WATANI International
14 June 2009
Last Sunday saw thousands of Egyptian children and adults, as well as people from all over the world, take part in the Global Walk to End World Hunger at the Saladin citadel on Muqattam Hill east of Cairo. The event was sponsored by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to raise awareness and money to feed hungry children in some of the poorest countries in the world. Public figures, including Deputy Cairo Governor General Mahmoud Yaseen, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawas, and the ambassadors of Australia, Thailand, Norway and Japan took part. Apart from the scheduled walk in which everyone joined, it was an evening for music, dance and games for the children, in addition to some delicious food which was offered to them.
Scared and isolated
Ten-year-old Amira Khaled from Beni Sueif said “Some people came to our home and asked my father to allow me to go to Cairo with them on Sunday afternoon. They said I would take part in an event and would play with children of the same age and take a bag full of toys.”
“I ate, played, and had fun”, said Radwa Khalil, also aged 10. Her eyes danced; it was obvious she had greatly enjoyed the day.
The two girls had been absolutely reluctant to talk to me. They looked at me with suspicion and withdrew aside. It was only when their matron Asmaa’ Mustafa, project coordinator at the Association of Developing and Caring about the Family in Beni Sueif, warmly welcomed me and persuaded them it was safe to talk to me that they opened up.
“They are not used to talking to people; they live in an isolated world and face daily suppression. These two girls and seven other children who came here today are part of a new project adopted by the association under the name ‘Worst Forms of Child Labour’”, explained Mustafa.
Walk the world
“I liked it because everybody liked it,” this is how Gianpietro Bordignon, Country Director for the WFP in Egypt, described the evening. “End Hunger: Walk the World”, continues Bordignon, “is an annual event now in its seventh year but for Egypt the sixth year. Holding the event at the Citadel made it very different this year.
“The event saw people walking for hunger in 70 countries. It began in Australia with a climb up the Sydney Harbour Bridge and continued through all 24 time zones. We were able to provide 300,000 families with food and vitamins and 105 million all over the world.
“School feeding programmes also give parents an extra incentive to keep their children in school, and help to lay a healthy foundation for a better future for the young.”
Fights
Last year, the sponsors were sharply criticised for marking “End Hunger: Walk the World” by holding a sumptious dinner event in the lanscaped, manicured Smart Village west of Cairo, to which the social elite were invited.” This year the walk was held at Saladin Citadel, which lies close to one of Cairo’s overcrowded, poorer districts. Cairo Governorate and the Supreme Council of Antiquities joined efforts with the event’s sponsors to make it a joyful occasion for the participants, and one during which food and entertainment were offered to the most needy.
Towards the end of the event, however, and while boxes of food stuffs were being distributed to the children, fights erupted as the elder and stronger crowded the others out.
Amal Gomaa, an accountant, said that hunger and poverty led people to frequently act in an ungracious manner. “This is why I came here, to participate in helping combat hunger and all its hated aftermath,” she said.