A new eco-friendly challenge stormed the internet encouraging people from around the world to clean up the environment, but its impact goes far beyond social media. Initially, the challenge was launched by UCO Gear, an outdoors activity company in 2015 encouraging people to take part of the campaign to win a prize. However, Facebook user Byron Román, whose call to action post went viral, revived the hashtag driving tens of thousands of people to actually start cleaning up different public places, from beaches to parks and sidewalks while sharing the before and after pictures on social media under the #trashtag. The hashtag picked up across the world including Nepal, India, Russia, and Chile to name a few. In Spanish, the challenge is translated to #BasuraChallenge and other variations include #trashchallenge and #trashtagchallenge where at least 28,000 posts on Instagram are published under these tags combined. View this post on Instagram Here we are.. Very small contribution to our environment or nature. We tried to collect some of plastic which was thrown by local people at Laldhori,Junagadh. Which is one of the most beautiful areas of Girnar. As it’s our humble…
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Pulls Out Amid Protests
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced that he would pull out from the 18 April presidential elections and that he will not seek a fifth term in office. After taking office in 1999, he has led Algeria for 20 years but since then was rarely seen in public after he suffered a stroke in 2013. In a statement, the president stated that he would postpone the date of the presidential elections and allow the formation of a transitional government, which should be given the authority to organize the next elections. The announcement came a day after Bouteflika returned home after his two-week stay in a Swiss hospital. On 10 February 2019, a press release signed by Bouteflika announcing he would seek a fifth consecutive term provoked widespread discontent and the largest street protests in nearly 18 years. Algerians took to the streets of Algeria, chanting “this is a republic, not a kingdom” and “20 years is more than enough”. The protests mobilised a wide range of people, from students, journalists, lawyers, unions and the influential association of veterans of the war of independence against the French between 1954 and 1962. After…
Ethiopian Airlines Crash: The Egyptian Victims
A day following the Ethiopian Airlines jet crash, it was made clear that no passengers survived the ordeal. However, the victims are gradually being identified. News broke out that, after take-off from Addis Ababa to Nairobi in Kenya, at 8:44 a.m. local time, six minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital, the Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed. On Monday, investigators found the flight data recorders, including the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. Officials are still investigating the cause of the crash. The airline had stated that all 157 people from more than 30 countries on board have been killed, which included six Egyptians. Egyptian Streets takes a look at some of the victims that were identified since. ABDEL HAMEED EL FARAG and DOAA ATEF Both El Farag and Atef were researchers at the Desert Research Center for Environmental Studies; they were on their way to a training workshop in Kenya. Both victims were assistant researchers. El Farag, 27, was stationed in the Cairo center while Atef, who obtained her Master’s degree in 2018, was in the Behooth center and was also…
Ex-head of the Egyptian Armed Forces’ Engineering Authority Approved as New Minister of Transportation
Ex-head of the Egyptian Armed Forces’ Engineering Authority, Kamel El-Wazir has been approved by the Egyptian Parliament to be appointed as the new minister of transportation on March 10. “The appointment came hours after former transport minister Hesham Arafat resigned following a tragic Cairo train crash on 27 February, leaving 22 dead and dozens injured,” Ali Abdel-Aal, parliament house speaker noted. According to the constitution, Egypt’s president is at liberty to “reshuffle or name new cabinet minister, only after consultation with the government and approval by parliament.” After the former minister of transportation’s resignation, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi proposed Wazir to the parliament given his experience leading the Engineering Authority and administering national projects. During the Martyrs’ Day celebration, El-Sisi unveiled Wazir’s new position and title as minister of transport and lieutenant general. In his speech at the celebration, El-Sisi said “I vow that you will see a different Railway Authority on 30 June 2020, and I vow that I will give all the support necessary for major general El-Wazir to make of this utility a success story.” “There is no problem with El-Wazir seeking the help of as many army officers as he…
Big Dreams, Bigger Challenges: Struggles of Female Entrepreneurs
