Tanta… Mr. President

I’m afraid some might misunderstand this article as it comes a few days after a paid advertisement was published in the first page in a newspaper… the ad called upon the president to interfere to find a solution for a serious problem in Gharbiya governorate…

So first, I have to say that there is no connection between that ad and this article and if there is a link, it’s the problem that has occupied many people’s minds of those citizens of Tanta; capital of the middle Delta and capital of Sufism in the whole Islamic world… Since it holds the mausoleum of the most famous pole of Sufism; Sidi Ahmed el-Badawi in addition to a bunch of long and modern time faithful worshippers of God… not to mention other spiritual concepts that are not less important but it’s not our main issue right now.

The problem is that Tanta is a closed city in a closed governorate; meaning it has no desert land and there is no place for urban expansion unless you build over agricultural land or build higher floors and make good use of the spaces available inside cities and villages… in a way that is legal and doesn’t ruin the most fertile agricultural land of Egypt accumulated by the river through millions of years until the accumulated soil average depth reached 28 meters…

Consequently, that led to higher prices of buildings’ land and as a result, higher prices of real estate… in general; housing problems worsened… which makes it absolutely necessary for officials in charge to take action regarding this problem…

I don’t know the governor of Gharbiya… but because I’m in touch with what’s going on in the governorate which I’m honored to be one of its sons as I was born, brought up and educated there until I reached secondary school… also, through following some of what is being published, I knew he is an efficient official who knows right and wrong and fight corruption that spread in our country…

However, I, like others, have no explanation for ceasing to issue construction permits in Tanta, which is a model or typical study case for a poor-in-land-available-for-construction city… as when citizens who seek construction permits go to have one, they receive very strange answers… the strangest is inserting the armed forces in the matter…

Meaning if a citizen possesses a 100 meters square area in an alley or small street in one of the city’s hamlets or neighborhoods and which will not exceed the specified altitude as per set by the law of construction in correspondence to the street width… then he finds no permission because the armed forces is inspecting the issue of altitudes or taking photos!

In addition to other false alibis that all led to hindering the construction workforce sector meaning construction carpenters, steel fixers, wood and steel merchants, workers working in concrete and others serving those people like tea and food sellers… not to mention the soaring prices of apartments while people’s savings are being eaten away; those who have saved every penny waiting to build a house or another floor, or buy an apartment… and then they find all their savings withering away due to inflation and high prices…

All this while officials in charge are paying no attention to the problem… now I ask both the governor and minister of domestic governance whom I know is a real straight man that can never accept to harm those poor people… I also ask the prime minister: why have you ceased to issue construction permits in Tanta and may be other cities in the governorate?... I also don’t know if such decision applies to all cities in Egypt or it’s only applied on unlucky Tanta?

Should people publish paid ads in newspapers calling upon the president to solve the problem and interfere for the sake of protecting people’s interests and livelihoods since he is the only one who declares and insists that he shall protect the poor and look after their interests?

If this is the case… then what I write here is in turn a call for president Sisi to interfere to save Tanta; capital of Delta and capital of all Sufism capitals in the Islamic world… This call regarding such issue is complementing what I wrote in last week’s article about the necessity to fight the vicious corruption that is eating away our country…

If such corruption is clear and evident in the structure and system of the foreign affairs ministry as I said in last week’s article… then what happens in Gharbiya governorate regarding tackling the problem of lack of lands available for construction is a consecration for such corruption which aims at undermining people’s sense of belonging to this nation and popularity enjoyed by the president personally… instead of working hard to increase such popularity, officials work as if they are appointed to hit it in the core.

So Mr. Governor, will you please find a way out for the construction permits’ problem?... no one ask for exceptions or breaking the law… just imagine that you have cashed in your pension reward and then decided to build a house on a piece of land you inherited, and then you find no permit without a clear convincing reason.

I believe the president has enough problems and crisis to tackle… and he has already declared days ago that the governor is the president of his governorate… so will you please Mr. Governor find a way out for such problem instead of calling upon the president to interfere himself?

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on August 4, 2016.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2016/08/blog-post_4.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #tanta

Fleeing to Tanta

Readers – who bother to read and interact by commenting, whether agreeing or disagreeing, and sometimes their comments are more detailed or clearer than what the writer wrote… or may present an addition that could be more important and credible than what written by the writer – have the right to know about the writer’s intentions.

So here I say that I intended to write about the role of the individual in history between charisma, heroism and historical role… I also intend to write about the right standards I believe should be used in overshadowing or evaluating historical phases and phenomena in the life of mankind and history of nations… and the difference between retail calculations and history estimations… and all this is connected to what I called “July-Nasser Syndrome” which some people get afflicted with in certain seasons of the year.

However, I’m really exhausted of such game with those mostly incompetent amateurs playing… so, I excuse you to postpone writing about what I mentioned above to write about other things as I found there are many who find fun in the same aspect; that is our personal memories with the living reality…

I got my secondary school degree; literary section, from Al-Ahmadiya secondary school in Tanta… together with Tanta Al-Thanawiya, they were the most distinguished schools in the beautiful city of Tanta…

Al-Ahmadiya – it was named Ahmadiya due to Sidi Ahmed el-Badawi, descendent of prophet Muhammed – school used to occupy a vast area where it was looking over Othman Pasha Muhammed st. and Al-Madares st.… separated in the back by a small street from a private school; that is Al-Tawfiqiya school where those good-for-nothing students who got low grades not enough to qualify them for government public secondary schools go… before our school, there was another small street separating it from its more-than 4-feddans big courtyard… that courtyard used to hold sport activities for Hockey, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, Gymnastics, Running, Wrestling and Body building.

