The alarm goes off and the young man wakes up, gets dressed and goes off to work. He treads carefully as he walks along the street, in order to avoid the sewage water seeping out from under an old manhole cover, as well as a huge pyramid of garbage outside the back door of a building on which is written ‘The Cleaning Organisation'. When he reaches the bus stop, he has to wait and wait and wait till a corporation bus turns up. It's very crowded and there's hardly room to stand. He can't wait for the next bus, so he puts up with it. The sweaty smell of the other passengers makes him want to gag. The man standing next to him keeps on bawling into his mobile and another man keeps on sneezing and coughing without using a tissue. But, as time goes by, he gets used to this tiring routine. His story is typical of many Egyptians living on limited incomes. This way of life prompted Ahmed Sayyed, 23, who recently graduated from the Computer Department in the Faculty of Education, to create a Facebook group called ‘Ghrae'eb el-Share'e el-Masri' (Strange Things in the Egyptian Streets). The group has so far collected about 1,750 photos of strange goings-on in Egypt. "Some of the photos really makes me laugh, but inside me I'm very sad because this is happening in my country," says Ahmed, who works in electronic marketing and whose hobbies include photography, football and surfing the Net. "The idea began as a bit of fun. I just wanted to take photos and share them with my friends so we could have a good laugh," he adds. People loved the idea and joined the group. Then the idea developed and became deeper. "People started sending me their photos and I took to the streets to photograph strange new things. The media soon became interested and I've been interviewed on TV and in the newspapers. "My goal has changed. I want people not only to laugh at these photos, but to change and never do the nasty things we see in the streets of Egypt," Ahmed told the Egyptian Mail in an interview. This is what he has been encouraging the 99,000 members of his Facebook group to do. "I take photos with my mobile camera while driving, walking, running or hanging out with friends." At first people laughed. His family said: "You're wasting your time on trivial things." But deep inside himself he was sure what he wanted to do and that he'd make a difference. "Many people attacked me because of this group, saying that it shows the bad side of Egypt. But I say no. What is happening here is happening in many other countries, but we can be better. I only need people to interact with me and that what is happening." As for choosing a Facebook group to deliver his idea, Ahmed commented: "No-one changes without looking at his faults. When I was at university there was a professor who kept on telling us that visual education is very important for delivering an idea." Some of the odd photos in Facebook group include strange phrases written on the back of taxis, as well as fast food restaurants and clothes shops with hilarious spelling mistakes in their signs. The photos reflect the ignorance of many people. "One photo that I took of a restaurant reached the eyes of owner, prompting him to change the sign, this time with the name of the restaurant spelt correctly. I then removed the photo. What I do is really making a difference," he said. Ahmed wants to make his group even bigger. He wants to reach more people and dreams of launching a TV programme or a campaign in an Egyptian newspaper to make people change their ways. "So of my Facebook campaigns have succeeded, others have failed. People find it hard to change, but they love Egypt and are proud of being Egyptians," he stressed. Ahmed is preparing a new website, which will be opened within two weeks with the address, www.onlyategypt.com. This site will contain many sections. The first section will be for uploading strange things happening in Egypt's streets, the second for uploading videos with the same theme and the third part will be called ‘Yala bina nesalah haga sawa' (Let's try and reform something together), for launching campaigns. The fourth section, entitled ‘Fil ghorba' (Away from Egypt) will let people who live outside Egypt express their feelings and love for their country, while the fifth section will be for strange things all over the world, not just in Egypt. The last section, ‘Heya di Masr' (This is Egypt), will be for all the good things happening in Egypt. The site will also announce meetings, at which members can meet and take photos together. Ahmed censors himself. He never publishes photos of girls or women and certainly not anything immoral. "I encourage people to send me new photos for the group, but the sender must tell me where he took the photo and give it a title. Some of the photos are too distressing to publish. "I didn't publish a photo that someone sent me of a poor old man sleeping in the street. It's not his fault that he's poor and cannot find a place to stay or work. I think it's the fault of the system as a whole. That's why we need to change ourselves by ourselves and never wait for somebody to change us or wait for the Government to do something to us," he explained. Ahmed Sayyed is an Egyptian who loves Egypt and wants everyone to view his country in the best possible light. "I don't like Egypt being so crowded as it is now. I want it to be clean and prosperous. I need people to look out for others as much as themselves, to think of their friend's rights, not just their own."
