ANGRY

Cannot BELIEVE that people are skeptical about this. First of all, the first time I read this was through Amnesty International immediately following the day women marched in Egypt.

Amnesty International updated report:

You may have heard that a senior Egyptian general admitted to CNNthat women protesters had been forced to undergo ‘virginity tests’ in March.  Even more outrageous than this admission?  He justified the abuse saying the women:

“were not like your daughter or mine.  These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters.”

This admission is an utterly perverse justification of a degrading form of abuse.  The women were subjected to nothing less than torture!

Now is the time to ramp up our call for justice for the victims.  The Egyptian authorities must bring those responsible for ordering or conducting forced “virginity tests” to justice.  The Egyptian authorities must condemn these discriminatory, abusive and insulting attitudes which have been used to justify torture of women protesters, and which are clearly present at the highest levels.

Amnesty International in March gathered the testimonies of women protesters subjected to forced “virginity tests,” then wrote to Egypt’s Supreme Council for Armed Forces requesting an investigation. However, no response was received.

The general also told CNN that the reason for the ‘tests’ was “[w]e didn’t want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren’t virgins in the first place.”

This general’s implication that only virgins can be victims of rape is a long-discredited sexist attitude and legal absurdity. When determining a case of rape, it is irrelevant whether or not the victim is a virgin.  The army must immediately instruct security forces and soldiers that such ‘tests’ are banned.

When army officers violently cleared Tahrir Square on March 9 – the day after International Women’s Day – 18 women were detained, beaten, and given electric shocks, of which 17 were then subjected to strip searches, forced to submit to ‘virginity tests’ and threatened with prostitution charges.

The women were brought before a military court on March 11 and released two days later. Several received one-year suspended sentences for charges including disorderly conduct, destroying property, obstructing traffic and possession of weapons..

Amnesty International fears that discriminatory and patriarchal attitudes towards women in Egypt are standing in the way of women’s full participation in the reform process.

Although women were on the frontline on the mass nationwide protests that led to the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, no women were chosen to be part of the constitutional reform committee, and they have received little representation in the new government.

Egypt’s government needs to uphold the rights of all of the nation’s women who are working for the country’s freedoms, especially those struggling for gender equality and rights for women.

DON'T FORGET TO TAKE ACTION BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW:

Take Action: Investigate torture and forced ‘virginity testing’ on Egyptian women

And you can find the CNN link here to the report that came out a few days ago. 

The women of Egypt need to stand in solidarity with those who were abused and stand up for THEMSELVES because they have all been subject to inequality in some form at least once in their lifetime. And stop believing these chauvinist men who claim that the women were "prostitutes" and discrediting their political right to protest. 

Oh and the reaction from sarrahsworld here:

CONGRATULATIONS EGYPT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you so much.

Riots in Egypt!!

Finally, the people have a voice.

Mohamed Ali Mosque

The way the fabric moves...

You can already tell from the title what I love about this picture. In addition to the fact that it was also completely taken by mistake. Lets forget for a moment what she is wearing and all the politics that come behind it and admire the movement in the photo.

Ancient History

I don't know what it is about this picture, but it leaves me speechless. I took it two years ago in Luxor and I have yet to find the words to describe it. His body language speaks volumes.

lack of color and a highly organized clothing line

Colors

What we're famous for...

How do you expect to find a blog about Egypt but no Pyramids?

You don't.

Long exposure photography is amazing. How else would you be able to take a picture of something that would otherwise be pitch black?

These pictures were taken during the "Light and Sound" show. I may have grown up right next to them, but the Pyramids never cease to amaze me. 

Just throw it in the bag

I just love the colors on these bags from Khan-al-Khalili, otherwise known to tourists as the bazaar. 

In fact, the whole bazaar itself is culturally colorful. People who barely know how to read and write can speak English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Greek and any other language you can imagine. Its pretty funny since as you walk by they try to judge where you're from and say "Hello, we have bags, papyrus...etc" in three different languages until you respond.

Welcome to an extremely tourism-based country. 

What do you think of the bags?

Mohamed Ali Mosque

For Sale

People everywhere are selling everything.

Exhibit A:

Woman selling carpets, tissue boxes, car accessories...etc. where else but in the middle of the desert road.

Gamaa Bridge

Rare image with only five cars in the picture. Probably because it was around 7:20 am. 

