Rising Voices » Nazra

Blogging Positively: The Challenge of Fighting Stigma in Egypt

Eddie Avila — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:19:26 +0000

An Egyptian by the name of Magid became the first in that country to openly speak out about being HIV-positive. Studies estimate that about 11,000 Egyptians are living with HIV, but that number could be much higher based on the fact that so many do not get tested or seek treatment based on the high degree of stigma against the disease.

Ahmed Awadalla was part of the Rising Voices grantee project Exploring Taboos, and has posted in his blog about “the price of stigma” in Egypt. He writes in his blog Rebel With A Cause:

When it comes to discussing HIV/AIDS in Egypt, most probably you’d be faced by either one of two reactions: one that is characterized by fear, shock, and discomfort or a reaction marked by denial and disdain.

Ahmed points to a recent survey of Egyptian youth that found that only 21% said that they would be willing to interact with someone who was HIV-positive. This type of reaction to others is also a huge challenge for those working to reverse this stigma. Ahmed adds:

Clearly, the biggest obstacle to HIV awareness work is the stigma against people living with HIV. People living with HIV have to suffer in silence, shameful to seek help or treatment and if it was revealed that they are HIV+, they’re shunned, mistreated by their community, workplace, and even their close and loved ones. This life of isolation is the killer in the case of HIV, rather than the disease itself.

In another blog post for the site Conversations for a Better World, Ahmed writes about what has happened to the issue of HIV/AIDS after the January 25 Revolution. He describes how the new government decided to stop certain programs that aimed to educate and inform, and some of that may be due to increased media control. He also this environment has been difficult for health care workers and other activists attempting to educate the public-at-large:

It’s a very grim reality that even healthcare providers exercise the worst forms of discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. Yes, the disease is linked to certain misconceptions about sexual behavior. Whenever we organize events to raise awareness on HIV, I ask participants about what transmits the virus. The most common answer is illegitimate sex! Unfortunately the amount of disinformation/lack of awareness is huge.

Thumbnail by Jayel Aheram and used under a Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license.

Exploring Taboos: Documenting Stories From The Revolution

Rezwan — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:08:27 +0000

Egypt is going through turbulent times especially since the January 25 revolution. President Hosni Mubarak resigned on February 11, 2011 but the protests are still on and there have been a number of crackdowns on protesters by the security forces. Although the global attention has been drawn to events elsewhere in the world, Egyptian bloggers are continuing to documenting their experiences. The Rising Voices Grantee from Egypt - Exploring Taboos project by Nazra has completed its third round of workshops during 15-17 March, 2011. It was basically a story telling workshop by both genders and people of different sexual orientations on the revolution. The participants were encouraged to create their own blogs and document their stories themselves.

Nawara Belal writes about the workshops:

This round came after the 25th Egyptian “Youth Revolution” and so it has a certain specific nature, we decided that we can’t be left outside history and so we designed our workshop as a storytelling to the revolution from gender perspective, sexuality subsiding, cultural norms and LGBTS presence.

Thousands of Egyptian protesters at Tahrir Square in Cairo protesting against the regime of the ruling President. Cairo, Egypt. Image by Mohamed Ali Eddin. Copyright Demotix (25/01/2011).

Nawara explains in details what the workshop dealt with - asking these questions:

Why did we go to the revolution?
Why did the participants actually turned to the “Independent State of Tahrir”
What about the LGBT s of the Tahrir Square and how people reacted towards them during and after the revolution?
When do we feel most traumatized?

We still can’t deny the moments of nervous breakdowns and feeling desperate, and the material loses that yet didn’t let anyone them lose hope in the revolution; as one participant mentioned how his father’s antiques shop got robbed and he had to be armed all night in the street guarding with those guarding and still, still they didn’t judge the revolution.

And the result of the workshop is this website called Revolutionary Taboos where the stories of the participants of the third workshop are being documented.

In the first story an anonymous blogger writes under a title “A faggot for change”:

In my country they call me a faggot, not me as a person but as a man with different sexual orientation, a man who likes other men. [..]

