ALI

It was almost midnight when i was dropping off a friend of mine infront of el nozha street just few meters away from Abbas el Akkad and while we were getting some stuff from the trunk we were approched by this little boy who must have been no more than 7 years old selling lemons (which is practically equivalent to begging and it's like a mutual consent between him and the passer-bys that its just another form of begging ... C'mon who is suddnly in urgent need for buying lemons or mint or any of the weird stuff they walk around with in the streets while heading to work or even back home? )

Usually i'm too reluctant to give beggers anything, specially when they r such young kids coz i believe that would mean that i'm implicitly consenting to child abuse .. these parents "RECRUIT" their children in such demeaning jobs - if we may call this a job - instead of sending them to school or giving them the least of care they deserve .. and yet sometimes i think, well, probably if they do go to school and the parents lose this source of income then they'd all die of hunger ... then again i think: well, no one really dies of hunger in the streets of Cairo, i challenge you to find me one begger ... just ONE ...who is even remotely skinny... some of them are even pretty chubby! Then i remember the prophet's saying: "Do not turn away those who ask (you for something)" and i think to myself: well, wut difference would one pound make to you you stingy B****! ... then again thinking about child abuse and God only knows wut these children do with the money or even worse: what their parents and street gangs do with it and with the child himself! I've always been in a delimma about that.
So, back to Ali ... that's the little lemon-boy's name ... reluctant as i am to give beggers, my friend- who is a foreigner btw- wasn't apparently ... and she attempted to give him smthg. - which i found really strange, coz feorigners are usually even more reluctant to do so! She gave him some money and the boy - hearing our english conversation- said: "one pound" in english .. she smiled and said to him: "yes, one pound" ... so i said laughing:"where did u learn this 'one pound' from?" ... he answered: "geneh ya3ni one pound, etnen geneh ya3ny etnen pound, talata geneh ya3ny talata pound" ... LOL ... tha was so cute, and he said it in such a cute way with a glimpse of shyness in his eyes ... apparently our laughters gave him more courage so when i was ready to get back into the car he approached me again smiling and asked me "what does 'khamsa geneh' mean?" ... I answered him: "Five" ... he repeated it and we both were turning away to leave when he turnd back to me again and pointed to my friend and asked: "where is she from?" ... I replied: "Germany" ... though i doubt he knew where that is, but he looked at me in a very interested manner and asked again: "Does she have some of the "Reyals" they have back in their country?" ... LOL ... Reyals? ... Damn the gulf reputation dominating the Egyptian street! ... i said: "No, its not reyals they use, its called a Euro" ... he repeated like its the first time he hears the word, so i said: "it's like the dollar, you know the american dollar?" ... not quite sure if he did he nodded anyways then said: "Then ask her if she has some of it, i can buy it" ... Me: "Are you sure u have enough money for that?" .. He (in an assertive manner): "yes, How much is it?" ... Me: "Eight pounds" ... so he puts his hand in his pocket feeling the money there and without taking it out says: "Could be enough" ... Meanwhile, i was translating every word so my friend started looking up some currency in her bag then finally came up with a note of five Sterling Pounds - no they don't use that in Germany, she was living in UK before Egypt u smart reader :P - I alamost whistled holding that! ... five Sterling Pounds is a lot of money actually ... i handed it to him, he looked at it closely with his big hazel eyes and asked what it was ... i told him it's the currency the British use ... he asked again "how much is it worth?" ... i said "around 50 Egyptian Pounds" ... he looked at me in disbelief and put out his hands with it back to me again muttering in a shy tone "No, i can't afford that" ... I was stunned by his reaction actually ... can u believe he really did that? simply turned down a note of five Sterling Pounds? ... i told him "No, keep it, she's giving it to you, but keep it safe and take care no one steals it from you, that's a real lot of money!" ... he still looked at me in total disbelief and asked again "C'mon, how much is it really?" ... the poor boy! ... Me: "I'm not kidding you, that's over fifty EGP" ... A smile shined on his face - it was there all the time actually - showing uneven but very white beautifull teeth and asked: "Can i have it changed?" ... i said "Yeah, from any exchange office, do u know where/what they are?" ... he pointed out at a sign far across the street and said "yes, there's one over there, i see sudanese ppl go there with piles of money" then he went on "Is it true - ya madame :)) - that our pound was worth hundred times more than 'THEIR' pound many years back?" ... "well son, could be ... but that must've been a REALLY long time ago ...time that neither you nor I have been around early enough to witness!" ... he said with his adorable smile: "May be it will be again some day!"

Yeah! who knows! :)