ahmediatv's Open Salon Blog

The Virginity Test... of the Egyptian military

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:05:59 -0400

The Virginity War… Never bowed”

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903

A glorious 18 days of massive demonstration in Egypt, 18 million people went to street to demand their dignity and freedom, on February 11^th, 2011Egyptain Ex dictator Housni Mubarak stepped down, marked the end of 30 years of absolute dictatorship,. The chant In Tahrir Square that night, changed from “The people want toppling of the regime” , to the “Military and the people one hand” … a month later, and on March 9^th . 2011, the Egyptian Military who seized the power has its hand tainted forever, not just arresting, torturing, killing protestors in Tahrir Square… but and for the time in Egyptian Military history… forced women activists to go under virginity test.

The virginity test allegations first surfaced after a March 9th rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square that turned violent when men in plainclothes attacked protesters and the army intervened forcefully to clear the square. Amnesty International further documented the abuse allegations in a report that found 18 female detainees were threatened with prostitution charges and forced to undergo virginity tests. They were also beaten up and given electric shocks, the report said.

As was reported in the news, Major General al-Sisi said that 'virginity tests' had been carried out on female detainees in March to "protect" the army against possible allegations of rape, but that such forced tests would not be carried out again. He also added that the army would avoid detaining women in the future. This wasn’t the only perverse excuse we heard from the generals. The Amnesty International report continued, “The general, speaking on condition of anonymity, justified the abuse by saying that the women “were not like your daughter or mine. These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters.” Guilty of what, he didn’t elaborate. With the help of Karim Reda, a fBook activist friend in Egypt, I was able to get the phone numbers of two of these young women who had lived the “forced virginity test” ordeal. Rash Abdelrahman, a 28 year old college student and Jihan Mahmoud, a 29 year old social worker. I called Rasha Abdelrahman, introduced myself as Ahmed Tharwat, an Egyptian American, doing a TV story about the Egyptian revolution and the role of women. I continued, “I would love to talk to you about the …” (I wasn’t sure if I should say virginity test in Arabic in our first conversation) so I asked her, “Can I talk to you about the ordeal with the Military. She got my drift. “Ohhh, you mean … ‘Kashf Elozrayah’,” (virginity test) she causally said. “Sure, give me your number and I will call you back.”

I was a little taken aback by her forthcoming attitude considering the cultural taboo and the ordeal. I was the one who held back, but, sure enough, two days late she called and asked if she could bring her friend, another young lady who was also a victim of the “Kashf Alozriay” ordeal. “Of course, I would love to talk to you both.” I chose a public place for our first meeting, the famous Groppi Café in downtown Cairo. I took my small FLIP camera and went to the café on a Tuesday afternoon. The time we set to meet was 2 pm, but knowing Egyptian time I freed up the whole afternoon for this meeting. Groppi is an old-fashioned café. Its glory days have passed by; nothing in the interior or exterior has changed since about the sixties, the spacious entrance, the breeze coming in the open doors, the tall windows, the smiling dark waiter, the broken tiles, the leaky faucet, ceiling fans, and, of course, the man with the tissue in the bathroom. Rasha called, “I’m in the subway now, another half an hour at most,” she explained. Of course, the Egyptians use the traffic as a pretext for anything out of their control although, ironically, the subway is the only thing in Egypt now that is working and is actually under control, but once you are in the subway, there is nothing you could do, but wait; it is your fate. An hour later she called again and asked if I could meet them outside the café. I stood up and headed outside. I had never seen them before, and they never seen me. They had never talked to the media or had a presence in YouTube universe. I expected to see broken women in traditional dress. Wandering outside, looked around and saw none of the kind of women I imagined. Finally, I spotted two young ladies talking, smiling and walking back and forth in front of the café. “Are you Rasha?” I asked them. “Are you Mr. Ahmed?” she giggled. “Yes, Ahlan Wasahlan. Welcome, and thank you for coming.” Rasha was wearing a stylishly modern hijab, the one that just covers the head, and not the face, and a red dress over her jeans. She had an infectious laugh, and did most of the talking. Jihan was the quite one; she had stylish short hair, a scarf around her neck, and magnetic deep dark eyes. Her dress was of a rebellious nature. “Anything to drink?” the waiter asked. Everyone ordered lemonade. “There is no lemonade.” the waiter said. .. … why? “The blender is broken.” The dark skinny waiter said with a shy smile. . The Groppi cafe has been known for its excellent fresh lemonade since the sixties, It is a very comfortable homey place, where a waiter can give you excuses like this. We ordered drinks that don’t require blender work, which is tea. Jihan never touched her drink; she was very quiet, and she didn’t say a word for more than 30 minutes. Rasha took control of the conversation.

