
Former Egyptian Ambassador to Cuba Hamdi A.W. Saleh in front of Melody Christian Church. -SVT Photo: Tami Stevenson |
During a mission trip to Cuba in 2002, an unlikely friendship between a Christian Pastor and a Muslim Egyptian Ambassador began that would last a lifetime. In a neutral area in Cuba, Reverend Frank Davis of Melody Christian Church and now Live Oak City Councilman, met Hamdi A.W. Saleh who was the Egyptian Ambassador to Cuba at the time. Saleh said he saw the humanitarian work Davis and his group were doing in helping the Christians and the others.
“He was helping everyone,” said Saleh. “I was very impressed with this,” he said.
“When we met,” Davis said, “He was very gracious and received us and introduced us to other people whenever we were in Cuba. He treated us royally and always gave me an opportunity to share about what we were doing.”
Reverend Davis became ill during one of the trips to Cuba and went to Saleh’s home for help. The ambassador introduced him to a top heart surgeon that is one of five in the nation and the doctor treated him there.
Saleh said, “So across the ocean, across the countries, we have maintained contact for 15 years and we are very good friends, which is amazing.” He added that their friendship goes beyond race and religion, they are friends as fellow human beings.
Saleh earned his doctorate at Harvard and is a Fulbright Scholar at the Center for Middle East Studies at Florida State University. His diplomatic service and distinguished career in academics, journalism and civil society advocacy spans nearly four decades. Hamdi Saleh is also a proponent of women’s rights. He said basically in most all parts of the world women are still fighting for their own rights. “They do not really achieve equal rights like we have achieved here (in America). Even here,” he continued, “You don’t have equal rights in terms of wages and so on,” Saleh said. |