Region | Egypt
Iftar meals for Egypt's poorest disappear this year
Until this year's Ramadan, free street meals, locally known as mawaed al rahman, were a key feature of the fasting month in this country, where 40 per cent of its 80 million people are believed to live under the poverty line.
- By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
- Published: 23:25 September 9, 2008
Cairo: Until this year's Ramadan, free street meals, locally known as mawaed al rahman, were a key feature of the fasting month in this country, where 40 per cent of its 80 million people are believed to live under the poverty line.
The situation is different this year, much to the chagrin of workers who cannot be home for the iftar.
"I used to go to a free iftar banquet hosted by a politician from the ruling party where hot, well-cooked meals would be served," said Ahmad Abdul Rahim, a worker at a leather workshop in southern Cairo.
"The banquet disappeared this year on the pretext of offering the help to the people who really deserve it. If I am not one of those needy, who are they then?" he told Gulf News.
Abdul Rahim, a father of three, said his wages hardly exceed 450 Egyptian pounds (Dh294). Now he has to break his dawn-to-dusk fast with a sandwich of fuul (boiled beans).
In the run-up to the month of Ramadan, the Egyptian government announced the cancelation of official banquets it used to host with the declared aim of cutting public expenses.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian church said it would not host an annual iftar banquet, which used to be attended by Muslim and Christian clergymen in a show of national unity. Likewise, the Ministry of Waqfs (Religious Endowments) said it would not hold iftar banquets for the same reason. Money for these seasonal gatherings is now to be funnelled into purchasing bags containing dried foodstuffs to be distributed among needy families.
New trend
"There are plenty of people who want to be charitable, but they have discovered that not all the needy people go to mawaed al rahman," said Hatem Hassuna, a construction contractor, who used to host one of those banquets.
"Many poor families are too shy to show up," he said. Hassuna told Gulf News that this year he has bought dozens of "Ramadan bags" containing rice, macaroni and cooking oil and given them away to needy families.
The trend is proving so popular that politicians from President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party and their opponents have already distributed thousands of such bags among inhabitants in their areas.
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