Neighbourhood Walks with a Friend

I met Nada at my children’s kindergarten a few years ago when she and her son came to stay for a few months in Nagoya. Her husband was working on an international research project at a local hospital. Nada is an emergency doctor in Egypt, so even though I speak no Arabic, her very good English meant we were able to enjoy daily conversations with one another while waiting for our children. I often used my Japanese to make sure she had the information she needed for kindergarten. Communication about her son’s snacks and lunches was particularly important, as their Muslim faith meant her family strictly avoided certain foods.

Meanwhile, the influence of COVID-19 on our daily lives was creeping in. When April came, it was announced that there would be no school for two months. Suddenly, the lifestyle she had imagined of seeing the sights around Japan every weekend and listening to her son’s daily experiences at school were gone. Instead, she and her son had nowhere to go and not much to do in a city where they knew very few people. For those two months, we met each other every week. We went on walks in our neighbourhood, watched our kids play tag in the park, pushed them on swings, blew bubbles for them in spring rain showers—and we talked. A lot. I learned all sorts of things from her about Egypt, her family, and the sometimes wild experiences of working in emergency medicine. We’re both women of faith, so we talked about our beliefs a lot, too. I’d never had a Muslim friend before. She explained her beliefs to me in a way that was easy to understand, and I was really thankful to have the chance to talk with someone about their personal experiences with Islam, rather than just reading a theological summary in a book.

The ripple effects of COVID meant that even once our kids went back to classes and her husband finished his research project, Nada and her family struggled for several months to find a way home. Thankfully, after a number of delays, they finally found a flight. She has now been back in Egypt a couple of years, and recently gave birth to a baby girl.

Please pray that we are able to continue our friendship, despite the distance, for chances to rest as she takes care of her son and baby daughter, and for God’s protection as she does medical work in the middle of a pandemic.

— L.C.