Taxi Driver or an Entrepreneur!?

A couple of months ago I took a Cab from work like I normly do, yet there was something that is so not normal about it. Books and magazines where everywhere , 2 netbooks where attached to the back of the chairs, a small basket that has game boys & PSPs was set on the front seat. 

I started looking at books, I found a collection of old and new English and Arabic books, some where for Naguib Mahfouz, Abbas EL Akkad, Dan Brown, Paulo Coelho and more. 1 Minute after I have entered the taxi, the driver start telling me you can use what ever you want for free, but if you need internet tell me, because it requires a fees. 

I started talking with the driver, he was a young man in his late 20's , well dressed, pleasant looks, and a not so bad English accent. He started asking me about my experience with other Taxi drivers and what are the things that I hate about riding taxis, he started to scribble things while I was talking on a piece of paper attached to the driving wheel. 

After 10 minutes of riding the taxi, figured that his name is Eslam, and this is his privately owned car, Eslam told me about his dream of having his own business, yet this business was still in the same career of taxi driving he was pursuing. Eslam wanted to gather all his taxi driver friends in one company, dedicated to driving people on-call. He wanted to create a website and FB page promoting the business, his idea was to create a profile for all drivers, with their pictures and complete info about them and about what they do, he wanted to enhance the experience for customers and he wanted to demolish the bad image people have about taxi drivers, he wanted to create a safe place for people to go to. Eslam also mentioned having cabs that are drove by women, so it would be easier and much more comfortable for ladies. 

After this pleasant 30 minutes ride, I started thinking should this taxi driver be considered as an entrepreneur!? He certainly has the spirit and the qualities that qualifies him to be so , and according to WikiPedia an entrepreneur is  an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative! 

I believe that this young man has all what it takes to be a very successful entrepreneur!

Whtats very amusing about Eslam is that, he is not resenting what he is doing, he is not unhappy about his job, he loves it and he is trying to work so hard to make it better for him and for others around him. He worked with the capabilities he had, he didnt wait for an opportunity to come out of no where, he focused and he will start launching his project very soon!

What I regret on not doing is forgetting to take his phone number, a man with an initiative  like this is worth giving attention, and support!

Crushing Egypt’s’ Rejuvenation

“I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.”~ Ghandi

After nine days of struggle and hard work, we as Egyptians achieved victory yet still not the maximum victory we were seeking, and it even might be a temporary victory and an act of fraud from the Egyptian regime. During the struggles we faced in the Egyptian “Intifada” we have learned a lot and we have gained a lot as a nation. Before going into deep analysis of the situation and mentioning its pros and cons I would like to reveal on the string of events that took place from Tuesday the 25th of Jan till Tuesday the 1st of Feb.

The first day of the protests which was on the 25th of Jan, was a completely peaceful demonstration from few Egyptians, it was motivating and anti-destruction its aim was to ask for our rights as Egyptians and the right of the nation. The same events took place on the 26th and 27th of Jan, and still the world was peaceful despite some attempts of violence from the police on the protesters and vice-versa. During the first three days of the protests the daily life of Egyptians wasn’t affected at all, people used to go to work and come back and some still go out with friends. On the night of the third day the preparation for the “Rage Friday” started and the aim of that day was to “Bring down the Egyptian Regime”. The ghost of communications and the internet caused a huge threat to the government therefore the have cutoff all internet and mobile services for that day. Still that didn’t prevent people from protesting peacefully and cutting off communication tools provoked many Egyptians and that caused an increase in the protestor’s number.

The 28th of Jan was an historical day, and still a day full of maximum violence as the Egyptian police deliberately killed peaceful protestors, whether by live bullets or by the police cars. That act caused more and more rage among the Egyptians. Everyone was sympathizing with the protestors and everyone was with the demonstration and its ultimate fight for a huge cause. Late at that night the Egyptian president made a speech about reforming the government but still that wasn’t enough for the Egyptians because that was not what they want, so the protest was still active and it demanded to be active for the next day despite the order of the curfew. Moving to the 29th of Jan which was a day full of fear and threat to every Egyptian, Mobiles were back on but internet was still off. During that day criminals and gangsters covered Egypt, they caused threat in the streets and in our homes, the country was not a safe place anymore, and with all of that there was no clear sign of the police. The suspicious disappearing of the police around the existing of these criminals frightened the safety of Egypt, the Egyptian army didn’t leave the Egyptian at that critical point and it tried to keep them safe, but still it wasn’t enough. Men and women from all ages went to down the streets with weapons to protect their countries and their homes from the criminals.

