Sobhy: We will Solve Egypt’s Slum Issue in 15 Years
For its first Speakers Corner event of the semester, the Student Union (SU) invited renowned Egyptian actor Mohamed Sobhy to discuss his newly launched campaign Kollena Massreyin (We are all Egyptian), which aims at encouraging Egyptian youth to develop their country.
Sobhy told the AUC community about his various communal projects and encouraged students “to use [their] energy in order to invest in humanity and always help others”.
“I always dreamt of having a national project that aims at developing Egypt. Ma’an (Together), the organization I have launched, will aim at ending the problem of slums in Egypt in 15 years,” Sobhy said.
Ma’an is a non-profit organization created by Sobhy to improve the living conditions of slum area residents in Egypt, while Kollena Massreyin is the campaign launched to promote its activities.
Sobhy first thought of the project in 2003, but work began in earnest after the 2011 revolution.
According to Cairo Post, this project was launched by Ma’an in a 63-acre area allocated by the Cairo governorate to create the first integrated city for slum dwellers.
Ma’an has already started implementing the project with the aim of working on a hospital, a school and an elderly foster home on the Ismailiya Desert Road.
“We will build a school with a level that does not exist in Egypt yet. We will invest in the future generation that we will later on need,” Sobhy said.
“The strength of any country resides in its youth,” he added. In order to collect money for this vast project, Sobhy launched the Billion Egyptian Pound Campaign in 2011.
For the past four years, this campaign has managed to collect enough money to build these new institutions.
“We will also need 300 billion Egyptian pounds to put an end to slums in Egypt,” added Sobhy.
Sobhy explained that the project’s main focus is on slum areas as a result of the 25 million “lifeless” people living in harsh conditions, adding that slums are the most dangerous issue that Egypt is facing nowadays.
The Kollena Massreyin campaign mostly aims at increasing the role of university students in volunteering to build and develop slum areas in Egypt.
Sobhy explained that he refused to speak in public universities about his project because he was “mad” at students for committing violent acts and damaging their campuses.
“I respect and address those who are mad at Egypt, but I do not respect or negotiate with those who hate Egypt, their nation,” Sobhy said.
Sobhy criticized how Egyptians think about social equality, which was one of the main themes of the January 25 revolution back in 2011, defining social equality as providing all citizens with shelter, health insurance, and education.
The prominent actor also mentioned that in order to eliminate slum areas in the country, the public needs to have a strong will and frame of mind that is willing to accept change.
