Zahi Hawass: What I have been doing lately
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For the last few months, I have been busy writing and working hard, as I am used to doing. Actually, being away from government has been good for me. I needed time to recover from all the trouble, and to give the friends of Seth, the god of chaos, some time to calm down. I have been staying very busy giving public lectures. One recent talk was at the Mena House hotel for an American group, and another one for 60 Australians was at a resort in Sahl-Hasheesh, Hurghada.
I really enjoyed the two days that I spent at this beautiful seaside resort, and the wonderful people I met there. I even agreed to travel to Australia and New Zealand at the end of May to give some public lectures. I believe that this tour will be a great opportunity to promote tourism in Egypt.
Another lecture that I gave recently was for members of the board from Harvard University, and some other distinguished guests.
This week I gave a talk in Cairo to a conference of eye doctors, who came from all over the world. I told them about the DNA and CT-scanning research we have been doing on Egyptian mummies, and how we have gained a great deal of knowledge about the diseases of the pharaohs.
I feel that it is very important that I take every opportunity to remind members of the press that in spite of what people around the world hear daily about trouble in Egypt, guests who come here to see our ancient monuments have stayed safe. All the tourists that I have met have enjoyed their time in Egypt since the Revolution. We need tourists to come back in even greater numbers for the sake of our economy, and also for the sake of our antiquities – all the ongoing restoration and other projects that we are undertaking require money. Because of the way the government budget has worked for many years, this money has really come from only two sources-tourists and exhibits outside of Egypt.
In addition to giving talks, I have been writing a great deal – something that I love doing very much. I have written a new book about Tutankhamun which will be published in Japanese, and later will be published for the iPad.
My book on antiquities and the 2011 Revolution is almost finished. I have just finished chapter 13, and I still need to write two more chapters. These two chapters will be the most important ones in the book. I will publish this book first in English, and then in Arabic. At the same time, I am working on a few scientific articles.
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