My life plan before the 25th of Jan was revolving around the idea of working on myself till i ever get the chance to leave my country and start over at any other foreign country.

This plan totally changed starting from the 25th of January 2011. On that day at about 2 pm i was sitting in my office working, and fortunately the place where I am working is located in downtown, so i could see the beginning of the revolution from the balcony of my office. The scene was unique, diverse and touching, I could see thousands of Egyptian, young and old, men and women, they were all shouting, calling for their rights and asking for change and social justice.

Protesters demonstrated late into the night on the Saturday following the Friday of Purification in Tahrir Square. Image By Mahmoud Abu Zaid. Copyright Demotix (9/4/2011).

I couldn’t help it and decided that i would join them. In less than 5 minutes i was in the streets with the crowd. at first I was silent then out of nowhere my voice was getting louder and louder , stronger and stronger. At that moment i couldn’t understand what my motivation was especially that i am having a life of good quality financially and socially, but now i can understand it. For many years of my life i have been living as a legal alien who lives in his own safe zone trying to avoid outsiders as much as he could .Insecurity and fear of being prosecuted were the main themes of my life as a gay young man, and out of sudden i was connected on the 25th of Jan to thousands of people in their demand for freedom. You can say that finally we were sharing something in common.

From that day and on, I started working but from different perspective. people can discriminate against me but it’s worse when i discriminate against myself by accepting being an alien while I have the chance to be a part of a larger network of political and social activists who either know about my sexuality or at least have doubts.

Another anonymous blogger writes:

I participated like millions of Egyptians in January 25 revolution, I shared many things with them: passion, hope and fear, however I had an extra fear which is the fear of collapsing because the tense of the situation in Tahrir. I am bipolar and I was struggling to be normal and not to be an added burden on my friends in Tahrir.

Please read the Revolutionary Taboos blog for more such stories.

Exploring Taboos: At the Million Woman March

Eddie Avila — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:39:55 +0000

The events that took place during the Egyptian revolution have been well documented in the mainstream media, as well as citizen media, where the eyes of the entire world focused on the developments that led to the resignation of the president, Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011. Even the bloggers and coordinators from the various Rising Voices projects in Egypt contributed to the narration of events from their own personal experience.

However, in the months following the historic popular uprising, much of the globe's attention has turned elsewhere with similar protests taking place, as well as the aftermath of natural disasters. Yet, many Egyptian bloggers have continued to write about the ongoing challenges facing this time of transition.

Many Egyptians continue to promote the expansion of rights for women in post-Mubarak Egypt. One participant in the Exploring Taboos project wrote about his participation in the Million Woman March that was held on March 8, 2011, and which attracted rival protests and harassment from those that did not agree with the demands [video, ar].

Photo of the Million Woman March in Cairo by Al Jazeera English and used under a Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0) license.

Ahmed Awadalla of the blog Rebel with a Cause participated side-by-side with women who attended the march. He describes the event from the perspective of “a male who went there to support women’s rally for freedom and democracy.” He assisted by distributing flyers that contained some of the demands that included significant female participation in shaping the country's constitutional, legal, and political future, as well as ensuring full equality and rights for women. The protest also called for the establishment of a law that would criminalize violence against women inside and outside the home, among other demands. When others saw the flyer and those who were marching calling for demands, he describes their reaction in this blog post:

We started chanting for women rights. Just as we started chanting a group of couple hundred men started gathering and then started the chant race! They said: The man is a man and the woman is a woman; you are the children of Suzan Mubarak; Go home women!

We tried to chant back singing the national anthem and saying “Men and women are one hand”. They seemed very provoked by our mere existence and their looks were full of sarcasm and ridicule. Apparently the possibility of women running for presidency was beyond their misogynous ego.

The shocking part is that they used Islamic chants against us saying “Women’s voice is a shame”, “why didn’t God send female prophets?” This was quickly followed by rounding us up and pushing against us and ugliness followed. Women and girls were groped, their hair got pulled; dirty harassers hands were all over their bodies. I did my best to protect my friends and we got into physical and verbal fights.

I was called a faggot defending whores. I was told I wasn’t Egyptian for doing this.

