Salam AIESEC International...
  ¶ 7:18 PM 2 Comments

  R.I.P Youssef Chahine   ¶ 1:44 AM 0 Comments

  Invalid Beliefs in the Egypt of 2008 As my term on AIESEC International ends, I was feeling good about the fact that I will going back home to Egypt for a few weeks before I embark on my newest endeavour...I was excited about being back in Egypt...However, the news of the acquital of all but one of the people who were on trial for the Ferry that sank with 1064 Egyptians during January 2006.

It was a bit of a reality shock...I had forgotten what Egypt has gotten to be more and more over the years of my adulthood...a place where increasingly the law of jungle persisted to be the law of a lawless Egypt...

So in 1 day from now I will be back to a place I am not as excited about going back to anymore...

For more about the shameful court veredict - apologies to my late grand father, who was a judge himself and has always told me that if there is anything that you can always keep faith in, it would be the judicial system of Egypt. It is kind of a relief that he is not here to experience how his beliefs were not valid anymore in the Egypt of 2008...  ¶ 1:24 AM 0 Comments

  Instituto Empresa A new chapter of my life is to start soon and it will be at Instituto Empresa (or more known as IE)

From Kuwait to Cairo to Rotterdam and MENA and now to Madrid...  ¶ 2:08 AM 6 Comments

  Gun Shots in Rotterdam! Two nights ago and coming back from the first night of the AI 07-09 Transition party, I was walking home with Jorien and Abdo when we heard gunshots as we are about to cross Hofplein. It was raining heavily so we could not see clearly what was happening a few metres ahead of us. We were walking in the direction of the gun shots so we changed our direction to avoid getting too close...Later on, we heard yelling, police and ambulances...

First time in Rotterdam...not sure, but I believe it is probably my first time ever to hear live gun shots..  ¶ 2:08 PM 0 Comments

  Thanawiya Ammah...One of the Very Many Egyptian Dilemmas









"In a country rife with corruption where some 20 percent live below the poverty line, a university education, especially a degree in medicine or engineering, can help to break down rigid class barriers...

..."If I'd known it would be like this I would have had more children, lived in the village and married off my daughter," she says." - AFP

Read Full Article here
  ¶ 7:58 PM 0 Comments

  أنا كل ده
  ¶ 7:40 PM 0 Comments

  Dignity and justice for all of us?
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." - Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights





As the world celebrates this year 60 years after the creation and signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I decided that I should refresh my memory on the different articles of the Declaration...So, I did that and as I was reading through I reached a realization that there are many more human rights that I think of are being violated in Egypt than those that have managed to become a standard of the Egyptian reality...

The Universal Declaration of Human Right can be found here. This is the English version, however it is also available in 335 other languages on the same website (Official UDHR Webpage).  ¶ 6:32 PM 0 Comments

  The Educated Prostitute A Moroccan story representative of probably many similar stories that happen every day between the Mt. Sinai and the Atlas mountains and beyond...

"For me it was very difficult to write about the subject. Should I feel pity or contempt, compassion or disgust towards this young girl with a university degree who decided to sell her body to make a living? I’ve just decided to play the role of the objective pen, which describes what it hears and sees without the interference of any subjective feelings. Though, it was hard not to make a comparison between me and her. We were both Moroccan girls, born in the same year, listening to the same music, and with university degrees. Yet, each of us chose a different path, or maybe that path chose her." - sarahzaaimi.tigblog.org

Read the complete post here  ¶ 6:00 PM 0 Comments

  La Tour Eiffel...Last Weekend


  ¶ 2:06 AM 0 Comments

  Egypt matters More than most... "All the smartest and sharpest Egyptian's I know are either already out of the country or thinking about it. Its this kind of tragic case of lots of individually rational decisions leading to a big picture disaster - a crumbling, decaying nation losing its best hope for change. Which is the story of plenty of countries around the world I suppose, but Egypt matters more than most." - Tom Gara

Full Post here  ¶ 2:05 AM 3 Comments

  The 1st of July It is only today that I start feeling that the era of active involvement in AIESEC is about to end.

Today, the 1st of July is the traditional takeover day in AIESEC in MENA...

Today, many of the people who have made my last 2 years working for AIESEC in MENA special will be moving on with their lives, only 31 days before I do that myself...

Today marks the beginning of the end of my AIESEC era...

  ¶ 2:05 AM 4 Comments

  Le Chaos est ici?


Although I was never a big fan of Youssef Chahine, the renowned Egyptian Director, I still managed to watch every movie he has made since I started hitting the movie theatres.

Youssef Chahine is currently undergoing an operation in Paris. I do hope he manages to get through this time of his life and get back to making movies. Although I did not necessarily always appreciate the artistic side of his films, however, I always managed to appreciate how he was making films that to a great extent express what many of his compatriots feel and think. The best example of that being his latest film, 'Heya Fawda' or 'Le Chaos'.

I am still hoping for an Egypt that will do what Chahine has depicted in his latest film
An Egypt that goes out and decides that enough is enough...
An Egypt that will get back its rights that were stolen away by a few of its own produce...
An Egypt that will not be governed by fear...
An Egypt that I would want to live in...
An Egypt that I help building...
An Egypt that I love...
An Egypt that loves me...  ¶ 2:04 AM 0 Comments

  A Zebiba or a "Sign of Division on Egypt's Brow"? An article on BBC about the increase in the number of people in Egypt who have Zebiba on their forehead. A Zebiba literally means ""a raisin", the zebiba is a patch of hardened skin where the forehead touches the ground during Muslim prayers."

Read the article here  ¶ 2:03 AM 0 Comments

  النهاية أم البداية؟ http://zongamin.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post_31.html

31-1-2008

الساعة الواحدة صباحاً

إلى تامر ذكرى

دقت الساعة تمام العاشرة

ولا شىء تغير منذ الصباح

لازلت الطيور كما هى تطير

و الورود تميل حيث أشعة الشمس

نظرت من شباك غرفتى

و ظللت ساكناً كما أنا

ناظراً إلى نهاية الأمد

أسيظل مصيرى كمصير الرحال حول العالم؟

يرتحل من بلد لبلد باغياً نهاية العالم

ربما لن أصل إلى النهاية

ربما يجب أن أبحث عن البداية

  ¶ 2:01 AM 0 Comments