Stories from the Street

Meet Mahmoud.

He's 10 years old. He carries around an old rag and wipes dust off cars to raise money for surgery that he needs to fix some burns. How did he get so badly burned? He was playing in the street near his home in the slums and people had lit some trash on fire. He fell and his clothes and skin got caught on the fire, hence the burns. He has an older sister who is married. And he used to have an older brother who died from getting electrocuted. He does not go to school.

The way he talked and the heavy look in his eyes made it seem to me like I was looking at an adult stuck in a child's body. He has probably seen more than I'll ever know.

Fashion

No words. Just pictures.

I have no idea what these are called in English...

But here they're called teen shoky (spiny fig?). Its a fruit you can buy off a kart, peeled and ready to eat. So here's this dude selling them on his kart and he's talking on the phone while peeling them for a customer. Mind you, the little black dots, those are thorns. When I watch people peeling them at home, they wear protective gear like they're going to the moon. Thats if they arrive home in the bag. Usually they tear through the plastic bag if you're not careful. And everyone loves them. I don't. They're too much trouble for a fruit. Whats wrong with Mangos? At least they don't try to hurt you when you eat them.

But maybe Egypt is like teen shoky. You can't get too close at first, but once you peel back what can hurt you, its pretty sweet inside. 

Maybe I'll try some tomorrow. 

[Edit: They're called opuntias. Thanks ya Youssef.]

The Dark Side of the Moon

The title is a bit figuratively incorrect. The dark side of the moon usually means the mysterious side of the moon. But there is nothing mysterious or even slightly ambiguous about this topic. The dark side truly means dark, unwanted, sad.

I have been reluctant to share what I am about to put in this post. Primarily because I don't want people to think that I am negative or only see negative things in my country. I'm sensitive. But who isn't? The point is to raise awareness. And not to sugar coat reality with touristic pictures of a history that is long gone. This reality is true and tangible not only in Cairo, or Egypt, or Africa, but in all corners of the world.

This child is sleeping in the middle of one of the busiest streets in the city. Might I add about a dozen people walked by in the thirty seconds it took for me to capture this image. Not. one. of. them. looked. Actually, one of them glanced, but he looked at me.

To others on the street, at least to my best interpretation, this child is just a fact of life. Young and old, rich and poor. To each, its opposite. And the opposite has to exist. In spite of my best intentions, I didn't reach out to the little boy. I figured this is the best sleep he can get and I did not want to disturb it. And I honestly didn't know what I would do if I did awaken him.

But there is something about the way his hands are placed next to his chest and face that is so innocent yet so eager to protect. It speaks that every child is the same, and thus deserves the same. Why this child is sleeping on nothing but cardboard in the middle of the street, I'll never know. But once again, I want to raise awareness. Lecture alert: Women and children are the poorest populations in the world. Millions of people in the world live on less than $2 a day. You try living on less than even $5 a day, let me know how that works out. Yet we live on streets where we don't have to see the poor. The government marginalizes them and we happily forget they exist just because we don't see them.

This is just one of the side-effects of poverty. A child sleeping on the street. More stories to come on what these children come to be involved with.

Cairo II

Here's the Nile and some of the boats and restaurants on the water.

I'm hoping this one is more colorful. :)

Cairo

Cairo and the Nile at night from the 6th of October Bridge. 

Best. Breeze. Ever. 

Downtown Cairo. Old European-Style buildings. Busy, crowded, just the way I love it. This specific square has been the scene of many famous films. Its used for flashbacks, but in black and white, in reference to the good ol' days when all the Europeans lived and prospered in Egypt. Long before poverty, corruption, and overpopulation. 

But this is Egypt. And I love it. 

Introductions

Egypt. Thats a loaded word. Partly due to emotions. Partly due to history. Partly due to politics. The list goes on. But thats what this blog is going to be centered around. Egypt, in its purest form. Its exciting but scary to start writing about it. So here are the reasons I could fathom for starting this blog. Because I love Egypt, though its easy at a distance to forget why, I want to share Egypt. Not necessarily only the heart-breaking, but the good, the bad and the ugly. Call it an honest approach. And because I feel like there is something to learn from every story, I'm hoping that there is something universal to be taken away at the end. But mostly, its the records of a journey, for me to look back on.