He described some of the arguments that were used against the protestors, including the claim that these demands are ill-timed based on what others believe are more pressing needs. However, Awadalla is unapologetic, writing that these rights cannot wait, and that this won't be the last time that he stands up for his beliefs.

I hope what happened today will shed some light on the unacceptable attitudes towards women. More men need to speak out for women too. This will definitely help our cause.

The battle is hard. Mubarak’s regime and authoritarianism destroyed people’s sense of diversity. It may take years to actually change attitudes. I think we are up for it though.

Egypt: Looking Back at the #Jan25 Revolution

Eddie Avila — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:45:37 +0000

Rising Voices has held a special relationship with Egypt because of the three grantee projects that we have been supporting in that country. The projects Exploring Taboos, Mokattam Blog Tales, and Women of Minya Day by Day had been making preparations to continue their training workshops after the beginning of the new year. However, those plans were forced to be suspended as events started to unfold in Egypt and which eventually led to the resignation of the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Photo of Tahrir Square taken on February 7th, 2011 by Ramy Raoof and used under a Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license.

The uncertainty of those tense weeks was felt in the words and images shared by those experiencing the situation firsthand. The information available online was a constant reminder of how citizen media can make the world seem like a smaller place by bringing the perspectives of Egyptians to one's computer screens. For those of us who have gotten to know those individuals associated with the Rising Voices in Egypt projects through their work, the information, thoughts, experiences, and feelings expressed by them helped make their revolution much more personal. Here we'll take a look at some of the content created during those historic weeks.

This podcast interview recorded with Nesma Gewily, the coordinator of the Mokattam Blog Tales, demonstrates how seeing such civic participation can be quite moving for a proud Egyptian. The day after the interview was recorded, the Egyptian government cut off the internet making this information much more scarce. (Click on image for the Soundcloud audio file).

On her blog At Brownie's, Fatma Emam, one of the coordinators of the Exploring Taboos project, expressed her inner struggle whether or not to join the protests:

I was home, with my fear eating me alive and i think I have to admit that I never attended a protest, not or any political reason, but the fear was the only reason I even did not join the front of defending Egyptian protesters , that my only experience in it was stressful. So I decided that I will enjoy my comfortable home and just help in spreading the word, but everyday I was thinking that I will regret it and this historical moment will by pass me. I was struggling in the middle of fear and refusal of missing the moment. Everyday I postponed I said tomorrow I will go.

Until I reached a moment that I thought it is critical, I went out of home secretly at 8 am while family was sleeping and I went to Hisham Mubarak law center , then to Tahrir square. It was Tuesday 1 of February, it was phenomenal , some reports said the protesters were million, I was cracking from the inside, the crowd, the chants and the huge signs. I was very self conscious, I found it too hard to unite with the masses.

Ramy Raoof, another coordinator of the Exploring Taboos project, was one of the most important sources of information on the ground during the revolution. He used several platforms to disseminate first-hand information, such as his Twitter account (@ramyraoof), which has nearly 20,000 followers. In addition, he shot video and streamed live from the streets of Cairo. This video shows “police, anti-riots and plainclothes agents throwing tear gas and fire dumdum bullets on the demonstrators in Imbaba, Cairo on Friday 28 January.”

Police Cracking on Demonstration using Tear Gas, Dumdum bullets and Batons from Ramy Raoof on Vimeo.

His Flickr account also contained images of the protests, as well as the celebration following the announcement that Mubarak would step down.

Photo of the celebrations following Mubarak's resignation. By Ramy Raoof and used under a Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license.

Finally, Ahmed Awadalla (@3awadalla), a participant in the Exploring Taboos project, used his Twitter account to share stories of how the revolution was experienced at home. He shares this anecdote:

my worried #mother says proudly to visitors today that I participated in #Jan25 Revolution! a true shift of home politics!

[Video] Scenes from the Exploring Taboos Project

Eddie Avila — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:17:01 +0000

As part of our Rising Voices in Egypt initiative, which is made possible with funding from the Heinrich Böll Foundation – Regional Office Middle East, we commissioned three videos that would provide a closer look at each of the projects. Egyptian filmmaker Mahmoud Saber and his team recently completed the three videos which we will publish here on the Rising Voices website.

