On a hot Ramadan summer, I joined Nouran Salah on a bike ride through Cairo’s Ard El Lewa district to distribute meal boxes to underprivileged people for her Ramadan initiative Bel Bicycle. Jun 22,2016 It’s 5:40 PM and Cairo’s frenzied Game’at El Dowal avenue looks notoriously calmer than its usual nerve-racking chaos. During the 30 days of...
If you came to Gharb Suheil, you would probably remain as shocked as I was. You would probably wonder how people manage to survive in a town so seemingly paused in time. You would wonder why people instantly invite you to their homes, where there’s always more seats than their own. You would find yourself...
Forty-five kilometres away from Egypt’s chaotic capital, across the palm-tree-framed highway that leads to the satellite city of 6th of October, there is a bustling neighbourhood that breathes the scents of Syria. At the heart of it stands Alaa Eddin Street, a pedestrian road brimming with Syrian cafés, mahshi restaurants and boza stores, where the...
There is a massive cyber-library of gruesome books and articles revolving around the dangers of intercultural marriage, especially when it involves an Arab man, resulting in a global stereotype that configures nothing but prejudice. But is there no experience at the other end of the spectrum? CairoScene speaks to six women and delves into their stories of...
His wrinkles stream down his sun-trodden face, his skin tamed by 40 years of unforgivably early mornings and slapping winds. An ineffably royal moustache hangs at the ends of his mouth as a witty, mischievous grin anticipates the inevitable icebreaker. “Oh, but you look younger!” I utter, to his casual smirk. He tosses a few...
“I had been thinking about taking off the veil for the past two years, but I was scared of people’s judgment. When you wear a hijab, it is not just about a veil: it is the way you dress, it is your actions; it feels like you are representing a religion with everything you do.”...
I met Dina during my brief stay in Jordan, as I traveled to the border town of Mafraq, close to the Syrian frontier. She is 22 years old, and when she arrived to this run-down city one year ago, she had already relocated 25 times across different areas in Syria, trying to escape the conflict that...
Magda walks the unpaved streets of Tucuman in Argentina’s north, swirling the stick around as she makes her way to dance school. It’s 1993, and she is only 10. Her dreams have the tinkling sound of her hip scarf and ripple like the Nile. She knows all the songs by heart, but she cannot understand...
The sun is falling on this rainy afternoon as we approach the Maasai village in Western Kenya. Perhaps because of the hills framing the mud houses on the opposite side, it feels like we are at the edge of the country. We go past a pack of goats as they are herded by a tiny...
The room was dark. As he tried to keep his children away from the cockroaches leaking through from the kitchen, Abou Adnan* looked at the door. A shaft of light was slowly appearing as it opened, offering some relief from the musty air impregnating the apartment. It was yet another family trying to squeeze in. About...
