By Rana Kamaly, BECAUSE Egypt is estimated to have 16 million illiterate people, whose lives are loaded with issues that don’t usually cross our minds. From using an ATM to reading street signs, to improving their children’s chances: rural migrants to the city face particular barriers. Government, corporate and civil society initiatives aim at breaking this cycle—but progress is slow. On a hot afternoon in Maadi, Mohamed Amin,* a forty-five year-old builder, is struggling to use the ATM to get his salary. He spends two hours trying in the summer heat. Amin is just one of the estimated 16 million illiterate people in Egypt, making up at least 28% of the population according to CAPMAS. He has no means of understanding the leaflets that came with his card, nor the ATM’s on-screen instructions. It wasn’t until the security guard got tired of him standing there in his work clothes that help was offered. “I just gave him the card, and the man laughed at me and said, ‘Can someone be that old and have never used an ATM before?'” says Amin. “At this point I realized that not being kind is also…
