I'm not the best conversationalist with either my grandchildren or my multinational great-grandchildren. Or is their planet so different than mine? I don't know. But one thing for sure, there will come a time when some among them will want to know, but I won't be here to tell. Just like when I was too busy to listen to my own parents. By the time I sorted out my questions, they were already gone. In those days there was nothing called social media: internet, Facebook, Twitter, magical communication channels where one becomes an instant chronicler, storyteller etc...

Since everyone around won't listen to the ramblings of my generation, I'm chosing a classic website format to convey my story to my great-grandchildren. Although still in their preteens, they seem to eat, live and breathe through play stations, smart-phones and I-pads. One day it'll later be up to them to pass on family lore through whatever astral communication medium available in their own twilight years.

So here goes!

Raised in the Cairo garden suburb of Maadi, I was the youngest of five siblings born to Baligh Sabry Bey and Dawlat Chamsi (also spelt Shemsy, Shamsi, Shamsy). I was educated at College des Freres first at Bab El-Louk and later at Khoronfish. This was the leading French-language boys' school at the time run by French Catholic priests. Later, I completed my undergraduate studies at Fouad University's (today Cairo U) Faculty of Agriculture.

In a sense agriculture was second nature to the Sabry family whose patriarch Amin Chamsi Pasha (my maternal grandfather) was a leading landowner in the Delta province of Sharkia. Likewise, my father who had studied in Scotland, was chief agricultural inspector at the Ministry of Awqaf (Endowments) where his uncle, Mohammed Faizi Pasha, had been director for almost a decade. During the long summer vacations my father often took me on his agricultural inspection tours especially during cotton harvest season.

Working at the Ministry of Agriculutre research

Shortly after graduating I assisted my maternal uncle, former MP Abdel Halim Chamsi,managing what remained of the family landholdings near the Delta town of Zagazig. By then I found employment with the agri-industry research section at the Ministry of Agriculture. However, due to my sports achievements, I was catapulted into the army with the rank of officer! Wanting to beef up various army sports teams, army Chief of Staff Mohammed Haider Pasha was forever on the lookout for star performers. So that's how I joined the army water polo team with a daytime job at the army service corps: examining food rations!

It was as a member of the military water polo team that I participated in major international events including the 1952 Olympic games at Helsinki. Similarly, I took part in the first Mediterranean Games in Alexandria, as well as international competitions in Stockholm, Brussels and Rome. I also participated in the Egyptian Six-Swimmers relay team across the English Channel. Our team established a world record AND won the Daily Mail prize in 1949. At a second try in 1950 we failed to achieve our goal. An unforeseen gale drifted the unlucky swimmers off course. It was a bitter disappointment.

During my army days (1950-56) I was transferred to the Western Desert sub-managing a Point Four project (later known as US-AID) jointly run with the military. Our task was to study the development of our northern coast. Hence, I was stationed at Ras el-Hekma near Marsa Matrouh. During this challenging assignment I spent six months in the United States visiting agricultural-related developments in the Colorado basin. This was followed by a three-month stint at Texas A & M University. The entire trip was sponsored by BLM aka the American Bureau of Land Management.

It was during my four years (1952-6) in Ras al-Hekma that I decided to tie the knot (see photo album section).

My release from army service was momentarily delayed due to the 1956 Suez War at which time I saw active duty in a frontier corps unit. I was assigned to the defense of Cairo International Airport at Gabal El-Asfar (Khanka) north of Cairo.

Working at the Ministry of Agriculutre under minister Sayed Marei seen here on a field trip

Back once more at the Ministry of Agriculture and then to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform and Land Reclamation. That's when I landed a job with El Nasr Company up until 1964. That year I was recruited by FAO (Food & Agricultural Organization). My first assignment in this world organization was a ten-year posting in Africa, first as an agricultural expert in Tanzania, then as a regional officer for Africa, traveling between Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Accra (Ghana). These were my Indiana Jones years full of jungle & savannah made-for-movie adventures. Move over Harrisson Ford!

In 1973, at the age of 46, I was transferred to FAO's HQ in Rome as chief of the "Rural Development and Agricultural Institutions Service".

After mandatory retirement twenty years later, I was just as busy taking on several consultancies with FAO, the UN's WFP (World Food Programme) and IFAD (the International Fund for Agricultural Development) as well as with the ILO (International Labour Organization), the Italian Agency for Assistance, and Bob Geldof's live aid program for Africa.

With hardly any time left to hang my hat, I finally decided to retire for good at 70.

Having gone native in Italy my lovely wife Madiha (aka Mona) and I decided to remain on for we had both led a charmed existence in the Eternal City. It was only after several break-and-entries that we decided it was time to go back to Egypt.

Today, in my golden years, I am back in Maadi living right around the corner from my childhood home on Road 11. In more ways than one I had come full circle.

I think a good place to start my story is the home where I grew up.