IN EGYPT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 157, 3 June 1940, Page 9

IN EGYPT.

WITH THE FORCES. WORK OF THE Y.M.C.A. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) May 14. Yellow sand stretched under shimmering heat waves for miles on every side. No place could have seemed more remote than this tract of desert to which the battalion had moved to play its part in the four days’ exercises of tlie Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Yet the impossible was happening. Tired, dusty men in khaki were -soothing parched throats with cool drinks, replenishing lean tobacco pouches and enjoying fresh cigarettes. All these miles from the canteen amenities of their camp, they had found an oasis—or, more correctly, an oasis had found them. Ploughing through heavy sand and bumping oyer roadless wastes, a truck was passing from unit to unit, laden with tobacco and refreshments and all the other “essential luxuries” of a soldier’s life. The Y.M.C.A. was on the job again, rendering still another form of service as it filled a new kind of need. In the estimation of the grateful men who satisfied their 'wants at its truck, more points were added to the already high reputation which the association had earned for its work in tlie New Zealand camp. Shortage of accommodation held up many of the Y.M.C.A.’s projects in the first weeks of occupation of the camp, but three marquees functioned day and night from the time of the arrival of the force in Egypt, it was realised that because of the facilities established by the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes throughout the camp, it was not the place of the association to provide a canteen service. The YiM.C.A. therefore concentrated its organisation on social activities of many kinds. Opportunities were not lacking. The complete novelty of the country was one of them—and so a series of talks on subjects such as the Pyramids, the Dynasties and centres of ancient civilisation filled a big tent to> overflowing every week. Hundreds of soldiers took part- in walking tours about Cairo, and even Arabic classes were formed. The Y.M.C.A. tents became a popular rendezvous which a host of men visited regularly to read, write and chat. Magazines and newspapers were well thumbed, and notepaper, envelopes, pens and ink, supplied as a free service, were greatly in demand. With letter writing reaching a peak each mail day, 100,000 sheets of paper were used in five weeks. A later investigation showed that 98 per cent, of the letters which went out from the camp bore the Y.M.C.A. insignia. As the weeks went In-, building work in the camp quickly neared completion. The Y.M.C.A. soon became able to decentralise some of its activities, because in each of the eight regimental institutes erected through the camp a large room was set aside for it as a reading, and writing place. Each of these rooms is under the direction of a unit committee, whose responsibilities include the supervision of the library and the planning of entertainments, tours and other activities. To these committees the association’s three officers lend their advice and assistance. In addition, a general Y.M.C.A. centre is now partially open. It has three sections—the first, a hut for games, refreshments and social activities: the second, a hut for writing and reading ; the third, an open-air auditorium which will be suitable for concerts, boxing, wrestling and basketball matches and other forms of entertainment and recreation .

In a short time, too, the New Zealand Y.M.C.A., in co-operation with its British counterpart, will open a centre in Cairo to provide for the needs of men on leave. Future contingents of the New Zealand force will be served by organisation on the same lines. The normal strength of Y.M.C.A. personnel in a division is six, but the scope of the work here is so great that permission has been granted the association to increase this figure to eleven. The three secretaries already with the force are Mr V. C. Jones, Mr J. H. Ledgerwood and Mr F. E. S. Long.