Greek Community of Alexandria

Author: Athanasios Koutoupas

  • Toward a Judging Free Society: Human Library Comes To Egypt

    Toward a Judging Free Society: Human Library Comes To Egypt

    There is a library in Denmark where people replace books, and conversations replace silent reading, ones that shatter societal stereotyping and prejudices. This unique experience is now coming to Cairo.

    Human Library Egypt is holding a one day event at Sheraton district on Friday, with five “books” discussing drug addiction, refugees, special needs, the first single lady adopting a child, and a different looking girl whose features are regarded as ugly and unacceptable by those around her.

    “The personalities represented in Human books are mainly ones that suffered from widespread stereotypes in the Egyptian society,” said Amira Rizk, one of the organizers of the event.

    Some of the books approached Human Library Egypt after coming across the idea through social media because they wanted their story to be heard by others and their challenges to be understood. Other books were approached by the initiative after knowing about them either through an article, TV program or talks featuring them on any medium

    “We are hoping that this experience on the long term creates a free judging society where people become more and more tolerant to others by learning to accept differences that s an integral part of creation,” Rizk said.

    Implemented in 70 countries, Asmaa Ismail brought the idea to Egypt. Ismail believes in the power of healing of people through self expression, and in the impact people can do by just listening to others without even offering solutions.

    For the execution, she checked the official Human Library page and applied to be one of the organizers. Her request to bring the idea from Denmark to Egypt was approved and she became the first representative for them in Egypt. The first event was held in May 2016 on a small scale, where the books were mostly volunteers from her network then gradually the idea started spreading.

    (egyptianstreets.com)

  • Egypt Plans to Implement ‘Electronic Visa Application System’ to Attract More Tourists

    Egypt Plans to Implement ‘Electronic Visa Application System’ to Attract More Tourists

    In a step that aims to facilitate visa procedures to tourists, Egypt’s Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar met with Telecommunication Minister Yasser Al-Qady to discuss the development of a new system that will allow issuance of electronic visas.

    The step is expected to positively affect the tourism sector and the rate of incoming tourists to Egypt, as it will facilitate the procedures of obtaining the Egyptian visa.

    President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi ordered to accelerate the implementation of the E-Visa system during his meeting with the Supreme Council for Tourism. Travelers will be able to obtain their Egyptian visa through an online system that will speed up the procedures for obtaining visas and smoothen the process undertaken in the airports upon their arrival.

    Abdel-Ghaffar said the Interior Ministry is keen on implementing the new system and also upgrade the security technological systems it has. Al-Qady stressed the importance of the cooperation between the two ministries in order to achieve the highest quality possible of services for foreign nationals in Egypt.

    Member of Parliament Mohamed Al-Massoud said the E-Visas system will help boost tourism in Egypt.

    (egyptianstreets.com)

  • Searching for Life Quality? Cairo, Alexandria Just Made It to Africa’s Top 10 Cities

    Searching for Life Quality? Cairo, Alexandria Just Made It to Africa’s Top 10 Cities

    According to a Swiss study published Tuesday, Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Alexandria comes third while the capital Cairo ranks seventh when it comes to quality of life in Africa.

    Surveying 100 capitals and major urban centres in Africa, the research body Communaute d’Etudes pour l’Amenagement du Territoire at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) looked at seven categories: society, housing, spatial development, infrastructure, environment, governance and economy.

    “I wish this was true, but it’s difficult to understand how Cairo that has been, for example, reputed for its toxic air and chronic noise pollution in numerous global studies in the past comes at seven,” said Amro Ali, an Alexandrian researcher who currently lives in Cairo.

    “Also were they able to access data and independent studies on the informal settlements and housing crisis faced by the poor that plagues Cairo and Alexandria? As official statistics provided by the authorities would often give a skewed picture,” Ali added, wondering what the methodology was for measuring the seven categories.

    Swiss urban sociologist, Jerome Chenal, told Afrique Mediterranee Business, the Paris-based magazine that commissioned the study that “until now, rankings for Africa were done for investors and expatriates”.

    “We never asked how people lived, whether young or old, rich or poor,” Chental told AFP.

    Morocco’s Marrakesh held first place, and three of its other cities also made it to the top 10 on the list, while South Africa’s economic capital Johannesburg came second.

    (egyptianstreets.com)

  • Egyptian researchers turn shrimp shells into biodegradable plastic

    Egyptian researchers turn shrimp shells into biodegradable plastic

    Researchers at Egypt’s Nile University are developing a way to turn dried shrimp shells that would otherwise be thrown away into thin films of biodegradable plastic they hope will be used to make eco-friendly grocery bags and packaging.

    Six months into their two-year project, the research team has managed to create a thin, clear prototype using chitosan, a material found in the shells of many crustaceans.

    “If commercialised, this could really help us decrease our waste… and it could help us improve our food exports because the plastic has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties,” Irene Samy, a professor overseeing the project, told Reuters.

    The researchers buy unwanted shrimp shells from restaurants, supermarkets and local fishermen at cheap prices.

    Using shrimp shells is more sustainable because it could replace synthetic materials used in plastics and cut the amount of biowaste produced by the Egyptian food industry, Samy said.

    The shells are cleaned, chemically treated, ground and dissolved into a solution that dries into thin films of plastic, a technique the team says has potential for large-scale industrial production.

    “Egypt imports around 3,500 tonnes of shrimp, which produce 1,000 tonnes of shells as waste… Instead of throwing the shells away, we can make biodegradable plastic bags,” Hani Chbib, a researcher on the project, told Reuters.

    The project is a collaboration between the Nile University team of four and another research group at the University of Nottingham in Britain, where Samy conducted her post-doctoral research and first started experimenting with the idea.

    The team has only produced small samples and the project is not yet ready to go into commercial production but the team is working hard to develop properties that would allow the material to go into widespread use.

    “We are continuing to work on enhancing its properties, like thermal stability and durability,” Samy said.

    (www.reuters.com)