CYTI To City – An Eventful Journey !

CYTI Coordinator Sebastien Le Mouëllic updates us on the new CYTI staff member and her eventful journey to HQ…

‘Our new Egyptian colleague, Jeannette Fawzy (who will be representing our CYTI Alliance in Egypt) arrived in Cambodia this week on Tuesday, after some (mis)adventures en route… seems to be something that goes with the territory for CYTI personnel!

Jeannette left Cairo and had a stop in Bangkok before flying on to Phnom Penh. However, in Bangkok, the airline company refused to let her check-in… why? The reason they gave was that she had no visa for Cambodia, although she had an official letter from the appropriate Cambodian ministry allowing her to get the visa on arrival!

The reason was obvious: Jeannette being Egyptian meant she might be trying to escape her country to come as an illegal migrant to Cambodia!
After many calls, raised voices on the phone and with the support from many colleagues (Chamnap, Marko, Ann – thanks!) Jeannette could finally proceed to boarding just 15 minutes before the flight!

But it was not over yet… once in Cambodia and safely in her apartment, we realized that Jeannette had lost her passport! Oh no! We had to go back to the airport, in a tuk tuk in torrential rain and… yes, we found it…it was still on the trolley we had used to carry her luggage!

So, we went back to her place, but by now the streets were flooded, and Jeannette had to cross the street with water up to her ankles…!

However, as you can see from our picture, everything worked out fine, and Jeannette is now with us for a couple of months orientation and work before returning to Cairo.

Jeannette and Sebastien from CYTI, in the FI Office Phnom Penh.

Jeannette, welcome to SE Asia!’