Egypte staat sinds vele jaren bekend als een van de mooiste vakantiebestemmingen, cultuur, stranden, zon, heerlijk eten, je vind het daar volop. Tegenwoordig komt Egypte vooral in het nieuws door de onrust die er heerst. Ik vroeg mij af hoe de dag eruit ziet voor een vrouw levend in die onrust. Fathia beschreef voor ons een dag uit haar leven en laat zien hoe zij ondanks alle onrust een normaal leven probeert te leiden.
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“Cairo. You wake up in the morning planing to do a lot of things, you plan to go to a hyper market, cook lunch, pass by a friend, go to an Art exhibition and why not take some drawing lessons. I stand by the window and see a horrific traffic jam through my window, I decide to call the supermarket and order all my needs, I call my friend and apologize, I don’t go to the exhibition.. Traffic is a huge problem in Cairo, if you decide to be courageous, decide to take your car and plunge in the crowed streets you must plan to spend the day in the streets, you can never go to several destinations, you have to decide and choose one priority. Sometimes the weather is sunny and breezy, I put on my comfortable shoes, open the door and decide to simply walk in the streets without any specific target, but I regret it, first of all the air is very polluted because of the cars, there are no pavements and if you find any, you will find a car parked on it. The only way to have a walk is in the clubs, they have a lot of sport clubs and very nice gyms.
Cairo has the river Nile, it’s a very nice river where you could cruise for lunch or diner or take a Nile taxi, it’s like a speed boat which takes you to the other part of the city or even have a coffee by the Nile in one of hundreds cafes beside the Nile, it’s really entertaining. People now prefer to live a bit far from the city, as there are a lot of compounds projects, where they can breath some clean air and own a nice garden, the prices are less expensive than the city. The problem is that all offices are in the city centre, so if you have any official papers to do you will have to travel a long way. On the weekend, specifically Fridays the Muslim brothers always plan protests, it’s a chaos, all the streets are closed with barricades to prevent them from reaching important government buildings as they used to burn them in the past. Cairo is a nice city, it’s the city of culture, the city of the great Pyramids and the impressive Sphinx, there are a lot of places to visit but the every days political events stops you from thinking of any ambitious outlet. I’m sure after they settle down and after the presidential elections, life in Cairo would be much better.”
annekeschrijft.com 