I first asked them to tell me what actually happened that day of March 9^th 2011. “The military wanted to break us, and humiliate us,” Rasha explained, “and as far as I’m concerned, Tantawi is a war criminal,” she said with a strong voice. “We were there at Tahrir for the general strike; we thought it would be like all other demonstration,” Rasha added. “We went to Tahrir, as usual,” Jihan explained, “the day was uneventful. Later at about 4pm, , we found people in plainclothes, started attacking us with rocks, and Molotov cocktails. I had to get a stick to protect myself,” Jihan explained.

Rasha and Jihan talked to me in more detail about the most tragic day of their life, about their abducted friends, who were being taken away to the Egyptian Museum and not returning. They went to find out what was happening. They were surprised to find themselves arrested, beaten, and verbally abused by military security. “You are whores, decent girls stay home and don’t come to Tahrir,” the officer told them. “The beating started,” Jihan said. “I told the officer who I had seen before in another confrontation, no matter what you do to me, nothing will break me tonight.” This was a challenge to him and he wanted to break us. “You are my game tonight,” he told Jihan. They tied them to the Egyptian Museum fence like animals, beating them, and verbally abusing them. Four hours later, they took them away to the military jail in El Hexisteb, a military base in Cairo. “Once I saw a big picture of Mubarak hanging on the wall of the office, I told myself, this can’t be good,” Rasha remembered. “Then the general came and asked if we had any health problems. Next, a female jailer,” Rasha continued. (A social worker according to Jihan, who is a social worker herself with a degree in psychology.) They took them to room which was missing its door. The female security guard started frisking them, touching them all over. They complained about the overzealous security female guard. “This is wrong, sir,” Rasha told the male officer. “Either this female guard or we get a male one” he threatened them. “It was very humiliating,” Rasha said. The female security asked them to undress, they thought just jackets and scarves . No, everything, take all your cloth, off, even your underpants” the security ordered them with a firm voice.. “I could see the solders and officers standing outside watching what is going on inside the room” Jihan said. “All this was done by our military, the one who claimed they protected the revolution,” she said incredulously. “If it was the security police (known for their brutality and abuse), I would understand it,” Jihan interrupted, “but this our military.” “I just got rid of an old corrupt regime, to get this?” Jihan wondered aloud. “It is late into the night now. They were tired and frustrated, however, holding strong, their morale still high. “They really didn’t think we would be that strong,” Jihan explained. A military physician, Ahmed Adel walked into the room, and without saying a word, have their hymens checked. on March 11, Dr. Adel was declared innocent by a military court.

They, in all, 18 women, suffering together through a long night of beatings and humiliation. Then the Military Security took them to the military administrative center where they put Molotov’s bottles on table on front of them, started taking pictures of them without any permission. “You are taking picture of us, so you can distort our images in your media,’ Jihan told the officer. “This officer did something I will never forget," Jihan said in a defiant voice. He kicked me so hard. It was personal, between me and him, not a security issue,” Jihan explained. Jihan and Rasha believed that the forced virginity test was all planned; it wasn’t just an oversight or mismanagement by a few angry individuals. “They have higher orders,” Rasha said. In a such patriarchal society the Military wanted to discredit the young activists and the young revolutionaries movement all together as decadent young troublemakers. . Then Jihan looked at herself and said, “My clothes have to stay on my body until I get my day in court, but in the jail, I was forced to take my clothes off, and forced to have my virginity checked.” The officers kept humiliating them, telling them angrily it is their entire fault, repeating, “Decent women don’t do this, they stay home, they don’t protest or go to Tahrir.” Rasha explained, “This officer doesn’t read or understand history, Egyptian women played a major role in revolution, starting a long time ago, in the 1919 revolution, and Hoda Sharawi with her women rights movement that started in Egypt in the 30s.”

