نصري: شعري الأول

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عندما موضوع ال نص ليس السياسة, لكن هو يشجع الناس
عندما نحن مانختارش سؤال, نكتب بس,
عندما نقفل ماضينا و نغسل جروحنا,
عندما كل يوم نتحسن, و ندى اكثر من نطلب.

نصرى

Re-discovering Cairo

كتب: بيّرو بونسي

In the last weeks I have realized (again) how beautiful is the city I am currently living in. It is just a matter of taking the metro and getting off in any of those stops, the city is full of people and life. And the secret of all this is simple, just walk and take your time to contemplate every corner and shop that you may find in the streets, and if you are tired, sit down in any 'cafe' and ask for a tea or a lemon juice, and wait till the sunset when the weather gets fresh and the mosques start singing for calling people to pray.

But the walking tours re-started since last week, I went first to the station 'Mar Girgis', which is located in the heart of a copt area. From there I continued walking on the way to downtown, the main street does not offer much more than lot of traffic and some shops, but as soon as I entered in one street, I felt like being in another world. It is very difficult to describe these places, they are actually the typical 'low income' neighbourhoods, no-pavemented roads, small streets, shops everywhere (one in front of the other) and offering all those things that you may need in your daily life: bread, fruits, vegetables, iron service, cafes, bazaars, telephone cards, clothes, sugar cane juice, etc. Everything surrounded by people from all ages offering their products and or enjoying the evening, particularly the middle aged men who sit down calmly in their wood made chairs and drinking tea and smoking shisha. I kinda look like an arab by the way, so I don't feel so much seen, which lets me enjoy it at my rhythm, like one of them walking there. I was a bit hungry, so I had the 'wonderful' idea of buying some meet (kofta) in a big bread. It was so delicious! and I started talking with the sellers there, starting by answering that question: where are you from? what do you do in Egypt? do you like it? which is your religion? These guys really keep me challenging my self-awareness, I have to say!

After about half an hour, I saw a big wall in front of me. I just continued going on that direction and notice that my way brought me to the gates of Cairo, big pieces of wall that were used for protecting the city and now are beautiful old monuments in the middle of roads and neighborhoods. I was so focused contemplating those big walls, when suddenly I saw a man running after a sheep!!! I am sure the poor animal already knew about its sad destiny and was willing to escape within the crowd. I also saw cats jelling between themselves, chickens and ducks walking without worries, horses and donkeys pulling loads of boxes with fruits and vegetables, etc.

After drinking my lemon juice, I started my way back home, but since I decided to take a parallel street (on the other side of the metro, to be exactly), I could also admire those old streets, almost like a labyrinth of small passages, with some children walking freely and playing football with a can or anything that can be kicked by the feet. By going 500 meters to the east I suddenly arrived to the 'cornige' (long main ways that go on the side of the Nile), which brought me back to that life of cars, policemen and bigger stores and gas stations.

For the past few days, I have been continue re-discovering other metro stations, and each of them has been fantastic. Always beautiful streets to follow and very friendly people to find out there. Generally speaking, Egypt is the safest land so far that I have been in.

I was too shy for taking out my camera and picturing all this, but I found a site that reflects very well all those daily life things that I have been finding on my way in Cairo, take a look:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hamdyreda/Artellewa

New life and new pets

'wie wolltest du neu werden, wenn du nicht erst Asche geworden bist!
(Also sprach Zarathustra – ein Buch fuer alle und keinen)

Lo novedoso de un dia se convierte en lo cotidiano de una vida. Por eso, es necesario ir en busca de aquellas novedades que nos gratificaran toda una vida, asi como no olvidar disfrutar aquellas cosas cotidianas que nos abren las puertas a nuevos descubrimientos.

My balcony deserves a visit from the Discovery Channel. Since 1 month, I have some guests at home: a big pigeon (looks actually like a small eagle), has built its nest and now I see three wonderful things from my balcony each morning: the Nile, the pyramids and a pigeon family. And yesterday I could witness how the 'dad' took over the 'mum's' role for keeping the eggs. I could even hear them communicating and then the dad making a space for her. And they did not care about me having breakfast in the balcony!

It is possible the equilibrium between humankind and nature? Is it possible to renew by going back to basic life?

A short comment around Economics and Africa

"African countries will see a sharp jump in growth this year, according to an assessment by the IMF. The short-term outlook for Africa was described as "very positive", reflecting rising oil prices in crude exports, macroeconomic stability, a strong demand for commodities and debt relief."

When I read this comment in an on-line newsletter (http://www.businessinafrica.net/news/west_africa/530921.htm), I just smiled. Anybody with basic background in Economics and some interest for development issues may understand that:

- Rising oil prices: means that more companies hungry for oil are coming to Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and other several Sub-Saharan countries. Instead of looking for other types of energy, governments just care to take short term incomes. If you are updated with global news, you may know about the strong link between the oil industry in developing countries and the social and economical problems that those countries face, since it is not just a matter of pollution but also that an elite receives the economical benefit out of it.

- Macroeconomic stability: this means that no catastrophe is expected. Or like saying: be happy, this year there will be no tornados!

- Strong demand for commodities: another vicious circle, Africa sells raw materials and imports manufactured products. I can see the big smile of Chinese companies.

- Debt relief: sure, Africa owes money to developed countries, but why? Because they need to repair all the damages caused during colonialism? Because of the economic deficit faced due to the previous points?

Yes, surely the short term outlook for Africa looks good… for some.

There's a human factor in the equation in the economy (actually economics is considered a social science, since it studies the human nature in terms of use of resources and welfare). But do we really consider human impact when doing big business?