Her exhausted, bare feet step on the carpet with ceremonial reverence as she leaves her plastic sandals at the doorstep. The house floor is not paved, but the straw carpet keeps the living room immaculate. Three large sofas frame the room, but there is no table at the center. In fact, there is not a single table inside the entire house except for the small desk lingering in one of the room’s corners, where three children books are piled. “I’ve lived here ever since I got married, but since my husband died 15 years ago, and my son inherited the...
Standard Blog
Behind the Open Doors of a Nubian House
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 walking more slowly, eating more slowly, gazing more slowly. You would also stare at its colorful walls, dotted with fantasy drawings all along. And you’d suddenly find yourself pausing a conversation, just to listen to the sound of a bird. If you came to Gharb...
Inside Little Damascus, the Syrian Neighbourhood in Greater Cairo
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 afternoons bustle with customers playing cards and smoking shisha in their cosy couches. It’s almost midday and the thermometer signals the warm 18 degrees brought by a mild Cairene winter. “Nothing like Syria,” says Mostafa as he slices a piece of shawerma behind the counter...
I Married an Arab Man: Six Women Tell Their Stories
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 success, struggles, and romance having married an Arab man. It was 1968 and Beatrice was faced with the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. As her husband led her into the boat, she glanced back over her shoulder and said goodbye to Venice, hoping the...
Lessons From an Egyptian Shepherd
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 leaves on the ground for the sheep gathered around him, nonchalantly guiding them with a chirping sound – one that echoes an ancient ritual fallen into the collective imagination of a backwards, dawdling rural life. But we are in the middle of a city. I...