For these three videos, we also utilized the Universal Subtitles platform to add subtitles in English. The collaborative platform allows for additional languages to easily be added, and we invite readers to add subtitles in other languages.

The first video features the Exploring Taboos Project led by team members from Nazra, who have been providing workshops for Egyptians on the use of digital media tools as a place to have conversations about taboo subjects.

Rising Voices: 2010 In Review

Rezwan — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 19:57:27 +0000

2010 was an eventful year for Rising Voices and its community. Théophile Kouamouo, one of Francophone Africa's leading bloggers and the project leader of the Rising Voices grantee Abidjan Blog Camps, had been arrested for publishing a newspaper report and was released after spending two weeks in prison. HiperBarrio from Colombia won the First Community Journalism Award given by Antioquia University in the category of Best Community Web platform.

The community bade farewell to the outgoing Director of Outreach, David Sasaki and welcomed the new Director Eduardo Ávila.

This year Rising Voices, in collaboration with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, awarded microgrant funding of up to €2500 to three Egyptian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to train citizen media to underrepresented groups in Egypt so that they can voice their opinions.

Now let us look at some of the notable news of the grantees community we featured in the Rising Voices website in 2010.

Featured Bloggers:

Throughout the year we interviewed bloggers from different Rising Voices projects and here is a list of those features.

Shinetsetseg (Shinee) Sukhbaatar

Shinetsetseg (Shinee) Sukhbaatar from Nomad Green Project in Mongolia
Olzod Boum-Yalagch from Nomad Green Project in Mongolia
Saki Golafale from Ceasefire Liberia project in Liberia
Nat Nyuan-Bayjay from Ceasefire Liberia project in Liberia
Nora Catalina Urquijo from HiperBarrio project in Colombia
Yesenia Corrales from HiperBarrio project in Colombia
Edgar Andres Yana Lisme from Voces Boliviana in Bolivia
Getutza from Blogging The Dreams Project in Romania
Tahina Rakotomanarivo from FOKO in Madagscar
Ahmed Awadalla from Exploring Taboos project in Egypt
Randa AbulDahab from the Women of Minya Day by Day project in Egypt
Sara Abd Al-Maktari from the Empowerment of Women Activists in Media Techniques (EWMAT) project in Yemen
Award Winning OLPC (XO) laptops Bloggers from Uruguay - Part 1, Part 2

The New Grantees Of 2010:

Barcamps And Conferences:

Otgonsuren Jargal presenting Nomad Green at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010 in Chile. Image by Krzysztof Pawliszak/GV. CC BY

The Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010 took place in May at Santiago Public Library in the capital of Chile. Four Rising Voices projects were presented during the two days of the summit. Here is a two part report (Part 1, Part 2) highlighting the presentations and the reactions from the members who attended the conference.

Photo of Catalina Restrepo speaking at BarCamp Santa Cruz. Photo used with permission by BarCampSCZ.

Catalina Restrepo of the HiperBarrio project in Medellín, Colombia was invited to speak at BarCamp Santa Cruz, Bolivia in January. The event also featured Hugo Miranda of Voces Bolivianas from Bolivia.

This year members of HiperBarrio were invited to the Campus Party in Colombia and was told to do something different, use the pin hole camera technique to record the activities of CampusBlog.

Contests:

In February the Best Of Malagasy Blogs (BOMBS) 2009 awards were announced. Several bloggers from FOKO, the Rising Voices grantee in Madagascar, won the awards.

Empowerment Of Women:

With the help of a Rising Voices microgrant, the project “Empowerment of Women Activists in Media Techniques” is teaching blogging to female politicians, activists, and human right workers in Yemen to bring them in global conversation.

Ghaida'a Al Absi, the project leader, says: “EWAMT project is like a candle with other candles, which are lighting up the darkness in Yemen.”

Blogger Ahmad Awadalla of “Exploring Taboos” project conducts sexuality education workshops in Egypt and wrote about discussions about the topic of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) with his students.

