Women in Egypt at Work

Someone just linked me to this website:

Women in Egypt at Work

a photo exhibition by German photographer Doerthe Boxberg.

Featured among them, doing what are traditionally thought of as men's jobs are:

Basant Hegazy - Mechanical Engineer

Om Walid - Taxi Driver (for over 30 years!)

Dina Kamel - Lawyer

On the site we also see Woman of the Month:

Hanan, a car parking attendant

Om Bassem - Plumber

Over 11000 visits to my blog since I started it - THANKS!!

I noticed tonight that my 'visitor counter' went over 11000 hits since I started it around January 2008 so I just want to thank everyone who stops by and do a brief retrospective.

I hope you find the site useful (well I know from the emails that I receive that people do). Do feel free to email me if there's anything particular you would like to see on the blog - I may or may not follow up suggestions depending how I feel.

This site is intended to be mainly practical though I reserve the right to go utterly off-topic if I feel like it :D I won't be discussing politics or religion anytime soon though I may make posts referring to these issues from a practical perspective occasionally.

I'm actually amazed to find that I come up on the first page of Google quite often without putting any effort at all in to SEO strategies!

I think my "proudest" moment was when I pulled together information for how people could help in the aftermath of last year's landslide. I had not originally intended to blog on the matter, feeling uneasy about riding on disaster's coat-tails, but my blog started getting hit after hit - I think over a hundred in the first few hours after news started coming out, several hundred in a couple of days - from Google on my visit to St Simon Tanner in Mokattam article which is in the vicinity of where the landslide occurred, and I could see from the search terms that people were looking for information on this disaster.

I searched the net and there was no information available on how the public could help. I contacted a friend of mine who provided me with contact details she had received privately via email, thus enabling me to act as a central point of information for people wishing to provide assistance.

I was also chuffed when a couple of friends told me that they had Googled the El Korba festival this year and were amazed to discover the OBC had pride of place at the top of the first page of Google! Oldbag - in the Loop :D

I have also been contacted by some of the big 'time' sites to confirm information about dates and times of things in Egypt!

An issue which I also like to bring to attention is POSITIVE aspects of women's lives in Egypt. There is plenty out there focusing on the negative, so I have set up a little online project - a database which ANYONE can contribute to - feel free!!! of EGYPTIAN WOMEN in any kind of positions of influence or 'role modelling'.

If you have names and details, follow this link, check whether the person is already listed (be creative with the spelling - it is all transliterated into English so sometimes there are variations) and if not, please add them on! You can't edit mistakes, so if you DO make a big mistake, add the corrected details as a fresh entry, and email me so I can delete the incorrect entry.

So far, I have only added 39 women - but they range from athletes to professors, artists to politicians. I do have more in the cupboard culled from the newspapers, but it is a slow process.

I hope to start getting out and about again late October so look forward to making more fresh posts then.

That's all for now folks.....

NOTHING TO DO WITH EGYPT - problems with Mozilla Firefox

This post is nothing whatsoever to do with Egypt!

Anyone else who has trouble with Mozilla Firefox browser after installing MS Office 2007 (From a CD, not the 60-day trial that is on many computers these days).

The trouble I was getting was that links were not clicking correctly particularly from Google. They were not opening and the URLs did not seem to be resolving correctly. On closing FF, the program did not stop running (even with checking the download window was also closed) and had to be manually stopped in the task manager.

This was not affecting FF on my other netbook with Office but I was using the 60day trial and just put the reg key in that instead of installing from disk so it didn't install it.

It also didn't affect Internet Explorer or Opera 10 browsers. Windows XP Home OS.

It's taken me a while to track down but.. MS Office 2007 installs a plug-in to the Mozilla Firefox browser called "Office plugin for Netscape Navigator".

First use task manager to make sure all your FFs are closed.
(ctrl+alt+del go to processes tab and manually closing the firefox.exe program - arrange alphabetically to make sure ALL are closed).

