CAIRO - For bakers, builders, quarrymen and steel factory workers, the holy fasting month of Ramadan is particularly hard. They get very thirsty working in a very hot environment, which is made more difficult by the hot summer weather. It's not always possible to stop working for a complete month, so some of these workers don't fast in Ramadan, supported by fatwas (religious edicts), which permit this. However, some still insist on fasting throughout the holy fasting month. Kamel Mursi, a blacksmith has to stand before a furnace full of molten iron in a workshop all day. It's very tough in Ramadan, when he works his usual ten-hour day. Sometimes, men like him work at night in the holy fasting month, which allows them to drink as much fluid as they need. Working as a blacksmith is so tiring that many of them have to retire by the age of 45 anyway. Mohamed Ghanem, who works with Mursi, called for owners of workshops and factories to cut the working hours during Ramadan. One man, who works in a plant that makes mouldings, says that most of his colleagues try to take their annual holidays during the holy fasting month, adding that many of them faint during Ramadan, because it gets so hot in the plant. Moustafa Shaker, who works in a tyre factory, told Al-Akhbar newspaper that working beside furnaces and large machines is very dangerous, especially during Ramadan. Gamal Safwat, a worker in a bakery in the coastal city of Alexandria, says that he and his colleagues all want to do the night shift during Ramadan to make the fasting more bearable. Mohamedi Ahmed, a builder, says builders work one of two shifts in the holy fasting month, so they can fast. The first shift starts after dawn prayers and ends at noon; the second shift is from noon till sunset. “God does not want people like quarrymen and bakers to expose themselves to unnecessary hazards while fasting, which is why the Sharia [ Islamic law] says they don't have to fast during Ramadan,” stresses Amna Nusseir. Dr Mustafa Murad, Dean of Higher Institute for General Health in Alexandria, advises fasting people to eat a light suhour (the meal before Muslim resuming fasting at dawn), low on fats, spices and salt, to try and minimise their thirst during the day. Of course, fasting people should drink a lot of fluids between iftar (fast-breaking meal) and suhour, as well as avoiding excessive physical effort before iftar and spending a long time in the sun or in hot places.