Language:

Ruben Hilary of Voces Bolivianas project, with some local volunteers of El Alto, Bolivia, established the virtual community Jaqi Aru. The goal of the Jaqi Aru website is highlighting and spreading Aymara language in internet through creation of digital media contents, which involves translation, use of multimedia and social media tools.

Culture, Travel And Lifestyle:

Bus shaped balloon at the Festival de globos de La Loma 2010

The citizen journalists of the Rising Voices grantee Hiperbarrio shared some photos and videos of the Balloon festival of La Loma (Festival de globos de La Loma 2010).

Nine citizen journalists from Nomad Green in Mongolia visited Taiwan to learn more about Taiwan's social and environmental issues and local cultures and receive citizen media training.

Sustainability:

Hiperbarrio from Colombia finally got its legal identity this year as a nonprofit corporation. This allows the organization to continue to grow as they can be hired by public and private institutions for outreach activities. According to an agreement between the EPM Foundation Network and HiperBarrio from Colombia, citizen media outreach activities in 3 new communities in 3 libraries of Medellín (Villatina, La Esperanza and EPM) were started in 2010.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded Ceasefire Liberia project a $10,000 grant to start a new arm called Ceasefire. This project will focus on creating a citizen media project for African immigrant and African-American youth in Staten Island based on the Ceasefire Liberia model.

Thanks to the bloggers of the different projects of Rising Voices we could read many stories from Liberia, Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Mongolia, Romania, Colombia, Yemen, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Bolivia, Ukraine, Uruguay, etc. Some Rising Voices bloggers also participated in and contributed for the Blog Action Day 2010 and the One Day On Earth initiatives. We hope to continue hearing from them. The ‘Introduction to Global Citizen Media Guide' has been translated in Macedonian and Albanian.

We wish the members of the Rising Voices Community and our readers a happy and prosperous 2011.

Rising Voices Submissions for One Day on Earth

Eddie Avila — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 19:11:11 +0000

A pair of bloggers from Rising Voices projects recently took part in the One Day on Earth project. The project's goal is to collect submissions in the form of videos and images from around the world to provide a broad look at life on earth on one day, October 10, 2010. Here are the submissions along with background information from two bloggers from the Rising Voices projects Foko and Exploring Taboos.

FOKO

In the city of Antananarivo, Lalatiana Rahariniaina shot video of markets and public transportation on the Sunday morning. Her video was accompanied by the music of her friend Olombelo Ricky, who gave her permission to use his song.

On her blog DagoTiako, she explains a little bit about her experiences filming for the project.

It was a Sunday morning; most of the shops and offices were closed. And I did not want to go to church with my jeans and sneakers. There was a little moment of thinking and… “Bingo!”, there are always markets even on Sunday. My husband did not want me to go there. You could guess it, this would not be safe for me and my camera. But stubborn as I am, I went down the streets and headed to the markets anyway. My poor husband did not let me alone of course, he finally decided to be my “guard” (My husband is lovely, isn’t he? ). Anyway, I could make the video, only a few people I met in the streets were reluctant with the project, but I sincerely appreciated the sellers in Behoririka market, the bus driver, its conductor and all the passengers who nicely agreed to be part of my film.

Exploring Taboos

The second submission comes from Nawara Belal in the city of Cairo, Egypt. She and her friends narrated images that were shot on October 10, 2010. The topic of the video is about the rights of females in Egypt, and it complements many of the subjects she writes about in her blog Nooning [ar/en] as part of the Exploring Taboos project. She explains that each of the three women hold their own opinions on their personal freedom and right to self-expression in the country. She writes:

The first girl is a single woman living in a separate department in the same building have very high hopes even if her words seem simple, she is a simply complicated woman.

The second girl is a married woman living with her 2 young boys in a separate appartment in the same building, she has always wished for more than has presented to her and she works hard to earn that.

The third girl, is the elder sister married and living with her children and husband in also a separate appartment in the same building. you can call her old fashioned but I see in her, a deeply real woman at heart.

Submissions like these are only two of many from the around the world, and some of which will be used in the documentary film to be put together by project organizers. A trailer has already been released showing samples of some of the images submitted around the world.