Then open FF.

Find your add-ons (menu bar - Tools AddOns PlugIns)
Disable 2007 Microsoft Office System (Office plugin for Netscape Navigator)
Close down FF (including the task manager check again).
(or completely close down your computer and reboot if you prefer).
Resign on to FF.
When you resign back on to Firefox, it should be fixed.

And pretty please with sugar on top people, do not write and tell me all about Open Office, I know all about Open Office and while it is pretty good for people not wanting to invest in MS Office, if you are doing work for organisations using MS Office, it is NOT the same.

Medical Tests in Cairo (Al Borg / El Borg Labs)

I needed a blood test so this morning around midday I visited El Borg Lab in 6th October City. I paid for the test in advance (less than 200LE for the one I wanted - the price I was charged was the same as an Egyptian friend who had the same test done recently) and waited around 10 minutes to be seen.

The phlebotomist (person who draws the blood) was exactly as professional as I am used to in the UK - using sterile needles fresh from sterile pack, etc..
You can choose to view results online or you can phone or call in. Well I called in tonight (19911) - just 11 hours later - and my result is ready!

So, I am recommending El Borg Labs to people needing medical tests. They have branches all over Cairo and other parts of Egypt Al Borg (El Borg) Lab branches and you can contact them on a single number 19911 which I believe is freephone (I used my mobile and it didn't deduct any minutes from my package).

Attention Egyptians: Study your Masters in the UK - Chevening Scholarship Applications

The British Government Chevening Scholarships Applications for doing your Masters in the UK are open for online applications 1st August to 7th October 2009. (All applications MUST be made online). - this is for study Academic Year 2010/2011.

Chevening Scholarships

OPEN EVENING AT THE BRITISH COUNCIL, AGOUZA ON TUESDAY 18TH AUGUST 2009, 4-530 pm

DON'T BE LATE!!!!


Applications are invited for study in all subject areas; however priority will be given to the following: Sustainable Development, Environment,Education, Human Rights & Good Governance, Economics, Finance & Banking, Media, Middle Eastern studies, Politics and International law.

Check the link for further information on how to qualify:

Chevening Scholarships

One Fleeting Glimpse post: from Cairo to Alexandria by Train

A fellow Cairo blogger has just posted a video link on getting from Cairo to Alexandria by train.

Find it here:

Trip to Wadi Rayan

Trip to Wadi Rayan - 18th July 2009

Yesterday, a friend, her son and I made a trip out to Wadi Rayan, in the Fayoum area, about 1.5 hours drive out from Cairo (Giza side).



Wadi Rayan is one of Egypt’s ‘protectorates’. These are approximately the same as Britain’s National Parks – designed to preserve or encourage natural habitats. Further out along the same route is Wadi Hitan where the prehistoric whalebones are located. You need to organize a four-wheel drive though for that apparently, so we didn’t pursue it this time though it is somewhere I am keen to visit.

There’s a downloadable PDF file with more information available in the links at the bottom.

My friend collected me at my home around 930am and we went down to the Fayoum Road (if you are coming from Cairo, then the head of the Fayoum Road is near the pyramids, at Al Ramaya Square (Midan Ramaya). The Meridian Hotel is on the opposite side, and it is the road to the left of the Alex Desert Road. (By the way, there are microbuses from Fayoum at all hours of the day and night from Al Ramaya if you wanted an adventure!)

At some point en route, there is a Toll – its 3LE for cars, and you also have to pay the Toll coming back out again.

We just drove straight until we started seeing signs for Wadi Al Rayan and followed those. In several areas the signs are just in Arabic so learn the shapes! Here I made a picture showing the Arabic, then – reading from right to left – how the letters are said in English (approximately), then at the bottom how you read it in English.



It’s really very surprising to come across these beautiful lakes out in the desert area. Lake Quaran is left over from when the whole of Egypt was under the Tethys Sea millions of years ago. The other remaining remnants of this sea are The Black Sea and The Caspian Sea. It used to be thought that the Mediterranean was also a remnant, but it is actually a much younger sea.

