Saturday, October 31, 2009

Selling animals at Friday Market


Many rich people prefer to have expensive pets and animals to show off, but behind that hundreds of businessmen are working and trading animals to make profits exceeding millions of pounds every year.

There are two parts of this business, first as a businessman you import dogs, and cats from other countries, and specialized people take care of animals and make sure they are able to reproduce. The second part is through illegal channels like Friday Market in old Cairo because the goods on sale there are stolen, second-hand or brand new but flawed. If someone is looking for spare parts, this is the place to go.

Friday Market is located under El-Tonsi Bridge in the middle of the City of the Dead, not far from Salah El-Din Citadel. It is similar to the flea market in Paris, Petticoat Lane or Brick Lane in London.

Some of the main attractions of Friday Market are animals. Pet-lovers and owners are in the market to buy or sell cats, dogs, foxes, bats, turtles, wolves, snakes, or even crocodiles at reasonable prices compared to city shops. Pet food and accessories are also on sale.

In this market, everything is sold and bought with no government control. The market serves a variety of people from the rich and the poor. According to Mohamed Saber, secretary at Cairo Governorate head office, said that "we planned to relocate Friday Market to ease the crowd and control the chaos in 2004, but these plans evaporated with the shortage of financial funds. Officials wanted to move the market near Al-Azhar Park because over there security and everything can be controlled."

In the Friday Market, Manal Eissa, animation team member at the national circus, said that “I just sold this 3m yellow snake for 15 thousand pounds.” “I bought it for 5 hundred pounds when it was only 50cm,” she said.

“Animals are like antiques, the older they are, the more expensive to buy” said Eissa. When she mentioned that it could be a successful business if you have someone expert that can deal with medications and food. If you hire some animal specialist you can open dogs’ farm and make a lot of money by selling pure kinds of dogs.

According to Gamal Abd-Allah, owner of animals shop, he confirmed that “trading animals does not make expected profits and it has high risk at the same time.” He added “it is risky because you are dealing with a living animal that can easily get infected with diseases and if you did not pay attention it might die and you lose your money.”

Abd-Allah refused to say the prices of animals and commented saying “some people might find the prices ridiculous but at the end, there are levels as you can buy dogs starting from 3 hundred pounds till thousands of dollars.”

Nevin Hosny Hamad, veterinarian and owner of private animal clinic, said “there is a rising interest of people in owning animals nowadays; it is becoming like a fashion.” There is high demand on animals particularly dogs, especially in new cities because people use them for security reasons as Hamad elaborated.

This helped people understand more about how to raise their pets, but there are some common mistakes that people still do, for instance, dogs depend on their friends who are responsible for feeding them so people need to spend more time with their pets.

Hamad confirmed that cats and dogs are fashion like cars and clothes. The popular dog is German Shepeard and the famous cat is Shiraz.

Mohamed Salah, veterinarian and owner of a private pets’ clinic, said “people are not aware that pets are responsible for spreading more than 200 diseases.” He also recommended that media must increase awareness by making documentaries and show them on TV.”

Dog’s owner spends around 240 pounds monthly for dried food and 200 pounds annually for medications. “Shampoo, vitamins, tooth brush, and eye drops are important for dogs to maintain good health and cutting their nails is important as well.” said Salah.

Don’t take anything valuable along because you never know, you may just find it on sale on your next visit.

Has cultural globalization been good or bad for Egypt? How?


Globalization is a widely used term that aims to connect and relate the entire world together in order to integrate many nations. Globalization has also played an important role in making everything in the world available everywhere and for everybody. Poor countries would not get aid without globalization so that they can afford their basic needs. Another country, one without a globalization, would be behind other countries in all fields. The global culture influence is used by mass media and influences society.

Most printed media in Egypt are influenced by the West in many forms. One of the forms that printed media shaped was the free weekly papers that are widely spread in Egypt and there you can sell and buy anywhere you want. It was one of the reasons to shorten the spaces between people and connect them more.

People are now more educated and they are always looking for the newspapers that enrich their knowledge. They are paying more attention to the international news and seeking to know everything that is going around in the world. For instance, the MacDonald’s falafel sandwich to target more people.

The various types of advertisements are targeted to different audience with the global theme.

But the globalization worked more for the American companies because they are rich companies so they wanted to share in new markets, America got rich because of their way of thinking which is capitalism.

