By Safaa Abdoun
CAIRO: The morning after former President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, thousands of Egyptians from all walks of life flocked to Tahrir Square as part of an initiative to clean up the area after the popular 18-day uprising.
People heading over to the square said they went with the underlying objective of helping build a new Egypt.
“The amount of positive energy in Tahrir on Saturday was absolutely incredible. It was as though Egyptians, particularly the youth, began feeling a sense of ownership of their country for the first time in their life,” said Dina Hassen, an economic analyst, who took part in the initiative.
“The overriding theme was that this is the time to rebuild Egypt, and this was witnessed both literally and symbolically by the constructive initiatives people undertook to clean the streets and repaint the sidewalks, among countless other actions,” she explained.
“It truly felt like the start of something new – a new day, a new beginning, and a newfound respect for Egypt,” Hassen added.
By noon on Saturday, Tahrir Square was almost gleaming, recovering from a night of celebrations with fireworks, cheers, car honks and ululations. “We went at 11:30 am and things were already mostly cleaned up. There were garbage bags stacked up on the corner ready to be disposed. Garbage bags hung on the fences surrounding the [square] for people to use,” recalled Asma El Husseini, fashion editor at Campus magazine.
Fatma Khaled, a student at the American University in Cairo, arrived at Tahrir Square with friends at 11 am.
“By the time we got there, the place was clean. A lot of people showed up early and cleaned the place that by 11 the whole area was spotless.
“The spirit there was amazing, people were helping each other and there was a group of people chanting ‘the people want the square cleared.’ I think that says a lot about the future of Egypt, it shows us that the people love and care about their country so much that they will do anything in their power to make it a better place for them and for their children,” she said.
The sense of solidarity and unity that was prevalent throughout the 18-day uprising was still apparent during the clean up. “Most people cleaning were from the upper end of Cairo. Girls, boys, women, men and families all helped clean up,” noted El Hussein. “The spirit is lovely, you feel that you are helping build the new Egypt and this is the first step: the very small yet effective action,” she added.
Others, like Nour Abdoun, a student at the American University in Cairo, went to Tahrir with her friends to hand out cleaning utensils and other necessities for the initiative. “We were giving out garbage bags, gloves, and Dettol wipes as we were sure they will be highly needed and there may be a shortage,” she said.
The nationalism spirit was contagious as people were singing and chanting patriotic songs as they cleaned up the streets. “[It was] an experience like no other, you had people from all walks of life helping out either by collecting the garbage, sweeping the streets or even painting the sidewalks and the fences around the square … For the first time in my life, I felt the true Egyptian spirit, I felt this country belonged to us, the people, and we needed to rebuild it,” said Noreen Tawakol, import manager at a local corporation.
An interesting observation by some of the participants was that the notorious phenomenon of sexual harassment was non-existent during the clean-up in spite of the large crowds.
“The cleaning was a new experience …we were all girls and some random men came to help and we all worked together and for the first time we weren’t anxious, on the contrary, everyone walking in the street was cheering ‘God bless you’ and some people gave us candy and others were congratulating us,” said Nada Raslan, who works at a multinational corporation.
The cleaning up was not only limited to Tahrir Square, but spread out to the streets surrounding it including Qasr El Nil Bridge and Talaat Harb Square.
People painted the sidewalks on Qasr El Nil Bridge and even scrubbed the famous lions using soap and water.
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Egyptians clean up garbage and rocks from a street near Tahrir Square, as people watch from a bridge beyond, in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Feb. 12. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
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