We drove round Lake Qaran. We enjoyed the drive out, it’s farming country so the landscape is quite green and attractive – though some of the ‘smells of the countryside’ are a bit strong! Around an hour and a quarter after leaving, we got to the entrance to the Protectorate.

Foreigners are sometimes required to have a police escort – I’m not entirely clear where this would have happened as we didn’t need to have one.

Entrance for foreigners (resident or non-resident) is $US3 (about 17LE). For Egyptians, it’s just 2LE.

The main visitor’s centre (with the waterfalls etc) is about 15km from the protectorate entrance. It’s a desert track so keep your eyes open for the signs painted on boulders (but they are in English!) indicating the way to go. If I remember rightly it was approx. 14km straight ahead, and then turn left for 1km. You will see all the vehicles and cafes on the edge of the lake.

We parked up and went over to the ‘conveniences’. The ladies’ was full of laughing and chattering Egyptian women changing in to their bathing gear - burquinis for the adults

The ladies’ consists of two ‘squatty bogs’ and two sinks. The whole place is swimming in water on the floor and don’t imagine you will be able to wash your hands! I recommend you take hand-sanitizer with you!

We found the waterfalls and were amazed. Ok, we’re not talking Niagara here, but the fact that they exist is amazing. I didn’t realise until just now that the waterfalls were only created in 1966 using excess water from Lake Quaran to create the Upper and Lower lakes. The waterfalls are from the Upper to the Lower Lake.

Slide show (can take time to load on slow connection).



Yesterday was Saturday, and we were the only foreigners there. It was heaving with people splashing in the water, jumping off the waterfalls, generally messing around! Other people I know have been during the working week when it’s much quieter.

I made a short video with my camera phone (nearer the top of the page). You can see guys jumping off the top of the water at around 1:09 on. There’s a group of women in the pool beneath the waterfall and every now and then they started ululating (traditional “singing” sound usually done at weddings).

You won’t see me jumping around in there because I have had sciatica for 3 days so didn’t want to risk skidding over (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it ;)

My friend and her son went down to the Lower Lake as he was keen to swim, but they said the water’s edge was actually full of rubbish and other unpleasant debris, so they didn’t risk it.

It’s a shame about the rubbish because it is such a beautiful area. We did see some vans parked around the place (further back along the road) indicating some kind of clean up going on, I don’t recall the name though.

There are a few cafes, but I didn’t see any offering food – though we didn’t look hard because we had brought fuul sandwiches with us. We just had colas.

There is a stall selling nice baskets (25-35LE the smaller ones), glazed ceramic pots (not sure of the price as we didn’t ask about those) and so on, and also cheap Chinese plasticons.
The Visitor’s Centre was not open when we got there, so we didn’t get to see inside it.
On the way back, my friend bought freshly-caught fish from the roadside vendors.

There seemed to be quite a few resort areas along the edge of Lake Quaran.

Apart from Wadi Rayan, there is Wadi Hitan (the whale valley where the prehistoric whalebones can be seen), Madinet Madi where Greek and Roman remains may be found and the area is rich in geological and biological interest.

We drove past a hotel called Helnan Auberge – we didn’t go in, but I have looked it up on the internet and it seems really nice – if you wanted to stop somewhere very different in Egypt!

A nice day out if you want a change from Cairo!

Links: (Links checked and replaced where necessary Feb 2012)

TourEgypt article about Greek and Roman ruins

Further info about Lake Qarun

photos of the area from 1999

PDF 5.3MB DOWNLOAD Official guide to Wadi Rayan and Fayoum Area

(The original link to this guide is defunct so I found a copy on my computer and have uploaded it here. If anyone in officialdom would like to contact me if this is not ok, please let me know.)

Helnan Auberge Hotel at Lake Qarun, Fayoum