One Day on Earth - 1st week teaser from One Day On Earth on Vimeo.

Exploring Taboos: When Women Are Blamed for Being Harassed

Noha Atef — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:12:53 +0000

The second round of workshops in the Exploring Taboos project was recently held in Cairo organized by Nazra team, and at the same time bloggers who took part in the first round of workshops kept on writing about social taboos in Egypt. Under the title “Sexual Rabies”, the blogger Freedom Fighter published post looking back at some of the sexual harassment that took place in early October, as people were celebrating the Muslim feast (Eid). Upon his return to Cairo after spending sometime in London for a training course, he received some bad news [ar]:

زي عادة كل عيد تحرشات جماعية وهجوم جماعي على بنات غلبانة قرروا لحظهم السيء انهم يخرجوا يروحوا وسط البلد أو أي جنينة يحتفلوا بالعيد ويتفسحوا عشان يجيلهم حبة حثالة أو مرضى غلبانين يتحرشوا بيهم مع انهم مش لابسين عريان ولا نيلة حجة أي متخلف متحرش مريض منهم .. وطبعا الأمن مقدرش على السعرانين

As usual it was massive sexual harassment against girls who went out to celebrate Eid in downtown or in parks, some scum or sick-minded men harassed them sexually, although they were not dressed sexily, which is always the pretext of any undeveloped person who do this…. And of course security couldn’t stop those with “sexual rabies”…

Sexual harassment had become a habitual phenomena in Cairo every Eid, and usually happens in Downtown Cairo where hundreds of young males and females go to the movie theaters or just out for a walk. In mid-November, another Eid holiday will be celebrated by Egyptian Muslims.

The topic of sexual harassment has been present in citizen media over the past several year in Egypt. In 2006, a number of bloggers published videos of mass harassment taking place in the street, which led to greater media attention. Later in 2009, Facebook was the platform for a campaign calling for A National Day against Sexual Harassment in Egypt.

The blogger also mentioned the results of a survey [.pdf] conducted by the Population Council that found that 80% of males in Egypt (25 to 29 years) believe that females who are sexually harassed bear the responsibility of this, and that they should dress more modestly. Nowadays, most young women wear hair scarves, although it makes no difference when it comes to sexual harassment on streets. A 2008 study by the Egyptian Center for Women Rights showed that 83 percent of Egyptian women reported being harassed.

A growing number of young people are against this harassment, even of girls who are not dressed ‘modestly’. A Facebook group called “I Will Not Wear The Veil, And You Will Behave!” has now over 3,000 members, and another group called ‘What do you Gain by Harassing a Woman?’ has more than 1,000 members.

Freedom Fighter takes an in-depth look how women respond to this sexual harassment, and he digs into statistics that highlight that only 3% of women report the police when harassed. He recalls the story of Noha Roshdy, who was sexually harassed, but decided to sue the harasser and ended up with three years in jail. This is considered the first historic court ruling of its kind in Egypt:

خير مثال على ذلك قضية نهى رشدي أول واحدة ترفع قضية ضد متحرش وشفنا الناس كان باصنلها ازاي عشان مش محجبة و في القسم قالولها عيب تفضحي نفسك وتراجعي عن المحضر لكنها كانت أجدع من كل الناس دي وخدت حقها

Noha Roshdy was the first woman to sue a harasser, you remember how many people judged her as she is not in a hair scarf, and in the police station she was advised not to shame herself by reporting the harassment, but she was stronger than all of them and got her rights back.

Finally the blogger is not very pessimistic, as he meets some Egyptians who do not accept this justification for sexual harassment, and some activists who have been trying to magnify the penalty on harassers. Recently, a project was launched that will help map sexual harassment in Egypt through mobile messages.

Featured Blogger: Ahmed Awadalla

Rezwan — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:19:49 +0000

“Exploring Taboos” project, organized by the Nazra team in Cairo, and is one of the newest grantees of Rising Voices. The project aims to provide a safe place for women and men of Egypt to discuss issues like gender equality, sexual diversity, female genital mutilation and and other taboo subjects.

We have already reported about the first workshops and the first blog posts of the Exploring taboos project.

