A long trek through Cairo traffic, through dusty side streets, and through narrow alleys (strewn with trash, trash, and more trash), under a bridge, alongside a decaying 18th-century structure (a former prison from the Ottoman Empire), and we found ourselves "nowhere" - i.e., we arrived where we wanted to be, at Establ Anter. But it does not exist officially. Establ Anter (named after a Mr. Anter who had his horse stables on this spot decades ago) is an informal community of some 5,000 souls ... poor souls.
We visited Mr. Sherif and Mr. Hamada, brothers in their 30s, who started a glass-blowing workshop a year or more ago ... and it is expanding. Our task is to help them get a "presence" on the web, to target new markets, to provide our thoughts about what American and other foreign markets/audiences might like to see in their products, and to help them expand their reach beyond the local suqs (markets) where they currently sell.
This site is just one of 3 or 4 we will work in for the next month. But, our time is starting to fly! We have to get moving on all of our projects - knitting/quilting is the 2nd project we will work on. Both of these 2 projects (glass-blowing and knitting/quilting) will begin in earnest on Monday.
And we are struggling with 2 others - including a carpet-weaving project that already has major international reach (with website, marketing infrastructure, etc.); but, this corporation is also working in Establ Anter and recruiting children to work for them.
This is our conundrum: are the children slated to become "child labor" for a corporation? or, as our NGO leaders say, are the children going to be educated - in traditional subjects, in a new school built atop the local community center and mosque - as well as learn a vocation, get 2 meals a day, earn money for each product they help produce (helping their families immediately), and have hope for a future beyond the poverty in which they currently suffer?
We are struggling with this one ... and we'll keep you posted!
No comments:
Post a Comment