The school used to have a high long wall fencing it but that wall was not high enough to prevent those who wanted to escape school in daylight… our school used to have an iron gate where a dark skin man with curled-up moustache wearing white turban and Galabiya used to stand… that man, named Farag, used to block the gate way holding the two iron gates with his tight fest allowing no one to escape…

Once you delve through the gate, you could find a small lobby leading right to a five-step stairs that in turn leads to a long corridor where administration offices lie… right in the front, you can find the door leading to the inside courtyard where there were an old building and another new one encompassing all classes from first to third grade… we used to choose our specialization, either scientific or literary, starting from the second year.

In that courtyard, there was a mosque, canteen, WCs – where students who used to smoke secretly liked to go – storerooms and books… the courtyard was very spacious place where we used to line up in parallel adjacent queues in the morning assembly… also, there was a rectangular wooden table about 20 cm high where the microphone was placed and behind it the leader of the assembly used to stand…

That leader was a reserve major of the teachers who studied in the College of Egyptian Reserve Officers and later distributed over schools to teach military training curriculum… accompanying him were a group of two captains, two lieutenant and a bunch of Non-Commissioned Officers, meaning First Sergeant, Second Sergeant, and a Corporal… in addition to a few students who got promoted until one of them – his name was “Hassan Bargal” – reached to be the school’s First Sergeant who used to line us in queues and then give the military salute to the major officer… afterwards, the major steps towards the high commander of the school; the headmaster, to raise his hand in salute indicating all are in order… then, he used to call for orders’ reader; a student holding the rank of corporal to read orders of Al-Ahmadiya secondary school issued by Mr. Abdel-Qader Salim; the headmaster… then he reads article 1…etc. to the rest of articles… and finally ending by three words: “God… Homeland… by order”.

Our school day was long with two breaks… prior to the second one, we used to have our daily meal which was distributed in class everyday… we also had physical fitness classes… drawing, art crafts, music and hobbies… “tyrant” corridors’ supervising teachers, who used to dress in complete uniform of suits with neck ties, also used to hold a punishing stick in their right hand or by an office man walking behind them… it was really unpleasant if you were caught out of your class or quarreling…

In the school, we gathered more than once to chant slogans calling for Arab unity as I was enrolled in the school year 1958/59… we chanted against separation when our college Ahmed el-Agami; Weight lifting and body building champion stepped to try to unlock the iron barricade blocking the entrance of the courtyard leading to Al-Madares st… Then, the headmaster came and gave a speech and ordered the door be opened for our demonstration to meet with Tanta secondary school, Al-Qased secondary school and Al-Aqqbat secondary school’s demonstrations… in addition to other preparatory schools… while girls of “Tanta secondary school for girls” were trying to come out in turn raising their voices from the windows overlooking our school courtyard… where you could find all lovers standing at corners, over trees’ branches or over the fence wall… atop of them was our college Abdel-Qader Swailam, the creative painter who used to hold a sketchbook and coal pencil to draw girlfriends’ faces for those who wanted… and for very little money.

Social inequality was apparent until it was decided everyone should were the military training uniform which we used to receive from school… the uniform consisted of dark blue trousers, grey chemise, black military shoes and dark beige belt… Students coming from rich families – I first wrote old-established then I removed it since being old-established is different to being rich – used to come riding their cars sometimes and dressed in complete suits… they also had special sport uniforms and were monopolizing Hockey team… and sometimes, they used to hold guns hidden around their waists under the jacket… they used to receive food by their servants or chauffeurs in special food columns… However, some of them were really very nice and simple people… we witnessed no discrimination or bias by our school management… meaning if anyone was worth punishment, then he shall open his hands flat for the schoolmaster or courtyard supervisor to hit him with the stick… otherwise, office man; called Abbass, would be summoned to hold him…

For those who do not know the meaning of holding; it means that office man Abbass would seize the student holding him at the waist for the stick to hit his back until punishment is over… or Abbass shall take off the student’s shoes and socks holding his legs up for the stick to hit the bottom of them not caring about the student’s yelling “please, forgive me master… I will not do it again”.

We used to hold competitions in Hockey, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, Gymnastics, and running between schools of Tanta and other schools of other governorates… we also organized competitions in drawing, music, journalism, oratory and shooting… we used to go to a secluded shop selling stationery in Taha El-Hakim st. which also used to sell “Eva’s diaries” and naked pictures… we also witnessed letters thrown in the way of girls coming out of Tanta secondary school for girls… love stories… and fierce competitions in that respect…

And definitely, we had the guts to escape school… I was in first grade secondary school when I came from Al-Ahmadiya preparatory school wearing shorts and aged 13 but with a great desire to mimic senior students… I started smoking “Wings”-brand cigarettes with other hiding smokers… and one day, I jumped over the wall to escape with senior students…

I climbed the wall with great difficulty and once I turned around giving my back to the other side and getting down very cautiously lest I fall down, I felt a hand helping me to land safely… once I landed, I found it was the hand of Mr. general manager of the ministry of education in Gharbiya governorate accompanied by a group of senior officials of the governorate’s ministry department in addition to the headmaster…

That general manager was known to be so tough and vigilant… he knew about students of Al-Ahmadiya secondary school escaping by jumping the wall and so he decided to see himself… and the first capture was me… he soon asked for my guardian; my father, deputy headmaster of Tanta preparatory school, to come… and that was another story to tell.

That was our school… and those were the days.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Almasry alyoum newspaper on August 3, 2016.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2016/08/blog-post.html

#almasry_alyoum #ahmed_elgammal #Tanta