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Home > Al Jazeera World > Egypt's Women Street Sellers - Al Jazeera World
Podcast: Al Jazeera World
Episode:

Egypt's Women Street Sellers - Al Jazeera World
Category: News & Politics
Duration: 00:44:00
Publish Date: 2018-05-07 08:19:21
Description: This film focusses on the daily lives of five Egyptian village women who are driven by the need to provide for their children and families by selling local produce in the street markets across the country. They get up very early every morning to travel to small village markets to buy vegetables, cheese and other products which they will sell at a higher price. Muna Issa inherited her mother's small business and is now teaching her own daughter, Shaimaa Al-Sayyid, to do the same when she's off from school. While Muna and her husband don't have college degrees, they're motivated to work hard so their children can have a more comfortable life. "I want my children to study, get university degrees and have good jobs," says Muna. Travelling outside her village, Aida Muhammad sells vegetables in Cairo's streets in the morning but goes home to look after her kids in the afternoon. "Life is expensive and my husband doesn't make much. So I help him," says Aida. Similarly, sisters Sanaa Sayyid Ahmed and Nanaa Sayyid Ahmed spend four days a week selling cheese, eggs and garlic in Cairo and only two days a week at home with their families. Their village is more than a day's travel away, so they've managed to rent an unfurnished apartment just to sleep in. Finding the perfect location on the street to sell her vegetables used to be a problem – until one day other vendors came to her rescue. "The butcher told us not to sit next to his shop," Sanaa said. The butcher was worried that her products would attract flies. Then the other vendors shouted back, "Let her stay. She's trying to earn a living. She sells great cheese and eggs. It's your meat that attracts flies." Besides the hustle, Sanaa isn't bothered by haggling customers. "When we state the price, the customer starts to barter. This is business. Bargaining and headaches," says Sanaa. "I have no fears as long as the scales I weigh the cheese on are working well and aren't broken." Cheese and ghee (clarified butter) seller Ilham Abdul Aziz is a childless widow who selflessly provides for her impoverished sister, unemployed brother-in-law and the rest of their family. She's had many opportunities to remarry, but she's steadfastly refused. Instead, says Ilham, "I wanted to dedicate my life to these children and support them until they all get married. People praise me, saying I'll be rewarded for dedicating my life to these children." "I love my job. It's how we earn our living," she adds. "I would never hate it because it's how we earn our living so we don't beg or borrow money from others. It's a blessing from God." This character-led film sees the women's daily struggle to survive and the sacrifices each of them make to sustain their livelihoods, just above the poverty line. More from Al Jazeera World on: YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraWorld Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World Visit our website - http://www.aljazeera.com/aljazeeraworld Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/
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