Stay strong Anonymus

Submitted by Isis (Australia), Oct 11, 2008 at 21:26

Please stay strong with your decision. Your friend is right - not all Egyptians are the same but there are some that spoil it for the rest. Your man clearly is one of the not so honourable ones. The 7 days that he did not contact you sounds like the length of stay that is common in Sharm for a tourist and I am sure that he has someone else on a string too. Once they start asking for money it is always a bad sign.

Their impression of western women is that they supposedly have a never ending stash of money that they are willing to hand over to them without argument. Fuelling this, I personally know of instances where British women visiting Luxor and Hurghada on holidays attach themselves to young and handsome Egyptian men and then start throwing huge amounts of money at them so that they can open a bazaar or buy a flat or a car. It always ends in disaster because the man always wants more money and then woman can't supply it any more and the relationship ends on nasty terms and financial disaster and a lot of heartbreak for the foreign woman.

The Egyptian Government also makes it hard for foreign women to have relationships with Egyptian men - did you know that it is law in Egypt that a foreign woman cannot be alone with an Egyptian man in a hotel or flat? The penalty is 6 months jail for the man and I would imagine that it is not an easy experience for the woman either. To stay with your man you must have a marriage contract drawn up by a lawyer ( more money - about 2,000 LE) - it is called an Orfi marriage and this is tolerated by the authorities if there is no legal marriage between the two parties involved. If you have an Orfi paper it it is constantly checked and questioned by the police for it's accuracy and this is very annoying when you are out together. You also need to have this paper to show a landlord before you can rent a flat together whilst you are in Egypt.

I don't want to put you or anyone else off relationships with Egyptian men but there are some serious issues to be considered before embarking on such a relationship.

Please think long and hard if there is any moment of doubt that you have done the right thing in not going back to this man.

All the best,

Isis

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