I asked them if we could meet again at Tahrir Square, ,, there was another Molyonia (one million man march) coming next Friday April 20^th, “save the revolution day”. We met there at the famous Kentucky restaurant in Tahrir Sqaure, at about 1030pm, they were charged and energized, everyone was, this was the day where all the political factions came for one thing; to reject the Military mishandling of the country affairs. Rasha and Jihan walked through Square, visited the same places where they were taken away, beaten and abused, this is the first time they come back and talk about it. “This is the tree that I was hiding under when they attacked us” Rasha said. “I have a vey a great affinity to this tree, it saved my life”. She said as she stood under the tree in a playful way. We walked to the Egyptian Museum, passing all the Salfay tents and banners spreading allover Tahrir. , ‘Rasha was very talkative that nigh, meeting and greeting everyone there. Then she suddenly stopped by the Egyptian Museum fence, “Here is where we were dragged and tied to that fence”. as she reenacted the way she was tied to the fence, standing spreading her arms, her back against the fence as if she was crucified. Jihan who was a little quite, pointed at a spot inside the Museum and said “there, where the officer screamed at me and said, “on your mom soul, you are my toy tonight”

I finally asked both of them how this virginity test ordeal had affected their lives.

“March 9^th, 2011, this day was a great honor, and to me it was the first day of the Egyptian revolution,” Rasha said in a very deep, serious voice. Jihan looked at me with her deep dark eyes, smiled and said nothing; until today her look still haunts me. This was their story, the story where two amazing young Egyptian women, exposed the Egyptian Military, the Egyptian military that lost its virginity on March 9^th, 2011.

Ahmed Tharwat, Host of Arab American TV Belahdan TV

Freelance writer

ahmediatv@gmail.com

www.ahmediatv.com

The consumer revolution

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:08:52 -0400

UK riots…. a consumer revolution

The British unrest spread to cities including Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Nottingham and Birmingham, with shops being looted and set alight. Images of young men and women in the street smashing business, cars and anything that they can lay their hand on. who are those people and why are toppling their beautiful city, I don’t know exactly, but I can tell you that those are not the same people who a few month ago went to the same streets to see the royal wedding. Experts and laymen start wondering why are young British are angry and rioting all of the sudden, The British Summer as in the Arab spring was triggered by one incident, a killing of one young man, Mohammed Bouazizi In Tusnias and Kkaled Said in Egypt , and now the 26 year old Mark Duggan, who died at the scene in Tottenham, north London, on Thursday after been shot by the police. This single incident in every case sparked a deep major societal structure dormant crisis, in the Arab world police brutality and corrupt rotten undemocratic political regime, in England an economic neglect and disillusioned democratic regime. In both cases however people went to the street to revolt against a government that doesn’t represent them. The Arab spring unlike the riots in London, was mostly peaceful where the violence was only committed by government security forces, Arabs protesters chanting “Sylmeyah… Sylmeyah” peacefully … peacefully while facing tanks, and police brutality, the British police was the one chanting “Sylmeyah”, loiters were everyway you look, smashing shops, buses, and stealing anything they can carry; Anti government demonstrators in Egypt were the ones protecting shops, community and Museums, In England the protesters didn’t have any demands, no chanting of “ El Shaab YaReed Isqat El Nezam” the people demand the toppling of the regime”, It was a British Intifada, where people were actually smashing the symbol of economic regime that left them turkey; it wasn’t a British Spring, it was the Arab Spring in reverse. The youth sparked the Arab spring and the rest of the society had joined them even the Military, whereas the British youth who started the British summer were criminalized and the rest of society turned against them. The Arab Spring and the British summer may seem different and contradicting, but there are some similarities too between them, the government officials, in both sides focused only on criminality and security, no addressing of the youth grievances , and frustration. "We needed a fightback and a fightback is under way", the shaken British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said after four days of riots. Major police operations are under way, as I speak, to arrest the criminals who were not picked up last night but who were picked up on closed circuit television cameras," the British prime minister said. What about human rights and the privacy of those British minors. Prime minster, declares a Qaddafi Zanga Zanga style search, “we have detailed photos and camera videos, we will hunt them down” he added. "Picture by picture, these criminals are being identified and arrested, and we will not let any phony concerns about human rights get in the way of the publication of these pictures and the arrest of these individuals." As we all know there are millions of video cameras on every corner of London street. One riot and the Prime minister started sounding like an Arab dictator, but the center London never looked like Tahrir Square in midst of the Egyptian revolution. The British official as their Arab counterparts, underestimated the depth of the problem and kept convincing themselves that this is only the fBook and Blackberry troublemakers, as if the social media caused the problem not just reporting it faster than the authorities who are usually older and slower. “we need to study the role and responsibility of the use social media” explained a British official on BBC live. If it wasn’t the fact that shutting down fBook, brought down Mubarak himself this may have come as an option. PM Cameron who had to cut short his Italian vacation to oversee the crisis, the gentle PM who during his visit to Italy went back to a café there to apology to a waitress for not tipping here, no apology here. “It is skinning to see people as young as 13 looting stores while they are laughing” chummed the prime minster. Those young British seem to him good enough to be sent to kill and die on a foreign soil in Iraq, Afghanistan but not on UK mainland. As in the Arab Spring, what happened in the last few days in London, it is not just for an economic justice, it is also a dignity revolution, where people no matter how poor they are, still want dignity and respect, “if the police want our respect, they need to respect us first” screamed one young woman protester, here we have two youth revolts, one cause mainly of lack of democracy and political corruption in the Arab world and the other cause of disillusion of democracy in England. One asked to topple the oppressive political regime and the other tried to topple the oppressive economic regime. In the Arab world we have people revolution; where people want democracy and freedom, in England what we have is a consumer revolution. Where people want freedom to have flat screen TV and things.

