The day of her sister's wedding is approaching and she's helping her buy new clothes for the new phase in her life. Samah roams the streets and shops all day long with her about-to-get-married little sister. Her cupboard is filled with sexy clothes in rose, red and other bright colours. On the wedding day itself, she goes with her younger sister in the early morning to the coiffeur to have her hair done, to ensure she's a 'moon' on her wedding night. Samah looks at her sister in the mirror. She's sitting in a chair reading a magazine, while the coiffeur put a crown and tiara on her head. Samah is happy for her, but also concerned about her own future. While she takes care of her little sister, Samah is annoyed by the groom repeatedly sounding his car horn outside the hairdresser's. He's impatient to see his bride in her white dress and whisk her off to the big wedding hall in a famous hotel. When they arrive at the hotel, all their relatives and friends are in high spirits. They dance, ululate, sing and swing to the high-volume tones, which rock the hall. Samah, 35, is heartily welcomed by everyone, but, although they try not to show it, they look at her pitifully. "They really want to ask me why I'm still unmarried while my younger sister's starting a family," Samah told the Egyptian Mail. "I don't like their pitiful looks. Their comments make me feel that I'm a burden on society just because I'm over thirty and still unmarried." In Egypt, a conservative country, if any young woman reaches the age of 30 without getting married, her family worry that she'll be left on the shelf for good. It's more serious in the countryside. If a young lady reaches 20 and she's not yet married, people start calling her a spinster. If this woman has a sister younger than her, most rural families stress that she should marry before this younger one. If a man proposes to the younger one, the family refuse until her older sister gets married. In some cases, the younger sister becomes a spinster, if no-one wants to marry her sister. This custom is also adhered to by some families living in the Egyptian capital. "I will wait for Mr Right. But I hope he comes quickly to save me from all these looks I keep getting," Samah said. According to the State-owned Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), there are 9 million unmarried men and women in Egypt, a country of 80 million. One of the reasons for this is that, according to sociologists, average marriage costs in Egypt are substantially higher than in other societies, in which a dowry (the transfer of money and gifts from the groom and his family to his bride and her family) is customary. Society is now trying to find a solution to this problem. Marriage websites have started to appear, in addition to marriage ads in most of the national newspapers. There's even a poster attached to the side of one of the big road bridges in Cairo, with a mobile number on it and, written underneath, "Don't worry, we will help you get married. Just call". Meanwhile, a group on the social networking utility Facebook was recently launched to help girls and boys alike to get married. It's called ‘Ea'faf' (Chaste) and it dreams of launching a national fund to facilitate marriage. In fact, Ea'faf hopes to establish such funds in every Arab state, starting in Egypt, to help young people, who are unable to get married but want to, to achieve their dream. This group, which already boasts around 3,000 members, encourages both Muslims and Christians to join it. "There are several objectives for this fund. The first is to help young Arabs get married by providing them with material assistance. We will start with orphans and the eldest of these young people. "Secondly, we will provide psychological support and counselling for people who have become spinsters or bachelors," Youssry el-Tahawy, the founder of the group, told the Mail. Tradition, however, ensures that the cost of a wedding and its related activities in Egypt will remain high. Regardless of the economic situation of couples planning to get married and their families, the gihaz (trousseau) and other goods purchased to set up the newlyweds' home are expected to be new, not used. "The group wants to tell parents not to exaggerate their demands and make things complicated. We want to mobilise community support for the idea of the fund, in order to facilitate these people getting married," Tahawy stressed. She explained that there were indirect targets for this fund: reducing the number of street children; putting an end to illegitimate and forbidden relationships; and eliminating orfi (unregistered) marriages. The purpose of this is to protect our daughters and sons from delinquency and change society's perception towards unmarried people, widows and divorcees," Tahawy says.
