The Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa met on May 6,7,8 and 9 in Cairo and on May 11 visited Port Said for the 130^th anniversary of the Anglican church of Port Said. The church in Port Said has a rich history but due to the departure of many non Egyptian Anglicans from Egypt many churches were no longer functioning. That was also the case with the Anglican Church in Port Said and thus Bishop Dr. Mounir Anis Hanna called upon Canon Rajkumar Sathyaraj to revive the church in Port Said. Rev. Rajkumar is a missionary Indian Anglican priest who, when he saw the church in June 2001 found nothing but an empty building. Yet he started a ministry and when he left in March 2011 the church had over 100 confirmed Anglican members but there were also others who came regularly but without membership (email July 22, 2019).

I have my personal memories to the Anglican Church in Port Said. I was in 1981-1982 doing my research with small farmers for a Master’s degree in sociology in the governorate of Damietta. I then met with Rev. Dr. John Coleman who had come to Egypt in 1980 from Iran on the invitation of Bishop Ghais. He then served in Harpur Memorial Hospital and also took services in Port Said. Rev. Coleman was, just as Rev. Rajkumar a highly charismatic and committed Christian who truly loved the congregation he was serving.

Bishop Mounir asked Rev. Rajkumar to lead the members of the synod, clergy and representatives of churches from the entire diocese, into four studies about discipleship. Rev. Rajkumar divided this in four sessions:

• The Disciple and his relationship to God
• The Disciple and his relationship with others
• The Disciple and his Family
• The Disciple and His ministry

I asked Rev. Rajkumar for his notes on his talks but he said he usually speaks from an outline and those would not have been of much help. He thus expanded the notes a bit so that it becomes clearer of how he has tried to build up and encourage the members of the Synod in their Christian life. His mail to me came on July 19, the day after my mobile phone was snatched away by two young men on a motorcycle, just on the moment that I wanted to step into an Uber. These were obviously professionals. I was down and was angry. Thousands of phone numbers are lost, recordings of talks and hundreds of photos. The text of Rev. Rajkumar helped me realize that anger does not help. I won’t get back my phone and have to live on. Yes, next time I need to be more  cautious in using my mobile phone on the street but for now continuing mocking is useless. I heard his sermons and reading this again was helpful.

Cornelis Hulsman