Last month, BarakaBits roamed around the streets of Saudi Arabia to uncover the small pleasures that make people happy. This week, we repeated the experiment throughout the streets of Egypt and one thing came clear: if Cairo was a woman, we would praise her ability to turn even disgrace into a smile; for no other city permeates its citizens with such a positive vibe.
“A lamp. It sounds crazy, but whenever I am down, I turn off all the lights and switch on this one white lamp that somehow has the power to lift me up,” says Youssef. “My boyfriend. He’s called Nour just like me, and he is an artist, too. I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but I like to think we are soul mates,” says the young painter. “No matter how much money I have, as long as I can fulfill my family’s needs I will be happy. The important things in life are not measured by money, but the little moments we can steal from this reality,” says Mohamed. Mohamed is 26, and works in a sushi restaurant: “Working makes me happy because I don’t work just to serve food: I try to make people happy and cheer them up if I see them down”. “Sports: we love to go running to get out of the negative energy,” Taya, Lisa, Julia and Sara agree. “I’m happy whenever I can hang out by the Nile,” says Mohamad Gamal, who goes there as soon as he leaves the kiosk, every day. Issa looks at his fiancé, Sima, and says: “In this crazy city, she is the only one who gives me the strength and happiness to continue every day.”
