I don’t drink coca-cola), a few plastic scarabs, and then even more children came around me and I gave them some money without buying anything. Then and only then did the sea of children part and let me get on the camel. There were no other tourists there, and I started to get a little worried.  If I wasn’t a world traveler for so many years, I could have been very worried.

It was a strange mix of emotions. I felt so happy and fortunate to be here in Egypt at the Pyramids and confused and sad that no one seemed to care. It hurt my heart that something so important to so many people – a symbol so inspirational and so much a part of our global consciousness -- could be treated as if it was an old dirty sandbox in somebody’s big backyard that an entire country seems to have forgotten about.

These beautiful images of our world’s past just ignored and uncared for, I didn’t understand and was determined to find out why.

I left the Pyramids with such a sadness in my heart, such a sense of disappointment, such a sense of loss. I tried to imagine what it must have been like so many years ago in the time of the Pharaohs – how beautiful, how full of life and spirit and energy! The greatness, the majesty, the purpose, the intention, the hidden wisdom and secrets…lost to the world, remembered only in books that get opened from time to time.

I tried to talk about this. I don’t mean to be critical. I don’t mean to criticize. My own country has its own problems. I only try to tell you my truth, my experience. When I spoke to some Egyptians about this, they looked at me as if I was crazy.

“The Pyramids are not important. We must look to our future, not our past. We don’t want to talk about our past.”

And I understand from an Egyptian perspective that this could be true.

But the world needs the Pyramids.

In a time where many people hurt, many people are lost, many people are searching for answers to the meaning of life and the crazy world we all live in – the symbols of all humanity need to be cherished and cared for. Bring back the ancient wisdom – give people something to believe in, something to care for, something to re-build. And in re-building the Pyramids, we, as members of this Earth village, we are also simultaneously re-building an ancient part of ourselves--our own collective unconscious. We are re-building something we can all be proud of, something we can all do together, something that crosses all barriers of nationality, of language, of race and of color.

And may this project be an encouragement for all parts of our precious planet, all parts of our Earth, to be taken care of by each and every one of us.

May we learn to take the best from everywhere and help heal it -- with one another together – the whole world uniting – heal what we can heal.

I see this project as an international symbol of hope, love and inspiration. Encha’allah.

I believe our past still has answers for our future. And I know there are many people all over the world who still look to the Pyramids as an important part of our future. People who dream of coming here and save for years and years to be able to take a trip just once in their life to touch the greatness of what they have only seen in books. Let us not disappoint them. Let us show them the Egypt they dream about.

In cleaning up the Pyramids and bringing them into the 21st Century  -- to their full color, to their full bloom, to their full glory again-- I believe each one of us that helps this project will not only collectively be healing a part of humanity but a part of each of our souls as well.

Even though the Pyramids living physically in Egypt, they are loved and live in the hearts and minds of EVERYONE all over the world.

The Pyramids are a gift to Egyptians and humanity. To Egypt because through her past she can build her future. The re-building of her Pyramids and antiquities will help insure a strong economic future – the new income from increased tourism can be used to finance many good things.

The Pyramids are a gift to humanity to help them re-learn more about who they really are.

Sometimes ancient wisdom really is the best!

And finally to my husband, I wish to say thank you for this beautiful wedding present. You have touched my heart and my life and I hope with you to see this project through to completion.

Thank you!