Carl in Cairo

Clearly, living along a river that snakes its way through a vast desert, Egyptians have a certain appreciation for water. Ancient Egyptian culture was deeply informed by a dependence on the River Nile. This is something I'd learned in history class long ago. In college, however, the research one of my professors conducted in water policy led me to understand what a vital role water plays today in international relations and conflict. It was therefore with great interest that I read about Israeli FM Lieberman's visits to Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, home to the two most important sources of the Nile. This while Egypt and the other Nile Basin states are attempting to resolve their differences over water use issues. Though I'll refrain from Biblical allusions, it looks very much like Israel is trying to use water as a means of leverage over the Egyptians.
What made me think so much about water today wasn't anything on quite so grand a scale: My flatmate Phil purchased a couple of bottles of Hayat brand water for me before my return to Egypt. He prefers it, apparently, for its taste. I am a Nestlé Pure Life man myself it having been recommended as a reliable clean and neutral-tasting choice. I'd always been a little leary of Hayat. Phil and I debated the finer points of the Egyptian bottled water industry (while we weren't in our rooms, noses to the grindstone, working on our theses) agreeing that Baraka tastes the least pleasant of the major brands. With all of the discussion and my admittedly unsupported claims that my brand was healthier than his, I decided to check into the matter further. Such a riveting topic apparently hasn't warranted much journalist attention or blogging lately, at least not in English, but I found an article from early last year referring to Ministry of Trade and Industry tests. The results (probably interesting only to potential consumers of bottled water in Egypt) were that only seven brands were both fit for consumption and accurately labeled for mineral content, etc.: Aqua, Aqua Siwa, Aquafina, Dasani, Mineral, Nestlé, and Siwa. Schweppes, notably, was considered unsafe. Unsafer still are other sources of water in Egypt. Some 40% of Egyptians drink contaminated water that leads to typhoid outbreaks, kidney failure, and thousands of deaths a year. Recent water shortages across the river in Giza have forced local residents to pump their own water only to discover that it is contaminated with sewage. If anyone finds more recent material on bottled water in Egypt, do let me know.

News & Issues

–Egypt

• The South Cairo Criminal Court has sentenced two US couples to jail in a high-profile illegal adoption case and is expected to hand down a ruling in another major case centered on defective blood products.
• AFP reports on the closure of AUC and other foreign universities and schools suggesting that the measures being taken by the Egyptian government may be in line with WHO recommendations.
• The government has taken an important step in tackling the un-Islamic practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). Authorities arrested a 69-year-old man after his circumcision of an 11-year-old girl left her hospitalized.
• A US NGO, Freedom House, is accusing Egypt and others of using their positions in the UN's Human Rights Council to limit the protection of human rights. Find Freedom House's "The UN Human Rights Council Report Card: 2007-2009" here in .pdf format.
• Resurgent 80s fashion trends apparently don't jive with Grand Mufti Gomaa's sensibilities; stretch pants are a no-no, but loose-fitting trousers have been deemed ok in a recent statement following the controversy over trouser-wearing Sudanese women.

–Islam

• Will the real Islam please stand up? Daily News Egypt reprints an article that first appeared in Arab News tracking the multiple forms that Islam has taken in practice in the past century and its possible trajectories.
• Sana from KABOBfest also recently examined the complex relationship between Islam and modernity in her blog noting that the two are far from antithetical.