CAIRO: Over the past few years, Egypt - and Cairo specifically - has been ranked high among other nations for its pollution levels. One independant daily newspaper recently launched a campaign to combat this very problem. Al-Masry Al-Youm's awareness campaign puts the spotlight on locations where garbage is piled up in an effort to call attention to and clean up these areas. The campaign, dubbed For a Cleaner Cairo, is the brainchild of the paper's editor in chief, Magdy El Gallad, who proposed to his staff launching a project that would bring about positive change in society. "We thought of the environment and how we are continuously reporting about the country's pollution and its effects, such as the notorious black cloud, for example, and nothing was changing so we had to do something, said Samah Abdel Aaty, editor in the investigations department, which is responsible for this campaign. "From there we started our campaign, which kicked off in the Monday Feb. 2 issue, she said, "and everyday we publish a brief report on [a specific] place. The report is comprised of a picture of a garbage-filled area along with a description, the name of the district and its head as well as other relevant information. A contact number at the newspaper is published and was announced on several television programs, such as Mehwar's daily primetime news show "90 Minutes and Dream TV's "Tab'a Oula (or First Edition). The publicity unleashed a flood of phone calls and emails to the newspaper from citizens reporting garbage pile-ups in their districts, prompting the staff to divide up the different districts of Cairo, giving each person more time to focus on one location. "People from all over Cairo have been calling us, sending emails and even coming down to our offices with pictures reporting on garbage pile-ups, which proved to us the desire of the people to clean their surroundings and the environment, said Abdel Aaty, adding that sometimes they receive more than 10 reports on the same location. The campaign garnered support from public figures in different fields, such as comedian Mohamed Heniedy and writers Sikina Fouad and Osama Anwar Okasha. Okasha lauded the campaign, describing it as "one of the best campaigns uniting Egyptians towards a certain cause, we have long awaited something like this. The campaign has also been getting support and cooperation from the public sector, such as local councils, the Cairo and Giza governorates and the Cairo Cleaning and Beautification Authority. "It was as if they were waiting for someone to tell them about a place so they would clean it up . they responded to our calls immediately, said Abdel Aaty. "The Cairo and Giza governorates saved us a lot of time and effort by providing us with all the necessary information, such as the names of the responsible officials and companies, she added. The staff working on the campaign lauded the efforts of government bodies and have been publishing the pictures of places after they were cleaned up. "Our next move is to make it a nationwide campaign and rename it 'For a Cleaner Egypt', Abdel Aaty said. The Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs praised the role Al-Masry Al-Youm is playing in calling for change in the environment. "We believe that working for the environment is the responsibility of all sectors, whether public or private or the civil society and it's the duty of every individual and organization to contribute proactively, said Haitham Kamal, head of the central administration for media and awareness at the ministry.
