A little story from Egypt

1. I went to Egypt when I had my very first summer holidays in 2005. Just me and my elder sister, and two of her friends. A half-guided, half self-explore, 11-day trip( 7 days with a guide, the rest on our own basically). I went there, partially due to my promise I made to travel there with my sis; another reason was that she already booked everything for me half a year before that, believing that I will further my studies in UK like herself, in which I actually ended up in a totally opposite side of the world(thanks to PETRONAS for that...).

2. Egypt fascinates me in many ways. Much more than other countries I have been to. Different culture, different ancient buildings and tombs, and different kind of people. A whole new world in short.

3. The story starts when we were bored of staying on the Nile cruise everyday. After begging the guide for many days to bring us to explore places in the city where the locals usually hang out, he finally agreed. Mind here he was not supposed to do that, considering our safety is not guaranteed outside of the ship.

4. Things started when we were hanging out in a cafe in a small alley. Only locals hang around there most of the time. The place is quite a run down by the way. Much worse than mamak stalls in Malaysia definitely. I saw a couple of small kids from another end of the alley walk towards us (me, my sis, her two friends and our guide) the moment they saw us, just when we are about to order our food. They are about 5 or 6 years old. Or maybe younger than that, I'm not sure.

5. The waiter/cafe boss who was serving us, left us in a sudden, walk towards them, and without a single word, starts to beat them with a stick that he picked up along the way. That really caught us all in surprise. And surprisingly the guide(his name is Romany) is not disturbed by the scene at all. He even ask us to just ignore the kids.

6. Out of all the anger, I shouted "Stop!". The waiter, everyone in the cafe including the patrons and our beloved guide, were surprised by my action ( I later learn that I was the first tourist to do that). "Ask them to come here, NOW!!" I shouted. He was reluctant to let the kids go to our table, but he did anyways. The moment they arrived, they show me a small packet of tissue. One in each of their hands.

7. I understood everything in that instance. These street kids are selling tissue papers to the tourists. But they were hated so much by the business owners. They are such a nuisance to them because these kids annoy the tourists sometimes. Some will go as far as pulling the sleeve of the shirt of tourists to sell the tissue papers.

8. I pity them. Very much. The only thing I could do at the moment is to grab the tissue packet from them and ask how much. 2 fingers, they showed. Two Egyptian pound for one small packet of tissue is indeed VERY expensive. (note: 1 Egytian pound is one tenth of British pound, or ~ RM0.60. You can buy a whole bag of breads there in Cairo). I bought all anyways. The other thing I could do is to stare at the cafe owner with a look full of hatred. He simply ignore that and chase those kids away with the stick in his hand.

9. Mood spoiled. We left without even giving tips to the waiters (it is actually almost a 'must' for the tourists to do so). We move on to a market. It's like a pasar malam and it is definitely not a bazaar like we thought. It's another place that is NOT for tourist, definitely. Me and my sis stop at a stall to buy some bread (1 pound could buy a BIG bag of bread), and we were left behind.

10. We have to walk abit faster to catch up with the rest. I walk behind my sis as a precaution, when I noticed that someone is following us. We tried to walk faster but he is catching up behind us and is getting closer till within a hand's reach. Then I notice that he while walking, was handing out his hand, as in trying to get something from us. He is about my age, or maybe older, early 20-s maybe. Afraid of danger(we have lost track of our guide and our friends), we run crossing the busy main street.
(Note : jalan yg memang busy sehingga kita orang bersyukur sebab tak kene langgar masa lari lintasjalan)

11. After feeling that we are safe, we turned around, and finally saw that he is actually HANDICAPPED. He lost an arm. He was actually just trying to beg some food for himself, coz I was carrying the bag full of fresh bread over my shoulder. He must have seen it and he wants some. "Ya allah!" we shouted. I almost cried. I felt that I have been very, very cruel, to someone who was very, very unfortunate. I wanted to cross back to the other side of the road to give him some money, but he left.

12. I never felt this bad before in my whole life. I realize that I have done something that is very wrong. Allahualam. We continue our walk to catch up with Romany and co, but deep inside I was praying to God all the way, to give me another chance to redeem my mistake.

13. The Al-Mighty showed His might. Maybe He really is giving us another chance. A little kid came running at us at a harbourside. About 5 years old too. And you could guess, with a pack of tissue papers in his hand. I noticed that the label, design and size of the packet is EXACTLY the same as the ones I bought before that.

