As the sun sets, dozens of people are taking their seats at tables loaded with sumptuous dishes inside a big tent pitched in a major street in central Cairo.
Attendants move around briskly to serve guests of what is locally known as Mawaed Al Rahman or charity tables where food is served for free.
Such charitable schemes have long been a tradition of the Ramadan in Egypt. Charity tables, hosted in working class and fashionable areas, serve people who cannot be home in time to have their Iftar or fast-breaking meal or are too poor to afford it.
This is my second Ramadan during which I have come here to have my free Iftar, Ahmad Emad, a shop assistant, told Gulf News. I live on the outskirts of Cairo and cannot be with the family at the Iftar table because I have to show up at the shop again in the evening.
So, I prefer to come here. These banquets are mostly sponsored by business people. Entertainers, such as top belly dancer Fifi Abdou, are also known for funding them.
My father used to host meals for the poor every Ramadan. Since his death, I have been keen to keep this tradition alive despite the soaring costs, said a Cairo merchant, who asked not to be named.
Weeks before Ramadan, we stock on large quantities of rice, macaroni and meat in preparation for these meals.
Over the past couple of years, there have been dramatic increases in prices of everything in Egypt. He estimated at around 1,000 Egyptian pounds the daily costs of his charitable scheme.
A controversial decision, to liberalise the Egyptian pound against major currencies in early 2003, has cost the local currency approximately 40 per cent of its value and sent prices of different goods through the roof.
Around 25,000 charity tables are set out across this country of 70 million people. They cater to around seven million.
Under regulations, would-be sponsors have to apply for approvals from traffic, firefighting and health agencies.
Attendants at these places must be checked to ensure they are free from infectious diseases, said Shawqi Abdul Karim, a local council chief in Giza, some 40 km south of Cairo.
Food items are also checked before they are served to make sure they are healthy. Charity tables have not felt the brunt of the countrys economic woes.
Seven are hosted in the bustling shop area in downtown Cairo. Five others are given in the capitals central rail station to provide food to travellers.
The biggest function, sponsored by a group of business people, is held every evening of Ramadan near Cairos major stadium in suburban Nasr City. It serves around 4,000 every day, sponsors say. Mosques use donations to provide Iftar meals, though on a smaller scale.
While popular dishes are served at banquets in working-class areas, fast food meals, bought at the citys franchise outlets, top the fare in upmarket quarters.
People working for a good-natured entrepreneur move around every day to hand out fancy boxes of take-away meals to building janitors and shop security personnel, said Mohammad Moustafa, a security guard in the posh Cairo area of Mohandessin.
This social interdependence is what makes Ramadan special, added Moustafa, who earns 300 Egyptian pounds from his job.
The writer is an Arab journalist based in Egypt
Gulf News