While on the scene of the demonstration everyone was still protesting and the Army was keeping the protestors safe. It was announced than that the president have hired “Omar Soliman” head of Egyptian intelligence as his vice-president, and Ahmed Shafiq as the prime minster. Still it was not enough and people asked for more, they asked for Mubarak to leave and they asked for a reform in the constitution and in the parliament. During the 30th and the 31st of Jan still the country wasn’t safe and still people were protecting their streets and their homes but the police made an appearance and still no sign of the internet. The stock market was closed and banks were closed and the curfew moved from 4 PM to 3 PM, the life of every Egyptian was on hold, but that was the price of liberty. The Economy went down and the tourism went down, and each country sent flights to their citizens to evacuate them. Also the new government of ministries was formed but still some names didn’t change.

On the victorious first day of February the president made a speech claiming that he will reform to articles from the constitution and that he will reform the parliament and that he will not elect him self in the upcoming elections on September, and that was still not enough, the crowd demanded for him to go. At the same time protest took place that was pro Mubarak and didn’t want him to leave, that was quite suspicious! Now people at El Tahrir Square are split into half, some are satisfied for the time being and others are still demanding that he has to leave. Until the massive destruction took place, the pro Mubarak protest that is most likely to be created by the government crushed the wonderful symphony that have been created and caused nothing but chaos and destruction.

During the “Intifada” we gained lots of things but still we lost a lot! Now we have our dignity back, our voice and our right. Youth are now empowered, and we know that we can do a lot. We also have discovered that we can protect ourselves from any harm and we can pass any struggles. About 80% of our demands have been achieved and its time for us to have some patience, and give space for the changes to take place, and if not, the Tharir square is still there and we are still alive (hopefully). We don’t want to destroy the country nor our economy, I know that we can reform the nation and the economy and we can make them prosper again but we just have to be a bit patient. Let’s not cause for the demonstration to loose the sympathy of the people who are at home. That was what I wanted to say right before I saw what happened today, the though of not trusting the government was proven true after I tried as much as I can to give them a chance.

Mubarak never resembled the figure of the father to me, and I never ever wanted him in power, he and his regime made lots of unforgivable mistakes and I know that we have no trust what so ever for the government, and the decisions that he took might be temporary just to please us but still lets have some patience, but they didn’t give us a chance to be patient. “When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.”~ Ghandi

Mubarak is asking to open gates of conversation between the government and the nation and he and the government are mad because we didn’t accept that invitation, but it is just too late for conversation because they have never gave us that opportunity. This opportunity just took place out of his fear. Mubarak doesn’t want to stop the blood shed, his regime didn’t stop killing the protesters at El Tahrir, if he really wanted another chance and a another opportunity he shouldn’t have crushed the spirit the people have created. El Tahrir Square is nothing but a mess today; unlike yesterday the people were cleaning the streets and protesting peacefully. It’s just not the time to have some morality and humanity that we haven’t been treated by in that country.

Cutting of the internet provoked Egyptians and revealed the threat that youth cause to the Egyptian regime, and that caused people to increase in the protest as well as the curfew. They tried to cutoff AlJazeera so the truth wont reach Egyptians and that was stupid, they were pressured and that gave them a chance to make mistakes, lets just wait in silence and observe the situation critically. . “In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and difficult quest after Truth.”~ Ghandi

They provoked us, blackmailed and threatened us by deliberately depriving us from safety and pulling away the police so we can learn that we wont be safe without them, but we proved them wrong, we managed to protect ourselves and to communicate and to form the million man march, and have a loud and clear voice. As much as I want patience and I want us to wait and stop the blood shed, I just cant stand what I am seeing in Tahrir now, if he was a person that wanted to give himself and us a new chance he wouldn’t have sent people to kill today. If he wanted a chance to talk he would have given us that chance from the first day, rather than killing hundreds on Friday the 28th of Jan.