14. I'm in a dilemma. I'd just realized. They are all controlled by the same syndicate. I wonder whether the money I spent on the tissue papers just now will go to those kids or not. If I buy the tissue papers, surely the big 'boss' in the syndicate will recount all the tissue packets left by the end of the day and then ask the money from kids. BUT if I simply give the money to the kids without buying, I am indirectly teaching them how to beg from tourists. Begging is not a good thing either. These kids are still young and learning.

15. If I simply give money to them without buying the tissue papers, they will learn that actually they don't have to sell tissue papers to get money anymore. They will know that they just need to beg for money, from the tourists. Even if one in every one thousand tourists give them money, they could make a living already. I don't want to 'spoil' them in that way. I don't want them to be like those kids in India or Indonesia where they chase after tourists for money. No one is begging for money in Egypt by the way. Our guide confirmed this too.

16. I'm in dilemma. I am not quite sure how to help. I was about to give them money when my sis stopped me. "Don't teach them begging. At least now they are learning to sell stuff for a living. That is MUCH BETTER than begging for money," she said.
But I want to help them. I don't wanna feel bad like before for not helping the poor. But yet I don't wanna help the syndicate who were using these little kids to make money for themselves. For god's sake, these kids are uneducated nor in a good health. Most of them are skinny.

17. I remembered about the handicapped young man just now in a sudden, and I remembered the bread that i have with me. I showed the kid all four packets of tissue that I have and say, "Look, I don't need your tissue papers ok. I have four already. How bout I give you one piece of bread?" while pointing to the packets and the bread.

18. He didn't quite understand. (Silly me, was I expecting a 5 year-old kid in Egypt to understand English? hahahha). Never mind. Bagi jer lah. I passed one to him. He grabbed it and simply put it in his mouth and start eating it on the spot. Like he never eat anything for that day. It is 7p.m. and yet he is still selling. He must be hungry.

19. He showed up 1 finger while another finger from the other hand pointed to my plastic bag. He wants more, I believe. "Must be hungry," I thought. Tak pe, kasi jer. I gave him another piece. He grabbed it, went around a wall, and reappear with a small girl. About four years old. Must be his sis coz he was holding her hand. She's not selling anything, maybe due to her younger age. Her hands were holding the bread that I gave to the young boy just now...

20. I was moved. Both of us are speechless. Such an act of caring, unselfishness and responsibility showed by a 5 year-old. Hardship really shaped him into such maturity... ... ...We end up giving them two pieces of bread each before moving on.

21. After meeting up with the rest, watched some belly dancing in a club. We went back to our boat. On the way back, we saw that small kid and his sis again. But this time with a big group of kids. about 8 of them. And they were all sharing the bread that I gave to the small kid before that...

22. We watched them without uttering a single word. Unselfishness shown by the little kid is really amazing. For a kid as young as 5 years old to share with the others while he is not having enough for himself, is such an admirable act. We gave all of them some food that we take away from the restaurant, before we board our ship for a rest.

What a long day we had! But I'm definitely going to remember this day for the rest of my life. It has really changed a lot my perceptions about the reality that is happening in a different corner(or many other places) of this world that I am living now... ...I wish that the world would be a better place to live for ALL of us.

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1. Egypt is a country which relies heavily on its tourism industry. (I was told by Romany that they have 7 million TOURISTS visiting every year. As a comparison, Malaysia received around 15 million or more VISITORS, whom most are from neighbouring countries like Singapore and Thailand who came for business purposes/weekends shopping trip.) There are a lot of the so-called "tourism police", a special kind of enforcers who patrol the street to make sure the safety of the tourist. That is one of the reasons I believe why there is literally no beggars on the street of Egypt. These tourism policemen prevent the beggars from disturbing the tourists, but they won't interfere when little kids try to sell tissue packets to the tourists.

2. I am shocked to know how the street kids are treated there. I understand that the cafe owner was trying to 'protect' those tourists, and his business as well of cause. But, where is the HUMANE SIDE of him? Beating up 5-year old kids with a stick for that reason is just unacceptable. I would understand if he is not kind enough to give them free food, but that is not the way to deal with them. Most of these street kids have scars on their arms by the way, I noticed. Due to these kind of beating I believe.

