The streets are clean, the atmosphere is refreshing and stench-free, encouraging people to start the day with a smile on their face. This sounds like a dream for the Egyptians, motivating them to work harder in the hope of securing a better future for their country. The country's environmental well-being is crucial, as environmental issues have largely been neglected since the revolution that ousted the Mubarak regime. One of the problems is that the cleaning company responsible for collecting rubbish nationwide is not doing its job properly. Its contract runs till 2017. In the meantime, there are piles of garbage everywhere and no lorries to take it away, while there is too much work for the street sweepers to handle. The public have now started trying to solve this issue, for the sake of the nation's health. NGOs like Al-Zahrawan have launched launched an initiative to disseminate awareness of this issue among the residents of the upmarket Masaken Sheraton district, not far from Cairo International Airport, where the organisation has its headquarters. With the help of volunteers who really believe in this cause, they launched this project during the recent presidential elections, in co-operation with the office of former MP Professor Amr Hamzawy who helped Al-Zahrawan in its efforts to co-ordinate with governorate's officials and volunteers. Regrettably, since the dissoluation of Parliament, he has stopped his co-operation with the NGO. Since Ramadan and the Eid el-Fitr holiday, Al-Zahrawan team and the volunteers have been working very hard, knocking on people's doors and talking to residents by prior agreement with the Property Owners Union. They wear uniforms, so the residents don't think they're unscrupulous vendors coming to rip them off. They are encouraging citizens to categorise their rubbish into organic and non-organic waste, to facilitate its recycling. They explain that the organic waste can be turned into manure and compost, instead of adding to the appalling mountains of trash in the streets, whose horrible smell brings tears to the eyes of pedestrians. They offer householders customised garbage cans for such categorisation, specially made by Med Star company. “About 70 per cent of the people we visited were very positive, happy that, at last, someone is actually trying to do something to help Egypt, without the motive of personal gain," says Hala Abdel-Hadi, a board member of Al-Zahrawan. “People want to make a change in Egypt. They want to live in a clean, developed country for all the world to see, as developed countries are always serious about having a clean environment," says Ahmed, one of the householders approached by the NGO about this initiative. “We have asked several local officials, including the Governor of Cairo, Abdel-Khaleq Abdel-Qawi, to support us in raising awareness," Hala adds. "We also want them to help us carry garbage to the compost factories for recycling, as these factories are standing idle. We mainly depend on manure coming from abroad," she explains. She describes this idea as "very good", noting that farmers need cheap local manure, as they cannot afford the very expensive imported variety. "Since the cleaning company's contract still has five years to run, a lot of companies are reluctant to sponsor Al-Zahrawan's initiative, afraid of a possible conflict with the company already responsible for dealing with the nation's rubbish," says Ola Hassan, another board member. Because of the lack of funding, Al-Zahrawan and its volunteers have been unable to use the media in their awareness programme. But this hasn't got them down, as they have started their own Facebook page, ‘Habtedi bi Beity' (I will start at Home), reflecting the concept that change starts with oneself, in simple ways like not dumping trash in the streets, putting it instead in garbage cans, while recycling household waste. Their page goes into detail about their plans and their activities, including photos of their staff members in uniform, so the public can recognise them. It also spreads awareness, encouraging the public to share their ideas with them of how to develop their desired plans and offer open invitations for more volunteers and partners to make Egypt a healthier and happier place for all of us.
