By Amir Makar
CAIRO: In the middle of severe clashes and ongoing street battles between protesters and security forces, they are often seen: a pink bright spot in the middle of the tear gas; the cotton candy sellers that appear to be immune to the buckshot, always present especially in the heat of the fight.
“Sometimes [the cotton candy] helps the victims, especially the odor,” said Abdel Samie Abdel Salam, one of the peddlers. He even offered to open up one of the cotton candy bags to smell. “It smells like syrup and coconut. It’s good for the tear gas.”
At first sight, Abdel Salam’s haggard appearance initially gives the impression of an adult in his mid-twenties. In reality, however, he is only a 16-year old Azhari school dropout from Ismailia, currently living in Bulaq Al-Dakrour.
He says that despite all the action, there still nevertheless is demand for the cotton candy. And even if nobody’s buying, Abdel Salam says that he doesn’t necessarily have to make a profit.
“I get the cotton candy bags for 50 piastres a piece, and I usually sell them for LE 1,” he says. “When times are bad, sometimes I sell them at cost value. And if someone really needs help, I give it away for free, because I feel they really need it.”
When asked if he could make a living in such a way, he replies that he leaves such affairs “in the hands of God.” He says that on average his daily income ranges from LE 15–25.
Abdel Salam even asserts that there are other uses for the cotton candy, claiming that at one point during the protests, he used his pole (with the cotton candy bags attached) to jam one of the water cannons.
Describing his daily routine, Abdel Salam says that he gets up every day at 6 in the morning, and embarks on a journey with his cousin Hussein, starting south from Bulaq Al-Dakrour, going through Giza, Mohandiseen and Zamalek, until he finally arrives in Tahrir.
There, he continues his downtown circuit, selling the cotton candy in the square and the neighboring streets as far as the Cairo Bourse, until he starts heading home around midnight, arriving near 2 am.
Regarding his stance, he says that he has always been with the protest movements, regardless of his sales, on condition that they remained peaceful, at least on the behalf of the protesters
“I have been participating for a long time. I was there on April 8, and I was arrested,” he stated. “They held me in jail for eight days.”
Most recently, he attended the memorial services that were held for the Ultras Ahlawy victims on Feb. 8.
Abdel Salam is also a talented poet, and recited a rather long poem in the Egyptian vernacular, consisting of 28 verses, supposedly of his own composition.
The poem describes the long history of Egyptian repression, from the show-trials held during the British occupation until the current trial of Mubarak, with dreams about the future.
“The court is erected and all is pitched … judge, prosecution, defense, and in the case is set … youth who dreamed of freedom, and their charge is crossing out of bound … across cowardice and rigidity, how had they raised their voice.”
Regarding his ambitions, Abdel Salam concludes that he “only wants to make an honest living.”
“Some people sell drugs, and some sell other things. I have been offered to sell those, but I don’t want any of that,” he says. “Selling cotton candy is the most honorable choice there is.”
