As we all know, Cairo in 1925 took an award as the most beautiful city in the Mediterranean and Europe. Long before 1920's, at the time of Khedive Ismail there were stringent laws for building in the down town area.

 

Many referred to ‘Cairo of the twenties’ as Paris of the Middle East, with its beautiful structural designs that were commissioned to French architects. The streets were extremely clean, down town Cairo was sophisticatedly set, with its beautiful buildings and department stores, and people were elegant. Even underprivileged communities were both clean and decent.

 

In general, Egypt was a country full of cultural activities; a great place to be if you were an actor, actress, poet, painter, writer etc… The way of life was refined where the members of the society had more respect for each other, to the culture, to the traditions, to the civilization and were more sophisticated having better taste and more polished attitudes.

 

What happened in the last five decades to Cairo breaks my heart. We have witnessed an extraordinary population boom, increase in illiteracy, and the demolishing of beautiful old buildings, chaotically replaced by unattractive new ones following no real standards. Consequently, this led to the loss of the ‘old charming Cairo’. Chaos slowly crept into every aspect of our life and we as a population became accustomed to ugliness.

 

We cannot deny that the government, nowadays, is exerting huge efforts to clean up Cairo and improve its look, but we are also certain that the citizens should bear responsibility. While driving through Cairo, we witness many uncaring citizens throwing garbage in the streets, soft drink cans, food, and litter flying from cars. Drivers also do not follow the road lanes and traffic rules.

 

This makes us wonder why they act like that and the logical explanations are ignorance, carelessness, and unawareness. Have we lost interest in our country? Have we become adapted to unattractiveness? What can we do about it?

 

There are laws in Egypt designed to govern all kinds of ill behavior. All we need to do is to apply them strictly, with no exceptions, in order to put our life into order and regain what we lost. We should follow the steps of other countries that have preceded us in this direction.

Many people in Egypt have travelled either to Europe, the States, or Arab countries. All over the world even in Arab countries the laws are applied strictly which leave no option to the citizens except to either follow them or face harsh punishment. What is noticeable is that Egyptians who travel to these countries comply with the rules.

With the outbreak of the bird and the swine flu spreading quickly all over the world, strict rules should be put in place to maintain cleanliness and avoid a pandemic. We should seize every opportunity to spread public awareness and make the citizens conscious that they will face punishment if they don’t comply. If we apply the laws, with no exception, and people get a taste of what would happen if they don’t respect them, we will gradually start reclaiming our lost identity and gradually get rid of the chaos that preside over most aspects of our  lives.

 

I am sure that many business men would donate millions of pounds for a cleaning initiative, and we are fortunate to have a huge population that would support in this initiative. The government alone cannot do this, or are we waiting until the government issues a decree to impose fines on people or areas which are filthy and polluted, just like the New Traffic Law, which restricted people from driving without the seat belts, using the mobile phone or driving in the wrong direction.

 

We still have areas in Cairo where you can really see beauty and greenery which proves that Egyptians, when determined, can do anything. I hope this message is seen and heard by many people so we can live in a better place. As Earl Nightingale says “Our environment - the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.” Finally, I would like ato share with you the following quote from Daniel William’s article to remind you of old Cairo "Legless Beggars Replace Princes, Movie Stars in Cairo Downtown", that during a visit of the Khedive Ismail to Paris in 1867 "Ismail was impressed by the French capital's broad avenues, roundabouts and palaces. ``Egypt is no longer part of Africa,'' he declared, according to ``Egypt's Belle Epoque,'' a history published in 1989. ``It is part of Europe. '' (Bloomberg, 15 July, 2008, Daniel Williams)