I am just so confused about what should be done I want the best for Egypt and its people, I want to raise the economy again and I want people to feel safe, but still if we held our voices now we can never make a move. Especially after the last attempt of violence that took place today! If he cares about the country as every body says, why the hell did he send people to kill and cause chaos today? If he loves his people he should just step down, and Mr. President I wanted you to leave the country gracefully with your dignity and self respect and with our respect to you and to your achievements but you gave us no choice and no space, you crushed our dreams and crushed the wonderful spirits that have been created during the “Intifada”, if you just love the country and love the people even a little please just step down, I am not asking you to leave the country if you don’t want to, but just step down now for the sake of Egypt!

Celebrating the NEW Year with OLD Memories!

Two days ago, I was planning on writing a post about the new year, and how each and every person should be optimistic and stick to their dreams and goals. I was going to write about accomplishments and ambition, and mentioning all the great things in life we all should be grateful for. I was demanding a new beginning with no peaking at the past nor its bad memories!

The engine of my dreams was speeding and speeding , and my optimistic and successful future was paved, and the upcoming bright to-be future of my country started to sparkle. Its either I was driving so fast or there is just a problem with the road I was driving on, my dreams were crushed and my hope for a fruitful years was demolished! Reading about the Alexandria Church Bombing Incident broke my heart and stopped my engine of hope and dreams. For a while I couldn't believe what happened, but deep inside I knew it was expected. Instead of celebrating the new year and new beginnings we looked back at old devastating memories that will ruin the relations between all Egyptians, Muslims & Christians. So rather than Celebrating new beginnings we are getting closer to the end, the end of the Arab nation as whole!

I am not going to talk about politics nor I am going to talk about the internal and extremal affairs of the Egyptian government that did absolutely nothing and acted in pure negativity. Nor the troubles that all the Arab nation is facing, and not even mentioning parts of both religions that are against destruction. But I am going to talk about the Nation and the people who deserves a leap of faith to hang on to, the people who deserves to celebrate their happiness together with no discrimination against any race nor religion, a nation that should unite in order to overcome all the obstacles faced during the last 25 years.

How could we be looking at old memories? Simply because in October 2005 an incident that had the same "Destructive Goals" which is the huge buzz and the discrimination between both Christians and Muslims rather than keeping it together as one nation, the started protesting and killing each other, with know awareness what so ever of who is behind the "Destructive Buzz. As for today people are still looking behind at incidents that are close to the 2005 incidents, they are firing hatred among themselves rather than sticking together at this dim moments Egypt is facing.

As a little girl I remember watching TV and seeing Alexandria as beautiful place, seeing a home for Christians and Muslims and back then even Jews used to live there. The only thing that ever concerned them was looking after each other, sure they used to fight but as one nation, not against each other! I believe that this case didn't appear only at TV it was a pure reflection of reality and a vivid view of the Egyptian nation as whole, not only Alexandria.

Before wrapping up my post, I have one question to ask, if the person or the organization that did that just wanted to destruct the bodies of Christians, Why didn't they bombard the whole church? It would have been an easy task for them to do, but NO, the aim was to destruct the mind and the soul. The aim was to shed hatred among both Christians and Muslims, and assisting them in destructing each other, physically and morally. So, we must not give up we must hold on to the bonds between us, cause dear friends Egypt has had enough!

Starting this post, I had a pessimistic look at my future and the future of the nation as a whole, but I believe that the engine of hope and dreams should be turned back on, but as for myself I wont be able to turn it all by my own, I need my family and Christians and Muslims friends to work with me, I know that what happened is unbearable and I know that a lot of victims died, and I am deeply sorry for that. But we have to unite and stick together and try to prevent any upcoming destructive incidents. It's time to look at the light even if it is so dim and so far away, it time to take a leap of faith and hold on together, and to all youth out there its our time!

Happy New Year every one, and to all my Christians sisters & brothers my deepest condolences for you all, and remember what didn't kill us should always makes us stronger!

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Change is Possible!

Referring to my last post|.Egyptian Elections 2010: A Message to All Youth;

I wanted to say that change can take place and that it is already taking place. A couple of days ago before the elections, two Egyptian Facebook pages have been closed, Khaled Saeed & Mohamed El-Baradei. Khaled Saeed is an Egyptian young man who used to live in Alexandria, Khaled was victim of the emergency law that has been taken place in Egypt since the 80's after Sadat assassination. Mohamed El-Baradei is a very promising candidate to the next presidential election (that is if the government gave him a chance). Those two pages were closed due to their opposition to the government and its laws, the question is why close them? Because social media is the most powerful medium that government can't control.

