Cape Town woman experiences Exodus 2.0

TALI FEINBERG

Joffe travelled to Egypt in March for maxillofacial dental surgery, which she chose to do there because of the reduced cost. “I couldn’t take the chance of not having the full treatment, [as I need] articulation and strong vocal projection for work,” she says. She is no stranger to the region, having travelled extensively in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and training in Eastern classical dance arts, yoga, and natural healing.

“I was supposed to have dental surgery seven years ago, suffering from extreme dental pain for much of the time since,” says Joffe. But her mother’s health took priority, and she spent the past few years caring for her until she passed away.

“It was only after we put up her stone that I started working on plans to fulfil my now way-past-urgent dental procedure. In spite of the virus starting to spread panic around the world, I landed in Cairo in March.”

Soon after her surgery, Joffe found herself stranded. “At first, the Egyptian government spoke about a two-week shut-down of the airport. This appeared manageable, until that period was extended to mid-April. That date was pushed to the end of April, and now the authorities have stopped making announcements altogether.

“Even before the end of March, the hotel where I was staying informed us that it was closing, and I needed to check out. That was the date of my first contact with the South African Embassy in Cairo. We [the stranded South Africans in Egypt] were told we should all stay in hotels close to the embassy at our own cost, and there was nothing further it could do other than report our situation and await direction from the government.

“As more South Africans gathered in Cairo, the embassy informed us it would attempt to work on our repatriation, and we all joined a WhatsApp group. The embassy announced that it had secured a charter flight on South African Airways (SAA), but it was cancelled 36 hours prior to departure. We freaked out. It became really difficult for the group to manage the hotel costs and maintain a positive outlook at this point,” says Joffe.

“I began talking to a friend about coming to Israel across Sinai. She phoned the authorities, and was told it wasn’t possible. This was when I reached out to Stuart Diamond of the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD). I explained that I was stranded, healing from surgery, and in a perilous financial situation.

“Stuart replied immediately. I breathed my first sigh of relief since leaving my house. The sensation of the branches of the Jewish community catching me in free-fall was immense.

“I was still swollen and fighting infection. Perhaps if I didn’t have an infection, I would have taken the first bus to the Menachem Begin Crossing and yelled into Eilat until something manifested! But I wasn’t in good health, which made the situation even more dangerous. All that was left for me to do was to attend virtual shul, and keep reaching out and wait for Hashem’s hand to point me forward.”

Slowly, the wheels began to turn. “The South African Embassy in Cairo worked day and night on the lines of red tape as far as its jurisdiction would allow. Stuart worked tirelessly, and I’m sure many more individuals and organisations that I wasn’t even aware of were pushing for the safe repatriation of all 43 South Africans stranded in Egypt,” she says.

“I learned of Darren Bergman and the Home Away From Home project just days before I flew. When I contacted him on a mobile number attached to a repatriation circular sent out on our WhatsApp group, he replied, ‘You’ve been on my radar for a while!’”

Joffe says SAA has also been a massive part of the repatriation process. Due to the airline flying charters taking citizens of other countries home and moving cargo, it was able to offer a financially manageable charter flight at R7 000 per person. The charter flight from EgyptAir was billed at about R150 000 per person.

Meanwhile, her students in Cape Town and across the world helped to keep her financially afloat.

She eventually boarded her SAA flight home on 22 April. “The minute we boarded the SAA plane, it felt like being on South African soil. It was a celebratory take-off, with the whole plane cheering. At OR Tambo, we were the only activity in sight. We were stamped inside the airport, and taken back to the tarmac. We collected our bags, and boarded the organised transfer to the government-arranged quarantine.”

Joffe has remained in quarantine together with the other passengers and flight crew on the top floor of a Johannesburg hotel. She was released from quarantine on 6 May and will stay at a friend in Pretoria until she can catch a bus back to Cape Town, which she hopes will happen on 9 May. “Nurses came twice daily to check our temperature. I’m still fighting infection from the surgery, but thankfully, the SAJBD has put me in touch with a specialist with whom I have had a virtual consultation.”

She still needs to get home to Cape Town after her enforced quarantine.

Diamond told the SA Jewish Report that the minute Joffe reached out on Facebook, both the Cape Board and Bergman worked closely with her, providing spiritual and mental support and looking at the logistics of getting her home safely.

“There was a host of communication with spheres of government here in the Cape, nationally, and in Egypt. Even now that she is back in South Africa, we are constantly in touch with her about her medical and dietary needs, giving her all the support we can. We’re also trying to help other Capetonians.”

“We can be brave and fearless, but we are nothing without community,” Joffe says. “Our interconnectivity makes us a thousand times stronger.”