Reading for all is not the most important thing

This year there was a huge advertising campaign for the "Reading for all" festival ,for those who do not know this festival is sponsored by Egypt first lady Susan Mubarak , it was her *project* ,where the ministry of culture publishes books from all around the world , from all branches of knowledge's and arts in Arabic by cheap prices for the public.

It is a great idea and it met a huge success that the UNESCO considered it an experience that can be repeated again in other countries.

To tell you the truth I owe it to this project because it opened the doors to read the international literature and local literature , you will find in our library a big selection of books from the "Reading of all" festival publications , the last one was the Encyclopedia of ancient Egypt , the complete one by the father of Egyptian Egyptologist "Salim Hassan"

Yet in the last couple of years the festival began to lose its sparkle ,year after year ,may be there were no more good titles , may be people began to lose interest or may be there are other stuff important than books to spend your money on

The ad campaign of that festival was so silly and stupid making it as if reading was the most important essential thing for life for the Egyptian child , I can not deny its importance but the Egyptian Child needs other important stuff

The Egyptian Child needs food at affordable price ;food for all

The Egyptian Child needs medicine at affordable price ,medicine for all

The Egyptian Child needs a glass of clean water ,it is his/her right , water for all

It is just not the prefect time to speak about luxurious stuff and I am afraid books now became luxurious stuff for the majority of the Egyptian classes with the terrible economic situation and high cost of living ,it is either food or book , it is either water or book

anyhow this year suddenly we found a new logo "I love the three girls illustration" with ads everywhere in the streets ,on the billboards and on the high way in a very silly way that makes me wonder who pays the bill ?? seriously we do not need all these expenditures before reading there are other life necessities including clean water ,this summer how many Egyptian child became sick because of the lack of clean water !!??

Technorati tags: Egyptian life, Suzanne Mubarak, culture, Reading, books, children, citizen Journalism, reading for all, Egypt, middle East, water crisis, food, north africa