A medical centre owned by the Coptic Orthodox Church in the town of Biba in Beni Sweif some 100km south of Cairo and run by mukarrasaat, women known as Tassoni—literally Sister—who consecrate their lives for service in the Church, was the scene of an attack by a tuk-tuk driver two days ago.
The Muslim tuk-tuk driver, Karim Hassan al-Fayoumi, took his injured brother to the al-Shifaa’ Medical Centre in Biba for treatment. Tassoni B.R placed her cell phone on the nearby table as she took care of the patient. Once she finished with him, she discovered the cell phone was missing. Tassoni rushed out to the waiting tuk-tuk and told them that someone might have picked up the phone by mistake. The tuk-tuk driver answered belligerently, then disembarked and got into a fight with the guardsman on the gate of the medical centre, 53-year-old Samir Labib Gorgy, who protected Tassoni. Passers-by interfered and saved Mr Gorgy from Fayoumi’s clutches.
A few minutes later Fayoumi returned wielding a knife. Tassoni and the women inside had closed the door, but he kept on hammering at the door in an attempt to break in. Again the passers-by and neighbours held him back and turned him away.
Tassoni B.R reported the incident to the police, but no action has been so far taken.
The al-Shifaa Medical Centre offers services to all, Muslim and Christian.
WATANI International
12 June 2016