I had not seen her face like this for well over three years. It had been a lifetime of suffering through seeking a divorce from her husband, whom she'd been with for only one month. She later discovered that he was a drug addict amongst other things. She entered with a smile on her face, finally obtaining her divorce, after ongoing hardship of three years in and out of court. Congratulations, I said to her. She said "no, the procedure is still operational" and here begins a new story, one of suffering which involves many women and their back and forth trips between the courts and bureaucracy. My young friend cannot be defined as free in society at large unless she receives an operational version of the divorce rule, and consequently a voucher issued by the Civil Registry so she could change her social status on her national ID card. I told her "And so what, these are simple procedures" but the rest was not easy at all. Days and hours spent in famous Egyptian queues of bureaucracy, where bedtime stories were told, staring all the frightening figures from the "Alaksheef" employee to the "Ogress Mother," along with the tale of the man with the burnt leg, or so the employees seemed to my young friend. Over the years and through this tiring process she had lost weight and sometimes even her mind.
Of course, every action, every pause to get this official version shows you the operational words "How much" and where is the bonus Ms.? Etc.
The journey started from a piece of court paper to the Department of Civil Status in Abbasiyah. There and at the door they say to her: "No, this is not our area of specialty" until she convinces the guard with a bonus that this is where her case should be.
In the corridors of the Department, countries come and go. They ride the elephants and go through what seems like endless roads from one room to another room, from the north to the south and to the right of the employee who left work for the noon and afternoon prayer times. We are left wondering what part of the actual day we might be able to find him. We pass by a little old lady waiting for her papers as she sits on the ground eating a plate of beans in the corridor of the Department, depicting a realistic picture for our great teacher and writer Naguib Mahfouz. My friend wrote the request and then the officer in charge directed her to the Civil Registry according to her district, but he forgot in the crowdedness to tell her to purchase application 40-22. At the post office they told her "we don't have this application" and in the police station: "What application, a marital one?!" "No dear God, divorce, divorce!" Why is it like that?! We begin a long discussion to get the application.
Finally, the journey led her to the civil registry. The gloomy employee with a black mark on his forehead looked at her and said: "Wait for Mr. Ismail who comes by 5pm." Fine and if you need anything from Mr. Ismail you must wait for him. She went to Mr. Ismail at 5pm. From the corridors she heard his voice shouting at the long queue. "People, be considerate. Assume that Mr. Ismail died…what will you do the? What am I supposed to do with all these people, have mercy on me?" "Forgive me, Mr. Ismail. Please drink your tea, Mr. Ismail." And moving from Mr. Ismail, who wishes to die, to Mr. Sharif … But … What a surprise!! Mr. Sharif is on leave today. But work in the Department is fine. There is a Mr. Amr who is his deputy. "Please, Mr. Amr finish my papers please!" "I do not understand the urgency of your divorce... "Why don't you take your time and think about it a bit more?!" - "It's been three years have mercy on me, and what you are writing is a marriage certificate not a divorce one!" - "Marriage!! Yes true… Here is the divorce one ... think about it a little bit." Mr. Amr wrote the certificate with a simple error: he wrote the husband's name wrong. My friend knows how to read - I don't know what happens to those who cannot read – "Mr. Amr, the name is wrong and so is the date which means the certificate is wrong." - "Oh please the name is correct." - "I was the one married to him not you." - "You have the audacity to talk back to me, then I won't work, come back tomorrow!!" Finally, after much effort and bonuses Mr. Amr was convinced and corrected the name, and my friend finally received her divorce certificate from the Egyptian government. But is it the story of my friend only?! No, it belongs to thousands and millions. It is the bureaucracy that is eating at our system since the time of the Pharaohs, or may be the bureaucracy set up our system up and is protecting Egypt... But Egypt's citizens are unhappy.