They tried to reach different cultures with different levels. For instance, MacDonald’s Egypt is offering a falafel sandwich which is part of the famous Egyptian foods that most Egyptians eat. The company wanted to reach a new segment of people. The way the advertisements try to make you buy or eat or sell …etc.

Media has huge impact on Society and on Public Opinion. Depending on the objectives, Media can shape Public Opinion. For instance, Western media shaped the societies to support the War on Terrorism.

The problem at that time was receiving inaccurate information. According to Richard Salent, former president, CBS News
"Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have.”
Big fires started from a little spark: this is how the Arabic video clips and movies were influenced by the west. This is because the video clips are now more modernized and have a lot of girls in the clips.

The clips presented bad morals and immoral scenes. The terrible thing was with the movie production, back around five years, people started to show in movies scenes to learn them steal, cheat, and act violence against others. Parents are trying to select for their kids what to watch and there are facing a gap of communication between their kids.

Most of mass media channels focus more on entertainment, but there are other elements such as education and persuasion by using advertisements and propaganda. For instance, channels have their priorities such as marketing and advertising, others for scientific and environmental concerns and there are channels tend to be biased to make propaganda for certain topics.

Technology has created the possibility of a global culture but it will get refused by those countries that are still in control of their media influence. Internet and satellites are removing the cultural boundaries and promoting for Western ideas and promoting for capitalism systems. Rich countries are spreading their values and norms in order to reach everyone in the world and lead to a kind of unity. Technology always works against censorship. As now countries hardly can control their people on their viewings. The problem in Egypt is that people adopt values that they should not because it will result into serious of social problems.

Comparing the situation in Egypt and the rest of the Arab countries, you can locate Egypt in the top of the list that used globalization in most fields. Economically, socially, and politically are influenced by the American globalization and ideas of capitalism. We have less censorship and we are practicing democracy in a way that it was never like this before in Egypt.

The role of the World Bank in world affairs


The World Bank is an international finance agency established by the United Nations, providing loans, grants, and other forms of aid to developing and low income countries. The World Bank is actually a name for two organizations which often work in coordination, the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association.

The stated goal of the World Bank is to alleviate poverty in an environmentally sustainable and economically sound manner. This is accomplished through a mix of loans and grants which fund development projects and social welfare programs ranging from building factories and schools to providing vaccinations, and even assisting in the repayment of debt.

The World Bank’s role in the international economy has evolved over time, responding to changing economic contexts both internally and externally. Currently, the World Bank exists as an organization which provides financial assistance to nations which may not have access to other forms of credit.

In doing so the IBRD and IDA are able to assist those nations which are the most impoverished. The World Bank’s increasing emphasis on environmentally sustainable development is significant in ensuring that economic growth is not gained at the expense of the local environment.

I will more clearly explain the role of the World Bank in world affairs, discussing how its past efforts have shaped its current outlook on the most effective and efficient ways to provide aid to those countries most in need.

The World Bank first provided loans for reconstruction and other development programs in the wake of World War II. The bank staff started giving loans to European countries, first France. France agreed to strict oversight over the spending of funds provided by the World Bank and the French government prioritized debt repayment to the World Bank over debt owed to other nations or organizations. After the Marshall plan, many European countries received aids from the United States and thus the World Bank became less necessary in the region.

The World Bank instead began to focus more on the non-European countries and they started giving loans to countries to finance development projects which generate income, making it easier for countries to pay back their loans. In the period between 1968 and 1980 the World Bank focused more on poverty alleviation, focusing on the basic social needs of the citizenry. During this period, the number of loans increased dramatically, and many developing nations became overwhelmed by their debts to World Bank.

While Robert McNamara was the president of the World Bank, he shifted the focus of the World Bank policy and focused more on improving the literacy rates and the agricultural reform. He also started new procedures to fasten the process of collecting information from borrower nations.

During this period, many public protests caused a shift the priorities of the World Bank. The World Bank main priorities are poverty alleviation and focus more specific on the sustainable development programs which can improve the lives of the third world citizens.

Since new the turn of the new millennium, the World Bank focused more on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were made by the U.N. In other words, the World Bank focused primarily on the middle income counties to give those loans with low interest rates so they can start working on developing their infrastructure and other basic needs for their citizens.