I have to say that I was shocked after these two pager were closed, i thought that social media have lost its power, and that it can be controlled like every other medium is controlled and censored, but 1 day and the pages were activated again. It wasn't a smart move from the Facebook team to close the pages in the first place, because most of its Arab World members are from Egypt. Due to members requests, messages and constant complains the pages were activated again. A small window of hope was unlocked, a small window of change took place and a voice have been made.

The Facebook members that complained chose to change and chose to have a voice, and their number outranked the government. Bravo Facebook members!

The following is the message The Facebook team sent to the members:

Egyptian Elections 2010: A Message to All Youth

الشيخ امام عيسى   العيسوى بيه

Its the end of November 2010, and its time for the Parliament election in Egypt. So the parliament is supposed to work hard to, work out the problems of the country and please its people, I doubt that this is the case in any country not specifically in Egypt, but its most common in Egypt. 

The video above, is a song by El-Shai5 Emam Eissa, Lyrics: Ahmed Foaad Negm, both are prominent Egyptian figures. This song was made a long time ago, before people start realize the failures of the parliament and the Egyptian government, but still the failures existed. I believe that the government and the parliament have been always the same, having the same flaws and the same corruption existed. The problem is within us, within the people, back then we had artists who opposed the government, writers, actors, directors, singers, politicians, workers, business men, employees and even students.

The government is proceeding  in its corruption because of us, the elections remain to be unfair because of us, we don't have voice because we chose to shut our mouth and shut our ears .We don't have an identity nor self respect because we chose so, "They can't take our self respect, if we don't give it to them" ~ Ghandi. Its all about us, we chose to be brainwashed we chose to watch the media they are providing us with, we can choose to be better and we can choose to have a voice. 

So, a message to every one who wants to change the country, change yourself first, change your beliefs and your perspectives, change your attitude towards the country, and chose to have a voice; even if it wont be heard at the beginning, I believe that our population is point of strength not weakness, as they convince us it is.Our number is defiantly bigger than their number, Think about it!

  

Deepest Fears

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” 

~ Marianne Williamson

A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of 

"A Course in Miracles"

The mega-bestselling spiritual guide in which Marianne Williamson shares her reflections on A Course in Miracles and her insights on the application of love in the search for inner peace.
Williamson reveals how we each can become a miracle worker by accepting God and by the expression of love in our daily lives. Whether psychic pain is in the area of relationships, career, or health, she shows us how love is a potent force, the key to inner peace, and how by practicing love we can make our own lives more fulfilling while creating a more peaceful and loving world for our children.

look Inside The Book 

Noor E Khuda (My Name Is Khan): A new perspective on Life

“The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.”

Khan is a man of persistence, A man that overcame all the challenges and all his fears.

He didn't give up on anything:

He didn't give up on education

He didn't give up on family

He didn't give up on change

He didn't give up on goodness

He didn't give up on love

He didn't give up in his religion

and most of all he didn't give up on himself. He went through many things to deliver his message and to show the whole world that he is right he had to show every one that Islam is a pure religion he fought and fought until he reached his goal. This movie has a lot of noble messages a movie that anyone should learn from, and as for me this movie had a high influence on me and yet my persistence will grow no matter the challenges I face, I will keep on going

“When life knocks you down you have two choices- stay down or get up.”


N.B: I Love the Song , Stay Tuned for the lyrics and its translation ;)

A New Journey!

"What is now proved was once only imagined"

As time goes by and as people evolve their needs and wants and even dreams change. Some people start thinking deeper and some stop thinking at all.

Through out all my life I figured out one thing, which is: "Change comes from within" its not about appearance and its not about a certain behavior. Its all about inner change, if a person believes that he has the will to change and develop he will. You cant lie to people and tell them that you have developed and changed cause at the end you are only lying to yourself.

A small advice: If you are going to make believe that you have changed, Visualize the person that you wish to be, cause your own imagination will be true. You just have to grow your will to change and never pretend!

I wish to change and I need to change and I will change. My journey will start with visualizing the state I want to be in, and not the person who I want to be, cause simply I don't want to be anyone other then myself, I just want to develop myself.

My Journey Will Start From Today!