Ahmed Awadalla

Ahmed Awadalla participated in the first workshop of the Exploring Taboos Project. He is a trainer and educator at Cairo Family Planning and Development Association (CFPDA). Established in 1967, this organization provides technical, administrative, and organizational support regarding comprehensive family planning services and health education to 34 member associations in Egypt.

We have recently talked with Ahmed and he explains about his profession:

I am currently managing a youth program that aims to increase the awareness of reproductive health and sexuality issues of Egyptian youth. I am passionate about my work as I am very interested in the linkages between health, sexuality and human rights. It is a challenging job, as the rising conservatism in Egypt is making it much more difficult to work in areas related to sexuality. Despite the criticism, I enjoy my job and working with young people.

RV: How did you learn about the Nazra group and the Exploring Taboos project?

Ahmed: I learned about the exploring taboos workshop through networks of contacts on Facebook. I was excited to go and see how the training would go, and the people behind the workshop and their approach of exploring taboos. I was also interested in knowing what kind of people would show up for such an event, because it's unusual to have a workshop to explore taboos.

RV: Please tell about your impressions about the training. How the participants reacted and motivated? Are they picking up blogging?

Ahmed: I really enjoyed the training; it was very informal and made me feel so familiar with everyone. The selection of the trainers was smart. The interaction amongst all of us was great.

I am happy about the results of the workshop so far. All of the participants started their own blogs. Some of them personal, others a bit formal, but it was really interesting to read the various topics and themes they wrote about.

RV: Did you blog before? What do you think about blogging in Egypt?

Ahmed: I have attempted to blog before. Blogging is such a great thing. I remember a funny quote I heard from a social media activist about it; “I blog, therefore I exist.” I really enjoy writing and expressing myself. People here in Egypt tend to forget the importance of self-expression because of the decades of repression we lived in. However, this repressive stronghold is beginning to break down little by little.

RV: What are your impressions about Twitter and Facebook as tools for Social activism?

In Egypt, Facebook and Twitter play a very important role in social activism. This is partially because of the lack of freedoms in our country, and the harassment of the state to activists, so a lot of people use Facebook and twitter as a space for expression and to advocate different causes, particularly young people. Although it is great to have more people voicing their concerns, I feel that social activism must be taken to the street to effect real social change.

RV: You blog in English, not Arabic. Is language an issue in Blogging?

Language was an issue that preoccupied me whenever I thought of blogging. I wanted to write in Arabic to be able to get a readership in my own country. I decided to write in English because it's almost a universal language so I can connect with a global audience and get my voice heard outside the boundaries of my country. I also hope I would start blogging in Arabic soon.

RV: How did you come up with the blog title ‘Rebel with a cause‘?

The name of my blog comes after the famous James Dean’s movie “Rebel without a cause”, with a little modification. Clearly, I felt I was a rebel in my society. In Egypt, most people try to conform to others and what they expect from them. I chose to go on the path I chose for myself, on personal and professional levels. That’s why I thought of myself as a rebel. I also think that I have causes that motivate me to pursue this path such as justice and respect for everyone.

RV: Although Female Genital Mutilation has been banned in Egypt in 2008, it is still being practiced. Is the government doing enough to aware people? How do you think that Nazra activists can address the issue and bring a change?

FGM is one of the severe issues in our society. Statistics show that it is still widespread despite its criminalization in 2008. The government adopted the issue and there is political will to eliminate this practice. The government has a program to end FGM in collaboration with local NGOs. The practice is somewhat declining, but more efforts and dedication is needed to get over it and to educate people in their local communities of the negative consequences of FGM.

I think that what Nazra and other activists can do to combat FGM is to continue to press the government so it would remain higher up in the agenda for reform. More importantly though, I think it is very important to engage the community. Activists should always think of ways to get their messages across to the community and to engage them in discussion.

RV: Can internet effectively address Taboo issues, which are difficult to discuss face to face due to social norms?