Ahmed Tharwat/ TV Host/Public Speaker

Ahmediatv/BelAhdan

Minnetonka, MN

www.ahemdaitv.com/ ahmediatv@gmail.com

The Baltagiya ...

Tue, 2 Aug 2011 11:08:19 -0400

... and somtime they come on horsback

Welcome to post revolution Egypt the wonder land of “Baltagiya”. The word Baltagiya (thugs/mercenaries) comes from the Turkish Balta (axe) followed by the regional postfix "-jia" or "-gia" , means axe-wielders. And that what they do, they axe and disrupt social activities for higher. They don’t have a political views or platform, they are anti views of any sorts, and their platform is always the street. Something like the Tea party here, they are not for anything, but against everything. Baltagiya have long been used by members of Egypt's ruling party since the Turkish ruler in Egypt, but especially during Mubarak 30 years of dictatorship, there were his goon-squads that has been used for years to intimidate Egyptians to stay in line and behave, a trained hired thugs that the Mubarak regime had utilized effectively and efficiently to make sure election goes the Mubarak way. Once the rotten regime was toppled on February 11^th, and the Mubarak security apparatus vanished from the street, Egyptians were free for the first time and the fear factor was broken, as for the trained Baltagiya, almost one million of them, the last hired job was on 28^th of January, 3 days after the start of the revolution, they showed up in Tahrir Square in the most bazaar seen of the revolution, at “the battle of the Camel”, as it was coined by Egyptians, where at the heightening of the revolution, while Mubarak regime was losing ground to the millions of protestors, desperate alone after his regular police appended him, the Army stepped in to fill the vacuum but stayed neutral, so the bankrupt Mubarak regime showed their ingenuous act; sending a few thousands of “Baltagiya” on Camels and horses backs to Tahrir Square to intimidate the protestors, about five millions of them were there that night. It didn’t work, protesters determination to topple the corrupt regime was much stronger than the Baltagiya willingness to get paid overtime, after a growling bloody confrontation the Baltagiya finally vanished with the Mubarak regime, the Military refused to get involved and stayed neutral, for that alone people admired their Military the banner of “The people and the Army one hand” was raised in Tahrir, there was a short honeymoon between the pro democracy protesters and the Military, and the Supreme Council of Armed forces (SCAF) as it was called, became the defector governing body. A few month later the Baltagiya are resurfaced again everywhere, as the relationship between the Military who is admired by most Egyptian and the “Thouwars”, young revolutionaries got complicated, The Military lately has been trying desperately to discredit the “Thouwar”, those hard core protestors who started the revolution, and still on a general strike in Tahrir Square since the revolution. “We are determined to see real change” explained one of the organizer, We are not leaving until all our demands are met” he declares in their almost daily press conference, most of all a speedy trial of Mubarak and his regime”. He added. The Military not known for their democratic and sharing power appetite, they went on a mission to discredit Tahrir protestors and turn them from “Thouwar” to Baltageyah. Al Mesery El Youm a private daily paper in Egypt that known for its independency reported on April 22^nd, that “Most Egyptians would agree that the 25 January revolution deserves a place in the Egyptian Museum — the most prominent and well-established museum in the country, and a fixture in Tahrir Square, the center of the protests. But allegations that the ruling armed forces used the museum building to incarcerate, violently interrogate, and abuse pro-democracy protesters has indelibly changed the site's history. Is the legacy of the Egyptian Museum, once the celebrated home of Egypt’s most prized ancient artifacts, now a “torture chamber”. Ali Sobhy, an Egyptian actor and activist who stayed in Tahrir all the 18 days of the revolution, was one of the unlucky victims of torture inside the Egyptian Museum, he explained how the Military was trying to stage the “Baltagiay” transformation act, “They lined us up inside the Museum, start beating us karate style, a special trained officer flied in the air and hit us in the faces with his army boots” … “these guys seem to know what they are doing, as far as filming goes” the actor explained on TV interview. They took us away to another room inside the Museum where there were cameras and a stage, they messed up our hair and started photographing our smashed faces” You see Baltagiya in Egyptians mind have special look that everyone recognizes, a Baltagi (singular) has three facial characteristics, first a messed up hair, a missing tooth, and a scar in the face is a must. Most Egyptians may have one or two of these characteristics at one time or another of their harsh life, but not the three characteristics at the same time, that is only reserved for Baltagiya . The Army took the pictures and publish it through their media apparatus, state TV and their own fBook page catching up with young savvy Egyptians. Then the military called the people of Tahrir the “Thouwar” Baltagiya , this started another war of “Baltagiya” calling, all you need to do to discredit any other opposition group, simply call them “Baltagiya “, the Baltagiya call other Baltagiya, Baltagiya, the “Thouwar”; the hard core pro democracy protesters who never left Tahrir since the revolution, have signs now saying “we are Baltagiya and proud” to protest the Military attempts to discredit them. The Military always denies that they are using the same Baltagiya of Mubarak to counter the revolution, as the ‘Thouwar” accused them now, but in fact the military on their website and fBook page, reassure everyone that they are protecting “ the noble “Thouwar” from the real Baltagiya” . Lots of Egyptian are tired of those “Baltagiya” and accusing them of destroying the economy. Every Egyptian now is talking about them sabotaging “Aglah El Entag” the wheal of production, as if Egypt was the most productive country in the world during Mubarak. Now in Egypt everyone is called “Baltagiya” by someone else, students who demand change in their schools are called “Baltagiya” by the deans, Journalist who demand change in the press are called “Baltagiya “ by the minister of culture. Copts (Christians Egyptian) demands freedom of religion, are called “Baltagiya “ by Islamists, Salafy groups who want to bring Sharia to constitution, called “Baltagiya “ by the secular groups. Those who protest minimum wages are called Baltagiya, even the old professional trained Baltagiya themselves call the new ones … you guess it … “Baltagiya”

