CAIRO - The problems in Khalid Osama's life are like a thick layer of smoke obscuring his vision of the future. Despite this, the 22-year-old second-hand clothes seller hopes for something better in 2011. “The past year has been full of painful moments for poor Egyptians like myself,” Osama, a bespectacled, wafer-thin being who seemed to melt under the heat of the sun in the crowded Wikalat el-Balah market near the Nile in Cairo, said. “I cannot forget the price of tomatoes hitting LE10 (nearly two US dollars) per kilo a few weeks ago and no-one being able to afford them,” he told the Egyptian Mail in an interview. Hundreds of people passed by Osama, worming their way through the clothes stands that dominate this market. They rummaged through scores of jackets, shirts, and trousers, looking for something suitable to protect their bodies against the cold of winter without seriously depleting the contents of their wallets. Some of the customers haggled hard with the sellers, hoping to bring down the price of the items they'd chosen by a few pounds, while others had to walk away empty-handed, because they didn't have enough money, even for old clothes. Osama has been working in this shop for seven years now and earns LE300 (just over $50) per month for a 14-hour day. He has no time to do another job, but still hopes a different job turns up, so he can afford to educate his two children. “Maybe I need a complete change. If only I could own a shop like this one I work in,” Osama said with a chuckle of despair. For a man earning LE300 per month, earning a shop is an impossible dream. But the dreams most ordinary Egyptians have for next year are similarly impossible. Some of their dreams are very humble: just getting a job and earning enough to feed themselves. “Even the basics are hard to come by, Mister,” said Um Ahmed, one of Osama's customers who was looking for a pair of used trousers for her son, with a maximum budget of LE40 ($7). “That's why we don't want to think big.” Um Ahmed trawled the market for a pair of trousers that fitted her shaky budget, but failed. But she still hopes that traders will have some mercy on consumers, so that the vast majority of Egyptians can survive. “We do not want to get rich,” said Um Ahmed, who had now turned angry. “We just want to lead a dignified life. These traders can still get rich by making slightly smaller profits and letting people live.” Gamal Sayyed is different. He likes to think big and also dream big. The 46-year-old taxi driver hopes that his son, who is 14 now, will have joined a major soccer team by next year. He has done everything possible to get the boy noticed by the football scouts and agents, but with little success so far. “The boy has a real knack for scoring goals,” Sayyed said, as he tried to negotiate the bumps in a street in central Cairo in his 2009 Russian Lada. “He has already joined the Military Production Team, but is really ambitious to play for one of the top clubs.” Struggling to feed his two other children, Sayyed uses much of his income to fund his son's footballing necessities. He gives him better food than his other children and also buys him the boots, shirts and shorts he needs. Sayyed says this costs him a lot, but hopes that the boy will repay him handsomely when he becomes a famous player, earning millions of pounds. “Do you know how much Abu Treika and Gedo earn every year?” Sayed asked, talking about two of Egypt's most famous footballers. “They earn millions. They also travel round the world.” Many other ordinary Egyptians would also love their children become rich footballers.They read the headlines about how much footballers earn, then think sorrowfully about their own valueless lives. Money, however, is not a concern for Samir Khalil, an insurance broker, who has decided to do postgraduate studies in economics, focusing on how insurance companies can help push the economy forwards by pouring investments in vital sectors of the economy. “Insurance is a very fertile field for investment,” Khalil, 31, said. “Insurance companies have huge financial surpluses and they can use these surpluses to improve the lives of Egyptians by starting projects that benefit the economy.” Khalil had hoped to run in the last parliamentary elections, but could not do so because he didn't have the support of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). He had already presented what he calls a “comprehensive plan” to the Government for turning financial surpluses in insurance companies into investment projects. “I have a list of projects that could transform life in Egypt,” Khalil explained. “The money will come from the people through their insurance subscriptions. This money will help them, because the projects will benefit the national economy.”
