Dec. 29, 20:43
Takeaway #1
Luxor – West Bank
Hamadi’s Voice on President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
“He says he’ll do all these things for us, like he does for those in the north, particularly in Cairo, Alexandria. But here, in Upper Egypt, he thinks we are ignorant and we don’t understand and so he does nothing for us. Meanwhile, many of those from here, those who own the farms or hotels or businesses, they live in Europe, they are very educated.”
To this, Akhenaten, 28 and from Giza, whom I later met at a dirt-cheap Luxor Youth Hostel would say, “But he [president] was just down in Aswan announcing major roads and infrastructure projects that will connect farmlands to their greater markets in the cities.”
What else has he done for those here in Luxor and further south since 2013?
Akhenaten, working in IT Graphics and Analysis, has a point, but no answer for this.
Hamadi, approximately 56, has a more immediate perspective, having worked in Luxor as a Tour Guide, driver and Jack-of-all-Trades all his life..
“Before (the Arab Spring), one liter of petrol was 3£E, for my Peugeot. Now it’s 5£E and for others it’s 10£E,” Hamadi says, sipping his tea at a favorite falafel and believe-it-or-not cappuccino place on the main road out to The Valley of the Queens, Kings everywhere important on the West Bank.
“They [gov’mint] used to give families everything; sugar, tea and other daily goods; 100%. Now, this president only gives maybe 50%.”
It’s a terrible thing. As younger, more affluent and educated from the north, like Akhenaten, who have presumably benefited most from current trends and treatments, can’t see.
“Just ask anyone from this region and maybe you’ll get an honest response. Probably not, as you’re Egyptian.”
Gerard, a fellow hosteller and mountain biker from Barcelona, and I tag-teamed Akhenaten, attempting to persuade him to investigate further.
Gerard teaches Science in Barcelona and has a fascination with learning about as many tribes as he can, and interjecting these findings into his science classes. To HELL with the curricula.
I took the baton from Gerard, reiterating how I’d met a couple of Independent Journos in Siwa who weren’t afraid of discussing hypocrites and ludicrous infra-projects that benefit few but line the pockets of those in the inner circles within gub’mint. They were perfect subjects, unfortunately, they were returning to Cairo to stir the pot and search for the truth until they can’t anymore. I finished with some of Nabil’s, Hamadi’s struggles.
But, in the end, lamenting, “Often people open up to me or Gerard and other outsiders, able to speak more freely and earnestly.”
This is one of the benefits of being a reporter/inquisitive person and a foreigner, an outsider. I can almost always get more in-depth answers from people as long as we have patience, a common language; English, Spanish or the UNOFFICIAL world of sign language, or these days, Translation Apps. People are often eager and waiting to be heard.
The main message Akhenaten may come to recognize, should he take the time:
“In Upper Egypt,” Hamadi said, “80% are dead or dying and only 20% are living.”
END
edited Feb. 7, 2022
Egyptian Voices of Reason
December 30, 2021
17:06 West Bank Luxor – Egypt
My Takeaway #3
Culturally challenged! If the whole system is predicated on men striving to have enough to support a woman, who in turn will never be asked to call upon her education, her skills, her creativity; relegated to menial subservience, instead of being called upon to be part of a team; equals working together towards uplifting the entire, family, community and country then they will continue wallowing in archaic systems that will never push them forward.
Men CAN’T do it on their own!
For instance I’d love to support Nabil, Mando, Ali in Sharm el-Sheikh, and half a dozen others and definitely three dozen girls and young women; May, Ola, Nakia, those in Nabil’s household who are striving to be MORE; educating themselves, their youth, especially the females, to be stronger, potential, POTENT and part of a thriving future. Unfortunately, it seems like it’s a losing battle.
I suppose some may come out like Susie in Nepal, or like Washington in Perú, and you have to believe that often that’s all about starting with one…and going from there. You hope that the work that you’re doing mentoring one person can grow into something much bigger. It’s like when I’ve mentored the eldest in a family and instructed them to teach their younger siblings the same things when they’re old enough to grasp concepts.
I know they’re up against a mountain of shit – dozens or more obstacles going against them, however Wasi has had – will continue to have, things constantly working against them. There will always a lot of the prejudice, the poverty, and the ignorance be conquered.
Yet, these things that should’ve held Wasi back have actually made him stronger!
Will it be the same for Susie?
She’s younger by 15 years, female but living through a pandemic that has crippled her country but not her prospects of completing her Nurse Practitioner’s License.
Men must not fear giving power back to their women. Women must be EXPECTED to bring more to the table than children, a clean house and tasty meals. There are extremely successful cooperatives empowering women making households richer on several fronts. Individuals are often smarter than their partners, and can no longer be held back. It’s crippling the globe.
You see Nabil and Mando and others struggling to keep shits together for several households, but with four grown women in the mix and six up-and-coming brilliant young girls, there’s so much POWER and ingenuity and Art in them that will probably NEVER see the light of day.
edited Monday, Feb. 7, 2022 Shawn L. Carson
shawn.carson@icloud.com
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