I live in a crowded city of 20 million people…I come from a small town of 13,000.
One stark difference between these two places (minus the difference in population) is how people choose to get from point A to point B. Now, you would think that every person in the city would often stay and work in the district they live in, right? WRONG. It seems as though every single person needs to get someplace else everyday…which leads to major crowds in every method of transportation you choose. Often, local people with good jobs travel many hours a day just to get to work and home…and if you are a university student in addition to that, sometimes you are traveling for half of your day already. The only traffic I ever experienced in my hometown was caused by sheep standing in the road…which caused a five-minute delay that felt like twenty years-worth of suffering at the time. Needless to say, I have had a steep learning curve in discovering how to navigate traveling in the big city.
The word to describe crowds here, especially in relationship to transportation, is za7ma (“crowd”). This word can refer to a variety of things…traffic…long lines…sheer masses of people struggling to cram into a crowded subway car, or hanging out of the sides or backs of minibuses soaring down the freeways to get to the next stop as quickly as possible. All of this is za7ma, and no one in the city likes it. I have never heard someone gleefully proclaim, “Yay! Za7ma!” If they did, they risk getting hit with the back side of a flip-flop (or shp shp, as they are so affectionately called here).
You often hear…
“E da? E el za7ma di? Le kda? Saidnee, ya rob.”
Its colloquial meaning is…”Um…what? Why are there so many people? Help me, God.” As if it’s a surprise there are people out and about in the midst of a small community of millions.
There are many types of transportation to choose from, depending also on what type of experience you want to have…the subway, megabus, microbus, minibus, taxi, tuktuk, donkey cart, horse-drawn carriage…in this city, anything is possible if you have two wheels and a healthy dose of stamina and courage.
The dream is always to find an empty subway car or bus when you are traveling. However, when you are traveling in peak hours (which pretty much include anytime other than 10AM-12PM), there is going to be some form of za7ma- children going home from school, women finishing shopping or running errands with fifty bags, families going to visit friends, etc. Sometimes, the power of the crowd will sweep you places where you may or may not have intended to go! In the midst of that crowd, I have found it is wise to grab a metal handbar inside in case of my impromptu and unintended exit that is often beyond my own control.
There is always an option on the subway for women to be separated from men. There is always at least one women’s car available for women to ride, though it is not entirely frowned down upon to ride on the men’s car (though discouraged with perhaps a raised eyebrow, or a strange glance). However, if a man tries to ride in the women’s subway car, his face is often met with an older woman’s purse to discourage him, or maybe even as a reminder that he needs to look more carefully at his surroundings in the future. If there is za7ma, you can guarantee that your levels of personal space with children grabbing your legs and rear end for balance, older women using your arms as balance bars, and younger women screaming in your ear as they talk with friends they have not seen in a long time…possibly also bumping into you because they want your attention.
There are many more things to be said about this that could fill books, and I speak of this briefly with some measure of humor because of how many things that God has shown me through riding public transit. Through showing up and braving these crowds, I have seen a brave cross-section of women make decisions to support each other, even in spite of the mistreatment they receive every day. I’ve been able to talk to so many different kinds of people who come from all forms and walks of life, and I’ve learned how to practice showing and talking about Christ in a way that people understand in this context. Even if I can’t seem to breathe in the metro because of za7ma, God is still present, and He will always be present, no matter how exhausted I feel or how many women I talk to. Remember us here next time you also drive/ride public transit to work or school, and ask for our group of za7ma to come and know the One who knew how to speak to them where they were at (by climbing mountains and sailing out a bit).