Have you hugged your Baltagiya today?

Ahmed Tharwat/ TV host, Public Speaker

WWW.ahemdiaTV.com

ahmediaTV@gmail.com

Arab Spring ... 6 month later

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:07:54 -0400

The revolt against dictators and autocratic régimes in the Arab world has been going on for more than half a year now, The Arab spring still in its infant revolution stage, the rebirth of a nation usually is much harder than starting one. The Arab spring has been dynamic and flexible in its natural and formation, it changes its shape and endurance from one Arab country to another based on the country history and relationship with the outside world. But one thing is clear, that the Arab revolutions learn from each other, and get inspired from their brothers all over the Arab world. as the famous Egyptian Blogger Mahmoud Salem (@Sandmonky) tweeted “think of the Arab revolution like a big turbine with a few missing teeth, every time it slowdown in one country, it picks up again somewhere else” The Egyptian revolution was inspired by the Tunisian one before it, and the quick toppling of its dictator, now the Egyptian revolution started looking like the Syrian, where the Military is using hired thugs (Baltegeyah), in Syria called (Shabeehah), to counter the peaceful protesters who feels the Military is not serious about real change. The Tunisian revolution that inspired Egypt after a brief cooling off, has been reignited once again and inspired by the enduring Egyptians persistence in Tahrir Square, where until today there is demonstration; calling on every Friday for a one-man march demanding speedy change and bringing the Ex-president and his regime. the Yemenis revolution is becoming looking like the Libyans revolution, where they resorted to violence and arms struggle to topple the out of touch president Saleh Abdullah, who escaped an assassination attempt and now is licking his wounds in a Saudi hospital.., Qaddafi is now confined to his own delusional Zanga making no concession or sense, and Mubarak, the modern Pharaoh who prides himself of having peace with the Israeli and the Americans, but had wars with his own people for 30 years, now is hiding behind his own self-induced coma shield , Bashar of Syria the ugliest Arab leader we ever had, literally, has been lost in a world he never felt comfort in, the once eye doctor lost his own political vision and most of his friends, it is just keeps on going, The Moroccans are finally waking up and finding out that they are Arabs too, now marching to the street protesting the new farcical constitution referendum that gives the King a divine status, throughout all these , the Arab intifada against their own dictators modern self-occupation, it was easier to topple pro-American dictator like Mubarak and Ben Ali, Saleh, than ant-American dictators like Assad and Qaddafi. The Arab revolution is one revolution... and the Arab Spring is sweeping the rotten Arab regimes regardless of foreign attempt to manage the turmoil, from America, Israel, Saudi Arabia or Iran everyone was caught by surprise and doesn’t know what to do. The Arab Spring is inspiring everyone in the area making the impossible one day possible now, giving hope and a historical reference point to millions of young Arabs, giving them a roadmap to what they can do, as the Arab dictators learn from each other in suppressing their own people trying to survive, so are the Arab people and protesters in the streets and squares, and the chanting “People demand toppling of the regime” has become simply the basic demand for all Arab people across the region, demanding a new political dawn, with no political agenda or power grapping, just toppling the regime is their best gain, bringing smile back to the Arab street, what will happened after that, is unknown, this will be their biggest challenge.