3. Another outing on a different day, my sister and I went to a convinience stall on the street to buy a bottle of water (The air in Egypt is full of sand particles, it makes us feel thirsty all the time). There was no one attending the stall. We called a few times until someone appeared from a bush behind the stall. Right after we paid and left, the owner quickly went behind the bush. Out of curiosity, we try to see what is happening from far. We finally saw that he actually rush back to chase a teenager who was trying to escape from the bush. The young man was VERY weak obviously, could not run fast. (lari terhuyung hayang lah basically).The stall owner caught up with him, pinched him down and started to punch him. We could clearly hear the young man shouting for help, as well as the sound of the struggle (or maybe the sound when punches landed on the body?). I wanted to help (darah muda, biasalah), but my sister stopped me.

"Don't. I know you pitty him, so do I. But we are not supposed to interfere. We are tourists here remember? By the way maybe he is a thief, and he got caught stealing. He is not a kid anyways." she said. But she suggest me to return the drink we bought and ask for refund. She doesn't want to drink that water for what the owner did to that young man. I did not do that cause the guy is quite far away, but I throw the bottle away without drinking it, in a disgust and anger.

4. I learned many things in this trip. Maybe because this is the first time that I tried to explore corners and places, where tourists do not usually go, in a third world country. I believe that sometimes when we are in our comfort zone, we tend to forget the struggle of many others who are less fortunate than us.

5. I sometimes ask myself, what can I buy with one ringgit in Malaysia? or 1 dollar in Australia? Maybe some sweets and chocolates. But what can these people buy with one ringgit or one dollar in Egypt? A whole bag of bread for 8 little kids ----enough for the day. Or a whole meal for one family in Aswan (a very remote and poor town in Egypt, accessible only by train). But yet sometimes we are so reluctant to give/donate one ringgit to other people. If spare changes mean little to us, it could mean a living for a poor family in Egypt. That is why the Al-Mighty always ask us to give away what we have to the less fortunate people , even if the things that we give away mean little to us. I have many of those 'fortunate' friends who were born into a wealthy family, I wonder if they have this kind of awareness. Being too pampered with luxury, I doubt so. I do not blame them, cause most of them do not have the chance to 'feel' what the unfortunate people felt. Most of them don't even notice what's going on in this world. If they ever travel to a third world country like Egypt, I believe they will only experience the first class traveling, without realizing what really is going on behind the alley.

6. I believe that many people are willing to help, but they don't have the mean and the ways to do so. How many charity organizations out there helping these people? I am not sure, and I admit that I myself do not know how and where to get in touch with these people. That is why we have to have more organizations like Mercy. Sad but true, Islamic charity organizations are far outnumbered by charity organizations of other religion especially Christian. Sarcastically, Christian charity organizations even outnumber the Islamic charity organizations in these poor but predominantly muslim countries like Egypt.

Something that we should look into seriously. If we think that we are unfortunate, there are more more unfortunate people than us out there.

7. For those who are interested, there are neutral organizations that are not based on any religion like the UNHCR (UN refugee agency directly under the United Nation). The branch in Australia in example(http://www.unrefugees.org.au/), accept payment from individual donors through a monthly direct debit from any Australian bank account. To my surprise, Australians are one of the most generous and biggest donors. From what I know too, 40 dollars a month could help the agency to give vaccinations to hundreds of children in war torn countries every month. A 25-dollar donation could help them to give free food to one family for a month, n etc. What is 40 dollars A MONTH to people of Australia? I am not too sure but I know some students who are working casually/part-time in Australia (Note : international students in Australia are allowed to work up to 20 hours a week) are getting atleast 300 dollars EVERY WEEK. Maybe we should ask them how much is 40 dollars (or 25 dollars) a month compared to the 1200 dollars that they are getting and they could save up every month from their part time job ( since a lot of those Malaysian students who are working part-time are under scholarships, they could spend the allowances they are getting from the sponsor for daily expenses. Some don't really have to use their hard-earned money for daily expenses).

Should we sacrifice 4 meals of McDonald's every month(each meal costs around 10 dollars, 4 meals = 40 Australian dollars), for the good of hundreds of children in refugee camps in Africa?
Something for ALL of us to think about, but I believe that the more we give, the more we get. Cheers!