At the same time, The IDA provides loans with low interest or grants to poor and low income countries because they can not afford paying them back. Moreover, IBRD is a non-profit market that can help those countries to by their high credit rating.

The World Bank’s mission is to deliver aids to poor, low, and middle income countries so that they can achieve increased development while providing social programs to those suffering from the worst poverty.

The achievement of MDGs helps those countries to develop an investment environment for the international market and this would help to push their economies. This would provide jobs for many people and sustainable growth. Investments loans and development policy loans are the two types of loans provided by the World Bank. They are for the social and economic development projects.

In conclusion, the World Bank is now moving towards achieving most of the MDGs and they are changing and developing the economies for these countries so that they can stand on their own on the international level.

The World Bank’s role in the international economy has evolved over time, responding to changing economic contexts both internally and externally. The World Bank’s increasing emphasis on environmentally sustainable development is significant in ensuring that economic growth is not gained at the expense of the local environment. The World Bank focused primarily on the middle income counties to give those loans with low interest rates so they can start working on developing their infrastructure and other basic needs for their citizens

To dig more about this issue

World Bank


International bank for reconstruction and development


International Development Association


United Nations Millennium Development Goals

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Inspiring, Motivational Quotes

These quotes i like the most and i actually read lots of quotes before doing homework :D so that i can be motivated and finish my work and i wanted to share them with you.

"A successful individual typically sets his next goal somewhat but not too much above his last achievement. In this way he steadily raises his level of aspiration."
Kurt Lewin (1890 - 1947)

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, 1999

"If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Observer, Jan. 15, 1950

"It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way."
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), Nichomachean Ethics

Friday, October 23, 2009

Shoeslicious




For me i like to keep looking at shoes especially for girls because they do reflect their character.
even for so many of my friends that i asked about their preferences for shoes, they said it it like fashion and the most popular these days are the vans and converse. Nowdays, people can design their own shoes online and add accessories and whatever they think of and the company will ship it to your home, I love technology. The fun part was taking these photos because my friends were surprised why we are taking these photos

CLimate Change and Human Actions

This video summaries what would be the case here in Egypt if we did not start taking action to stop global warming :


Climate change is a count down to the catastrophic global crisis. That war -world war III- will be harder and more destructive than the last two ones. We -humans- are the weak guys… but our Enemy is not Climate change. It is our interests, benefits and welfare which push us to destroy our priceless Ecosystem which cannot be replaced and soon, cannot be repaired.

There are some important facts that I’d like to share with you:

The Human Development Report 2007/2008 shows that climate change is not just a future scenario. Increased exposure to droughts, floods and storms is already destroying opportunity and reinforcing inequality. Meanwhile, there is now overwhelming scientific evidence that the world is moving towards the point at which irreversible ecological catastrophe becomes unavoidable.

Ban Ki-moon, secretary-General of the UN says “The 2007/2008 Report comes at a time when climate change is starting to receive the very highest attention that it merits. The recent findings of the governmental Panel on Climate Change have sounded a clarion call; they have unequivocally affirmed the warming of our climate system, and linked it directly to human activity”.

Climate Change in Egypt

Egypt’s Delta with its coastal front on the Mediterranean is considered vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In addition to the rise in sea level, Climate change will also produce stressful effects on water and agricultural resources, tourism and human settlements. Fragile and unique ecosystems such as mangrove stands in the Red Sea, which stabilize shorelines and provide a habitat for many species, may also be threatened.

A study on the vulnerability of the coastal zone in Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt, revealed that a 30 cm rise in sea level is expected to occur by 2025, inundating approximately 200 square kilometers. As a result, over half a million inhabitants may be displaced and approximately 70,000 jobs could be lost.

This will oblige more than 40 percent of Egypt’s population to immigrate and abandon their homes, which may cause social problems. All these problems will destroy all the establishments and supplies on the coastal zone of Egypt, we will face a serious problem in providing supplies for our population to consume.

Floods, Hurricanes, Environmental damages and losses… people will lose their jobs… they will search for a safe place and leave the coastal zone. Climate scientists have warned that the Nile not only could suffer a decrease in water flow of up to 75% by the end of the century, but also a rise in sea levels would threaten to flood around 20% of the Nile delta. With further threats from increasing desertification, between two and fourteen million people could become refugees due to the environmental damage. Briefly, Climate change is the END OF EGYPT

Wednesday, October 7, 2009