CAIRO: The struggle to accomplish something is enough to drive people to the extremes. Everybody wants more of one thing or another; whether it is money, kids, or even meaning to their life in general.
Mohamed Hussein Ali, a single, hardworking man from Sohag who earns his living by selling Tamarind, Sobia and liquorish from a cart in one of the busiest and noisiest places in Cairo, is a good example of the above statement.
After much convincing, Mohamed agreed to give me his real name, so long as the location of his cart stays anonymous; he then started telling his story.
Seven years ago Mohamed moved to Cairo and found a job that – according to him – “everybody else was doing . That job was pouring liquorish out of a huge container carried on the back. A few years after that, his cousin-who was in the same line of work- gave him the idea of selling the drinks off of a cart instead, and they have been partners since then.
Mohamed’s 12-hour day starts at 9 am; he buys the juices from a shop that sells herbal products and prepares his drinks in the garage where he parks his cart. After that there isn’t much to do but wait for the customers to come.
“The customers differ from day to day; some days are good and others are bad. That’s life.
However, since the recent rise in prices, Mohamed told Daily News Egypt that the changes affected him on both the personal and the business level. “I can tell by the people’s faces that they can’t buy, and since this increase, customer lines have thinned .
Mohamed went on to say that on the personal level it was more expensive for him to eat and drink, but on the other hand he doesn’t use gas nor smoke cigarettes. He then added with a laugh, looking towards his friend, “at least now Said can stop smoking.
Selling juice from his cart is not the only thing Mohamed came to Cairo to do. A couple of nights a week he goes to El Azhar University to get a degree in Islamic studies. He dreams of getting a better job “away from the street, because the street is “bad, much worse than I can tell you it is. He also dreams of getting married and having kids.
One of the reasons Mohamed wouldn’t give me his real name is because of all the trouble he gets from the City Council, which is always coming and taking away his cart. “They take our identification cards and our carts away from us. We have to wait 10 days, fill out an application then pay a fine of 85 LE, and they’ll give it back to us.
Mohamed continued by saying that “those people that come here and treat us like we’re scum don’t know that we are more educated and are much better than any one of their bosses.
“They say we’re violating the law and doing our business on the street without having a license. Well, if the government would give us means of making a living then we wouldn’t go violating their rules, but they give us no choice. The fact is there are no jobs, he said.
“If I were president, I would change the whole government around. I would also change the way the country is and how they treat people.
As for the continuous din of traffic, traders and pedestrians surrounding him, he merely chuckled and said: “Well, we’re used to it.