What is more difficult than being an entrepreneur is being a female entrepreneur. Egyptian women struggled to crack into this male-dominated for several reasons including societal restrictions and financial inclusion. Here we have stories of women who were able to conquer their field despite all the hurdles. After 30 years pursuing a certain career, Amira Salem, founder of Al Amira Honey, decided it was time to create her own business out of something she loves in her early 50s. She already had a beehive in the family, so Salem decided to expand it and turned it into a business where she distributed honey products. Her journey then began. “When I would visit the market, I discovered that people do not eat honey. I was so shocked because I love honey! So I decided to do honey jams, honey butter, honey ranch,” she says. “The first challenge was that I was changing my entire career. I was working in an office and never went to the field. So, this was the first time I was working in the field,” Amira continues, “Knowing that Minya is the biggest honey producer in Egypt,…
Six Egyptians Among Ethiopian Airlines Crash Victims
An Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed after take-off from Addis Ababa to Nairobi in Kenya at 8:44 a.m. local time, six minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital. The airline said that all 157 people from more than 30 countries on board have been killed, which included six Egyptians whose names still remain unidentified. https://twitter.com/flyethiopian/status/1104744539686866944 “At this stage, we cannot rule out anything,” Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters, “we cannot also attribute the cause to anything because we will have to comply with the international regulation to wait for the investigation.” Air traffic monitor Flightradar24 reported that the plane’s “vertical speed was unstable after take-off”. https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/1104676048317362177 Investigators say that the pilots of the 737 Max-8 aircraft have been struggling with a new feature of the aircraft, which is an automated system designed to keep the plane from stalling. The last crash by the airline was in 2010 when one of the company’s aeroplanes crashed in the Mediterranean Sea after leaving Beirut….
Over 40. Woman. Mother. And Still Working.
When people think of a working woman, many reasons come to mind to explain her decision to work, such as to support her family, her husband, the government or even due to the pressures of the capitalist system. Her position and existence in the workplace is always tied to that particular reason, and once it ceases to exist, her willingness to continue working also disappears with it. Yet what needs to be more acknowledged and realized is that a woman can work for no other reason than to satisfy her own dreams, desires, passions and dedication to this certain work field. She, like the man, can continue to work for many years, and even start to work at whatever age she wills, as this is ultimately the symbol and spirit of a free and independent working woman supported and backed by her society. The Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) estimates that women are the heads of 18.1% of households in Egypt, and that women constitute 25% of the employed labor force of people aged between 15 to 64. However, this percentage is greater when one considers the informal…
Mama Maggie of Egypt Honored With International Women of Courage Award
Mama Maggie Gobran was honored the International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award during an annual celebration on Thursday by the US Department of State. “Mama Maggie of Egypt is being honored for her commitment to serve lives of the poor in her community, realizing value of those seeking vocational training in order to contribute to society and providing economic salvation for impoverished children in her country,” the US Department of State said in a statement. Melania Trump joined US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to confer the International Women of Courage Award on 10 recipients, including Sister Orla Treacy of Ireland, Colonel Khalida Khalaf Hanna al-Twal of Jordan, Razia Sultana of Bangladesh, and Marini de Livera of Sri Lanka. “Courage is what divides those who only talk about change from those who actually act to change,” Mrs. Trump said. “Courage takes sacrifice, bravery and humility. It is the ability to put others first.” Maggie Gobran, often referred to as the Mother Teresa of Cairo, is a Coptic Christian lady who gave up her academic career as a computer science professor at the American University in Cairo to become a Coptic Orthodox Christian consecrated servant and set up the charity…
SHECAN19: ‘GeoTravel’ Opens Doors to Egypt’s Rarely Accessed Sites
Egypt is a vast country with multi-faceted extant tourism: thousands of global visitors, and local tourists from all over the country flock to its corners in order to indulge in activities suiting specific interests. From adventure based tourism to history-focused tours, there are still numerous sites and attractions that are not easily accessed. This is where GeoTravel, the first company in the Middle East to work in the field of geographic and geologic tourism, steps in. Founded in 2016 by 30-yer-old Reham Abobakr, GeoTravel is an eco-tourism agency focusing on not only helping Egyptians learn more about hidden natural attractions, but also provide assistance to struggling communities outside of the cities. The company seeks to infuse tourism with a scientific and knowledge-based edge where geography, geomorphology, geology, history and astronomy play a role to getting acquainted with the sites visited. Recognizing that urban Egyptians are not always aware of different cultures existing in the different corners of the country, GeoTravel also seeks to assist city-dwellers with a sense of curiosity for rarely-seen flora, fauna and nomads. Geo Travel also supports and funds Rahalah, its corporate social responsibility branch. Feeding Rahalah and…