A Day around Cairo...

Recently I decided to go on a day-trip with my friends and kids around Cairo. Since we live in the suburbs, our kids suggested that we go to the Egyptian Museum to see the Mummies. Actually it was a great idea seeing our history, and great Pharaonic ancestors’ art and crafts has always fascinated me. It was nice for the kids because we passed through Tahrir Square and there was a demonstration there since it was a Friday, the kids were happy to see the renowned square and the fact they witnesses a demonstration made it even better.

The essence of this story is not to tell you about a day in my life -however it is to point out my observations during this wonderful day. We had some attitude problems from the people in the Museum; my friends were Arabs, foreigners and one Egyptian. At the beginning we went to get the tickets for the museum and they said the children go in free which was great, however when they heard the children speaking in English, all hell broke loose; they told us “OH, the children must pay half a ticket since they are not Egyptians or Arabs”, we tried explaining to them that they also speak Arabic, and their parents are Arabs, so they tried testing them which was hilarious. Anyway, we went in after convincing them that the children speak Arabic.

The Museum was rather empty as the Tourism sector has been dramatically affected by our revolution. Of course, with anticipation it will pick up eventually, since a considerable percentage of the population work in this sector. My second observation was the unspeakable amount of garbage and trash around the Museum and in the Nile, “is this the image we want to give our tourists or even Egyptians”. We have a major cultural flaw when it comes to cleanliness, hygiene and image. I know it was not much before; however since the revolution I had this impression that Egyptians might somehow become more caring about their country, however the opposite happened. We are more politically involved debating about constitution Vs elections, assembling new parties with all sorts of ideologies, attacking and revenging from each other.

I am sure that there are a lot of people who care about this Country, however seemingly, the majority of the people do not. For example now you find all sorts of things happening in the streets, from people camping in front of the television building, and the TOKTOK driving down 6th of October Bridge, to people making their cafes and selling stuff in places you would not imagine possible. The funny thing is when you talk to these people their response is “we are free, and a revolution has happened” “Thawra Thawra Horreya Horreya”.

There are several projects targeting the garbage problem in Egypt, but I am convinced that people’s attitude changed. No matter how much effort will be put in those projects, they will fail “IF PEOPLE DON’T CO OPERATE IN THIS NATIONAL PROJECT” the change should come from within. Many people say that this may take years and years; however there are several examples throughout the world that succeeded in just a few years.

“Work, focus and produce” should be our Motto nowadays...