The Many Sides of Egypt

Tuesday May 13th: More Fluids this morning from 9am-1pm. Still not so bad.

After class, we started some work for the service learning project by going to visit a local sewing shop called the Fathet Kheir Workshop. Didn't know what to expect coming in, but it was actually a very nice place. It was very clean and well kept (unlike the surrounding neighborhood) and the products they made were of great quality. I was even interested in founding out if we could purchase some. Most of the products were domestic type things, tablecloths, aprons, oven mitts, placemats, etc. We're hoping to get a web site set up to expand their business so they can open up a market for their product in America. It definitely has potential, we just need to figure out some of the logistics and details.

We then went to carpet factory, another place where we thought we would be able to do some work for them as well. This was a total disaster though. Someone really dropped the ball here and there was a huge misunderstanding of why we were coming there. The lady that showed us around was their business manager and obviously thought we were just coming for a tour and to purchase some rugs. This was no ordinary rug shop though. It's been open for 78 years and has clearly been a successful business for a long time. One of the carpets that had been finished was going to be sent to Mohamed Al Fayed, the owner of the Fulham Football Club in England! How are we supposed to help a company like that? Luckily we're not going to be doing that any more. It was one of the oddest situations to be in as well, as this lady wearing designer clothes and sunglasses is showing us around this shop where little kids and other adults are working their asses off making these carpets. I don't want to be misunderstood here, because it wasn't a sweatshop. These kids are given a good opportunity to learn some schooling as well as the skill of this trade (b.t.w, they were extremely skilled at what they were doing). It's likely they would not be doing anything at all if they weren't doing this, and it is giving them a hope for future employment. But it was just a very odd place to be.

In the evening, I was in the internet cafe doing some work as usual. It was pretty interesting though, because I was the only person in the room, and the guy who was managing the place asked me if I didn't mind if he prayed. Obviously I had no problem with this...I even thought that I was disturbing him by being there, but we each had no problem with it. It got me thinking though...I've had a lot of different experiences with locals throughout Egypt, some better than others. One thing I have clearly noticed though is how much the level of respect for Americans varies from place to place and person to person. This guy was about my age and spoke English very well, and was respectful of me. Granted, I'm paying him money to be here, but I don't think that had anything to do with it. This just shows how many people in both countries have completely false conceptions of those in the other country, be it Egypt or America, or any other Middle Eastern country for that matter. It's obvious that terrible events have happened in both areas (9/11, the Iraq Wars, etc.), but people shouldn't assume everyone from each country agrees with the political actions that take place. The terrorists involved with 9/11 were Islamic extremists to the furthest extent of the spectrum, and give a poor representation of Islam as a whole, which from my perspective seems to be a peaceful religion. Professors even say how we might hear "bad things" being said about America if we were to walk by a mosque. But in fact, Muslim extremists compose less than 1% of the 1 Billion + (I don't know the exact number) Muslims worldwide. And its obvious that a good chunk of Americans incorrectly judge people from middle eastern countries. Even just coming through Logan airport, I saw more than one Middle Easterner being searched by security, when I walked through without even being patted down. Either way, these problems aren't going to end as long as these assumptions are made...but that is a whole other discussion.