Personal struggles in the Middle East’s largest city are as varied as the city’s eclectic landscape, with ancient urban neighborhoods, breezy suburban residences and sometimes dusty, crowded streets, all sprawling along side the Nile River. Among the visitors and residents of Cairo are Egyptian people struggling with everything from high prices and scarce jobs to finding a good place to play football. On the streets of the Egyptian capital photographer Hamada Elrasam finds insight into the joys and sorrows of life in Cairo.
Joys and Sorrows of Life in Cairo
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Ashraf, 19, from a crowded urban neighborhood in Cairo: “The main problem for me is people here don’t smile enough.” Free to wander the streets now, he is under investigation and could face three years in jail for violating laws that have restricted protesting since 2013. Despite the charges, he said, he is hopeful. “I like walking in Cairo and just watching people and shop windows. I love to be optimistic smile at life and it will smile back at you."
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Maher, 56, a father of five children who works in a wheat storage facility: “I was working in Jordan on a chicken farm, but I cam back here because my visa was finished and I couldn’t renew it. Life here is hard here, but it’s still my country.”
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Emad Girgis, 60, a Christian from about 250 kilometers outside Cairo: “Our home city is too dangerous and hostile so I’m living here with my family. We miss the rest of our family but it’s safer here. There were big problems there so we moved. These days we go home to visit sometimes on special occasions, it would be hard to move back permanently there because our lives are established here."
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