Year in Egypt an adventure of lifetime for Sudbury family

This time last year, Sudbury high school teachers Mari and Tim Kingshott and their three young children were experiencing the wonders of one of the world's most ancient civilizations.

Mari, who teaches history and geography at Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School, and Tim, who teaches physics and science at St. Charles College, took a sabbatical during the 2014-2015 school year.

They brought their kids, twins Brendan and Liam, then 1, and daughter Tia, then 6, and went to work for the Canadian International School of Egypt (CISE). They lived in Cairo, Egypt from August 2014 to June 2015.

“We're really big travellers,” Mari said.

“We've been all over the world, and we wanted to give our kids an opportunity to see a different part of the world, to expose them to different cultures and people and different languages at an early age.”

Although the country was embroiled in successive political revolutions about five years ago the couple said they didn't have any problems while in Egypt, and felt safe.

CISE, a kindergarten to Grade 12 school of just under 800 students, teaches the Ontario curriculum, so Mari and Tim taught their regular subjects.

Most of their students were Canadian citizens — either expats whose parents work in Egypt or Egyptians who also hold Canadian citizenship because they'd previously lived in Canada.

Mari said the experience was fantastic, as they were able to experience Egypt — including touring the pyramids and going on a boat ride down the Nile — as well as travel to other areas of the Middle East and Europe.

“Egypt has gone through this tough time,” she said.

“Because of that, the level of tourists were so low in so many of these areas. Previously, I've seen pictures of the pyramids there's thousands and thousands of people. Just a zoo.

“Literally we'd go there, and there'd be five other people. And yet we were perfectly safe. It left us feeling very privileged, to be able to be there and have no one around.”

The kids had a great time too. Tia attended CISE, while the twins were cared for at a nearby daycare, where they even picked up some Arabic, which they occasionally still use in arguments with their parents.

The children loved the Egyptian street food, and complained when they couldn't eat it when they got back to Sudbury.

Tia even started wearing a headscarf when out in public, as many Egyptian women do. That was partly because her red hair attracted unwanted attention, and because she also wanted to emulate Egyptians.
She now wears the headscarf under her helmet while downhill skiing.

“Just deep within (Tia's) psyche, she knows that our world is so much bigger, and there's so much more to see,” Mari said, adding that the little girl often pretends she's travelling on a plane with her little brothers.

“She's already ready to pack her bags and go on another trip somewhere else.”

The couple plan on travelling with their kids again, although probably not in the Middle East. “The Middle East isn't getting any safer,” Mari said. “That's unfortunately the case.”

Tim is also cultivating the travel bug in his students. Each spring, he leads a group of St. Charles students on a service trip to South America.

This April, they'll be going to Panama to help build a school, as well as sightseeing in the country. Those interested in making donations to the service trip are asked to contact St. Charles at 705-566-9605.