I think the internet can be used to address various issues; particularly social taboos as it might pose a risk for some people to address them directly. However, the scope of internet activism is quite limited to people who have internet access and a relatively high level of education. A lot of taboos still exist (such as religion and sexuality) and need to be addressed to all sectors of society. The internet is increasingly being used for political and social activism, however sexuality issues remain largely ignored.

RV: What are the challenges of today's activists in Egypt? What are the impressions of the society about them?

It is quite hard for activists here. Activists have been at subject to arbitrary detention, torture, etc. Especially those critical of the political or religious establishment. Additionally, they are at risk of censure and ridicule especially when they advocate for issues that do not sit well with the local culture and tradition. The community here is quite conservative and sexuality issues are not usually publicly discussed.

A lot of people here reject sexuality education either based on the false assumption that it promotes “immoral and indecent behavior” or dismiss it as a trivial issue and advise us to focus on “more important issues” making it harder to get wider support for sexual health education programs; although it is a critical area that affects people at different stages of their lives and where knowledge is very little and misconceptions are very common.

The interview was taken via email

Exploring Taboos: Discussing Female Genital Mutilation

Eddie Avila — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:54:59 +0000

Blogger Ahmad Awadalla conducts sexuality education workshops in Egypt, and has been using his blog to share some of his experiences in this field. As one of the participants of the “Exploring Taboos” project, Awadalla has been documenting these experiences in his blog A Rebel with a Cause, where he wrote about discussions about the topic of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) with his students. He cites a recent study conducted on this subject in Egypt, which “takes a deeper look at the terrifying practice and both men and women’s view on it.”

In conducting these types of sexuality education workshops, he takes great care with the participants as, “these young people are going to publicly discuss sexuality-related issues for the first time in their lives (in a health context of course)!”

One technique that Awadalla uses is an information sharing game, where statements are prepared and split into two parts. Each participant is given one part of the statement and asked to find the corresponding half of the statements. Awadalla writes:

One of the statements said: “Female genital cutting (FGM) could lead to bleeding, infertility, and loss of sexual appetite (berood ginsi).” After each of them found his/her matching half of the statement, I asked each of them to read the statement out loud. One of the girls said it out loud, but after she did, she shook her head and said “I’m not convinced, how can this happen?”

I went on explaining how the conditions and the delicacy of this surgery could lead to such fate. I also explained the function of the clitoris and how its cutting leads to loss of sexual desire.

“But isn’t this [loss of sexual desire] better to happen for women?” exclaimed the girl. I was surprised to be honest, even though I should have expected it, I guess it surprises me every time, especially when this kind of comment comes from a girl/woman! I think her only excuse is that she most probably haven’t started a sexual life yet, and she would know it better first hand and she wouldn’t have her children undergo the same awful procedure!

Awadalla devoted two blog posts to the issue of FGM, which include statistics from an Egypt Demographic and Health Survey in 2008 that prevalence among women aged 15 to 49 is 91% He easily finds some of the reasons behind this widespread custom and some of the misconceptions, as revealed by his workshop participants:

Some people think that if the clitoris is not cut, it would grow to become like a penis. Others do it because of customs. Most commonly though, they would say to control sexual desire for girls and to ensure married women’s fidelity, and also to increase the chances for a girl to get married and to be acceptable by her husband!

He also adds this about some of the views from society:

It is clear that the society sees female sexual desire as such an evil thing that has to be eliminated or at least controlled. Some people even likened an uncircumcised woman to a raging bull, not satisfied by one man! Men worry that if they marry an uncircumcised woman, they wouldn’t be able to satisfy her sexual needs.

Finally, he recognizes that there have been some ongoing awareness campaigns [ar] against this practice, which was officially banned by law in 2008. However, the practice is still taking place an is often perpetuated by other females. The previously cited study indicated that other women, and especially grandmothers are the main decision-makers in the practice of FGM. Awadalla concludes:

However, such efforts are restricted and needs a lot of years to pay off. Laws are not enough, especially with lax enforcement strategies here. Laws alone cannot change people’s beliefs and attitudes. It’s not only a matter of raising awareness. It’s a matter of changing patriarchal culture.

Thumbnail photo from Amnesty International's awareness poster against FGM

Noha Atef contributed to this post.