The afternoon…

The tiny streets of old Cairo are completely blocked… the car can barely move few inches in ages…

I avoid looking at the clock in front of me… I close the windows,, turn on the AC and let the music flows with the angelic voice of Fairouz the great lebanese singer… listening to Fairouz is like looking at the sky… both are open horizons of peace and satisfaction….

I escape the crowd and fall into my own thoughts….

I remember the morning session.. the small acting exercise we had.. I smile… I wonder how many approaches we can use to engage the youth in a learning process… today is our first photography class… Seif and I wanted to start with a warm up exercise to widen the group imagination and raise their attention… They became engaged… then we asked them to split into smaller groups to write down which topics are they interested to cover through photos, videos or written material… They spoke their minds to some extent… still they are not used to the participatory education process… the educational system in Egypt depends on the flow of knowledge from the teacher to the students.. that's why we feel insecure when somebody asks us to share our knowledge or to speak our minds… one of the challenges here is to liberate the group from the trap of  the”right or wrong answer” and to extend their options in finding the suitable answer for each one of them.

After we had discussed the topics together; Seif took the group to Al-Mouez street in old Cairo where they are going to take their first photography class. I had to stay a little more time in Al-Mokattam because Mahmoud had to have some shots for the documentary film there. Mahmoud is a film director.. he was assigned by global voices to document for our project through a short movie.

I thought that Seif must have started the photography class… I can imagine him walking down the streets with the group teaching them how to look for the story in each photo….the rule of thirds.. how to imagine eyes for each object and how to talk to scenes…..

Mahmoud noticed that I was totally taken by my thoughts.. he turned off the music and asked me to make use of the time we are spending in the car by taking extra shots for the film.

I corrected my position and waited for his coming question… he asked: “what do you expect from the youth? do you expect that they may turn to be professional writers or photographers?”

I paused… took a moment to think…

” I don't expect anything from them… and it doesn't really matter how they are gonna be in the future… I know it's my role to open up their life choices…. I'm giving them an extra tool to know themselves… I expect that some of them may like photography and some may not… at least they had the chance to know what they are and what they are not…….”

I then turned Fairouz on again… and the cars started to move…