Cargo Village, Cairo

 010810 – Cargo Village

Within days of arriving in this country, one must collect one's unaccompanied baggage or luggage from "Cargo Village", aptly named because of its sheer size. It is also aptly named because it is a community unto itself, with it's own rules and regulations; and sets its own operating code. You either abide by its governance or you go stark-raving crazy out of sheer frustration and impatience [bordering on extreme anger, as we observed some of its customers becoming] and which tests even the most placid and laid-back of people; and takes one to a new standard of understanding and comprehension of bureacracy - the experience, while not to be missed, stretches most people to their absolute limits.

A friend accompanied us on this epic adventure, telling us beforehand what to expect. She also suggested that I take a pen and paper and document how many "transactions" we encountered, because she knew from her own recent experience that it was an unbelievable number. So dutifully armed with this knowledge and desire to record the morning's work, we headed off. During the experience, she and I would sit, or stand back and watch and observe, together we noted every transaction; every time a piece of paper which was handed to this clerk or another, it was recorded; every time money changed hands, it was recorded; and every time we had to front up to this window or another, it was recorded. We walked up and down the same corridors many times, visiting the various windows but after each visit, the process dictated that we return from whence we had just come. We would visit window #3, then head off to window #43, then back to window #4, then on to window #39 and so it continued hour after hour; at some windows the clerk was not interested in us at all - he simply wanted to sight and maybe stamp this or that piece of paper; at others he wanted to match our faces with the photos in our passports; at others he wanted us to write our names [but not our signatures] on seemingly scrappy pieces of paper which we wondered was serving what purpose; our signatures were saved for yet another window. But to our relief from the tediousness of every thing being conducted under the same roof, we had the privilege of visiting several out-buildings to see yet other officials and clerks, many immaculately groomed and uniformed! 

At day's end, we tallied up the transactions and to our surprise we had recorded 66 of them - not bad for a morning's work, eh?

In my records, I had written "#66: an official checked our papers, nodded his head and the workmen pulled our barrels and cases, with the help of a manually operated forklift out of the warehouse and placed them on to a waiting traytop truck [12.25pm]." Our stuff was now in our possession - what a relief! 

It was interesting to re-read that it took the process through until transaction #37 before we actually saw our goods and by #40 the Custom's Officer appeared out of no-where. At transaction #49, our stuff was being pulled and yanked out of our containers by no less than 7 individuals, who each looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves; each of them trying their hardest to be the first to find the much sought-after prize! And the winner is!!!!! [drum roll] Victoria & Albert! There were no dutiable goods inside, much to everyone's regret - except us of course!

What an experience!

010810 – Cargo Village – the low-down!

To get our stuff from Cargo Village, we:

• went by taxi from IO (International Office, MXM) with MO (Magazine Office) staffer [8.50am]
• went to an office near airport but not at airport to meet our connection at World Freight Centre, Fayez Fathi
• introduced to our agent for the transactions [Tamer]
• drove in Tamer’s car to Cargo Village [CV] and spoke to a man in a blue box office
• went to another blue box office and spoke with another man
• spoke to a man in brown outfit ***
• went to the large office block at end of compound and spoke with man at counter #1
• proceeded to counter #2 to register
• proceeded to counter #3 [we seemed to be assigned an officer who would look after our transaction]
• proceeded to counter #4 where the officer found the matching “Cairo” papers
• went to counter #5 where we were asked to sign some papers
• located man in brown outfit [#6], spoke with him again and paid him some money
• went to another small office box [GM on outside]
• went outside CV compound to another blue office box, then
• spoke with lady [but obviously officer was not available]
• back inside compound to locate officer
• then back to blue office box where we met the officer who was dressed in a white uniform, with 2 stars on each epilet, to sign more papers and where the officer established that Albert only had one wife and that her name was Victoria [RW was with us during the proceedings]
• while we waited in the office, our agent went outside, to a window at the end of the same office and handed our papers to the man and paid him some money
• our agent returned and with us in tow went back inside CV compound to another window and paid money
• our agent then left us for several minutes
• we found ourselves back with the man in the brown outfit again
• and proceeded to another blue office box
• back with our man in the brown outfit
• who had another man with him this time and our agent completed a set of forms
• and went to another office before
• going into the warehouse to see the customs officer [so we were informed] – the 3 of us waited outside
• our agent returned to the office [#24] where the officer checked our faces against those in our passports
• our agent went back into the warehouse, still without us
• our agent returned to the office [#24], then collected N&M [and invited RW to wait in the cafeteria]
• we walked past the gatekeeper, acknowledging him, and into the warehouse
• we were asked to wait while our agent went to see someone [we waited 3 minutes]
• he returned and took us to an officer sitting at a desk, where we were asked to write our names on a form
• then we went to another desk, further inside the warehouse, where a new officer had to sign the form
• our agent then handed the forms to another person in a grey uniform [workman]
• our agent then handed each of us a pink slip of paper, saying that this was a very important piece of paper
• our agent then took us back to just inside the warehouse door, where we would wait for our goods [11.35am]. Here we were offered, and accepted, a “free” pepsi each
• our goods arrived on a forklift [11.41am]
• our agent took our papers to one officer at the row of desks, and
• then he proceeded to a second officer at this same row of desks
• our agent asked for the keys to the padlocks and unlocked them, handed the padlocks to me and returned the keys to Albert, but did not open the barrels or case
• our agent then left and spoke to someone and after a little while
• boy #1 arrived with
• boy #2 and
• boy #3, and
• boy #4 and
• boy #5 together with
• the officer from the desk and 
• our agent
• all 7 people involved themselves in pulling stuff out of the containers, one by one. They did not completely empty any of them but rather only enough for them to see part way down and then proceeded to the next one
• our agent and the official completed some more forms
• the 5 “extras” were paid some money for services rendered
• our agent went to another officer with the papers
• then to another office where he paid more money
• we walked to office #1 of a new batch of offices to arrange delivery via Egypt Air [12.02pm]
• our agent went off down a corridor and saw someone
• he came back to the first office
• he then came back to us and we had to write our names on a form
• we went to a new office back at the entrance of the warehouse and saw someone
• then we walked back down the corridor, further down this time to a new office, located at another entrance to the warehouse
• we went outside the warehouse and spoke to a man
• then back inside to this “new” office to write our names on a form and then the officer signed it
• back down the corridor to the first or main entrance
• workman #1, together with
• workman #2 collected our goods on a handheld forklift [12.20pm]
• officer #1, with
• officer #2 checked out papers and the workmen pulled our stuff, with the forklift, out of the warehouse to a waiting traytop truck [12.25pm]. The man and boy drove our stuff to Flat 9, No.5 Road 152, Maadi, while our agent drove us part way back to his office and then hailed a taxi for us who took us to the flat

In all, there were 66 transactions and each transaction meant money exchanged hands.