Our short enconter with hostilities

Last night walking back from the Maadi House we ran into a girl just around the corner from our house, who told us not to go over there (pointing to in front of our building). I noticed there were about 8 times as many cars and kids than normal in front of the Shell shop. The girl, who might have been about 16 years old, told us they had harassed her and that they were acting hostile. She suggested we take another route ‘with the baby and all’. I told her we couldn’t do that, but that I would call someone as soon as I got home. When we walked past the younger kids, they said things to us, and the atmosphere was a bit threatening; different from usual, but nothing really happened. When I came upstairs I still called AUC and explained the situation, and asked if maybe they should call somewhere (before anyone gets hurt), which they said they would. After about 20 minutes, AUC called back and said they had talked to ‘security’, who had checked everything out – I already knew that something had happened because it had suddenly got quiet. Apparently, there was a fight between a husband and a wife, and a group of people who were there to help resolve it had started fighting. It was quite a weird cultural experience.