Ahmed Tharwat/ TV host, Public Speaker

WWW.ahemdiaTV.com

ahmediaTV@gmail.com

My dad was an average man

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 10:06:09 -0400

The brilliance of an average man

The American people have seen enough Muslims behaving badly all over the Muslim world; Saddam, Ghdaffy, Assad, Ossam, Hezbollah, Zarqawi, Nidal and with the American administration illusive war on terrorism crusade; this list gets longer by the day. American people in a dire need for reasonable Muslim, a man who taught me everything I needed to know about life, without ever sitting down and talking with me about life; Please meet my dad. My dad was a small petite man, with a big nose and sharp piercing small eyes; he wasn’t a heavy-handed, intimidating father figure. However, he believed that to survive raising a large family of 10 on $7 monthly salary, you needed to be vigilant in reconstructing our family values.

First, to put our house in order, he gave us character-based nicknames; our original Arabic names had been either those of a prophet or a servant of God, Muhammed, Ahmed, Abdelraffe, Aabdellnasser, Abdelaal, etc… didn’t reflect who we really are, so I became the Sursarah, the small cockroach; my mom was Walad, one of the boys; the skinny one was Feseekhah, dried fish; the enigmatic one was Brovdaah (I still have no idea what it means); the oldest was Abul-ossi, the father of sticks; then, the comfort-seeker was Oomdah, the mayor; the youngest was Hando’ah, the cutie; and my only sister was Al-arousah, the beautiful bride.

He wasn’t a religious zealous man; he was what you could call a moral relativist. He would quietly pray the mandatory five daily prayers without lecturing us. He would tell us biblical stories to spread his moral ploys; each story would have a disguise message made to shape our outlook on life. The prophet said: to sleep hungry is to be merry, he would say when one asked for late meal. “The Hebrew people got lost in Sinai for 40 years, you know” he reminds us when we drifted to our ways, and if you don’t listen to his advise he would say “Well suite yourself but remember; Noah’s son didn’t make it ” .

He was a frugal man; to my dad, consumption was an evil state of depletion. Nothing terrified him more than one of us breaking into the kitchen to snack before mealtime. It was a violation of house golden rules. He even developed a home security sound-code alert system reflecting the level of threat to any domestic consumption around the house. Regardless of where he was, he managed to monitor and sense what was going on in our kitchen even in his sleep. Clearing his throat was a special warning alarm to alert us to his level of annoyance. He would clear his throat once if you broke into the kitchen, twice, for opening the refrigerator, and three “ahems” meant don’t touch that cold watermelon.

A conservationist before it became fashionable; He would walk around the house turning off radios, stoves, electricity and shut windows— as his daily mission to defeat ominous waste.

Reusing old stuff around the house for him was a divine resurrection ritual. Eating questionable leftover food was his small triumph over the tyrant of the decaying process. Sending the mail in used envelopes was his personal signature, reusing old batteries even for just a few minutes was magical, and for him, nothing was ever too precious for him to be wrapped in scraps of old newspaper.

My dad was an average man who never wanted to be a hero, he passed away a few years back and finally is resting in a divine place where there isn’t much to do or to say— the way he always wanted, god bless you dad.

Ahmed Tharwat/ Public Speaker
Producer/Host of the Arab American TV Show Belahdan
Minnetonka, MN

Blog at: ahmediatv.com