Walking down the streets of Egypt sometimes feels like walking into one big filthy public WC; you smell all sorts of offensive odours and, if it’s your lucky day, you might even step into some murky urine puddles. You can’t help but wonder why can’t we have clean public toilets like every other civilized nation?? In fact, public toilets could be very useful; here is why:
1. Because the sight of a child, or even worse an adult, standing by the wall and watching their urine draining down the sidewalk is definitely considered eye pollution.
2. Because when you’re wandering around the streets running errands for the whole day, you need somewhere else, other than McDonald’s, to pee.
3. Because when you’re having fun with your friends on a feloooka ride, you might suddenly get the urge for an emanant release in the middle of the Nile.
4. Because when you’re hanging out with your friends in some baladi café (2ahwa), you may ‘have to go’, however, the bucket is not really your thing!!
5. Because when you’re travelling on the highway and have passed all the rest areas, yet still have a long road ahead of you, wizzing in the sand like four-legged animals was never not meant for you.
6. Because all the abandoned landmarks that have once been glorious touristic sites, have been turned into one big fat urinal (sadly for humans and animals alike).
7. Because every taxi driver will just leave you waiting in the car to step out and ‘take a leak’ by the wall in some dark empty corner, or not!!
8. Because all the gardens in this holy country should be watered with something other than pee. You know what they say; the grass is always greener on the un-peed side.
Till the government decides to build us some clean, tolerable and usable public toilets, I would like to reach-out to the masses: “Kindly, take your business behind closed doors; we certainly don’t need any more blight. Thank you very much.”
All art-work included in this article are the work of the artist Mohamed Chahin
