Ahmed Hayman Photography

Photo Stories: Seeing without looking

On the 25th of January 2011, Egyptians went down to the streets demanding “bread, freedom and social justice” symbolizing the revolution’s goals. And it was only when the Mubarak regime stepped down; when people had high hopes and willingness to move ahead with a new democratic government that looks after its people on equal basis without discrimination or ignorance.  

People with disabilities in Egypt who represent around 10% of the Egyptian population, are marginalized in every aspect in life; starting with satisfying their basic needs and reaching getting a job. Those people shared the revolution demands hoping to be treated equally in the society and having better life quality.  

Among the faces of disabilities are the blind people who are the subject of my series, This is a story about two special Egyptian Women. 

  • Somaia, 18 year old student in Alson University studying Spanish language in her first year, she is one of the four blind girls in the class of 300 sighted students
  • Hands are very important for blind people, they visualize and feel things with touching, They see with their hands, ears and nose where they feel, hear and smell
  • Somaia does all the house work alone. Her mother taught her to depend on herself when she was a little child
  • Heba, 27 years old, living alone with her daughter after being divorced. Heba is from a middle class family. She only opens the windows if her daughter is home or visitors are coming to her house because she doesn't need light as she says
  • Heba's daughter ( Rawan ) goes to her at the Alexandria Library after school until Heba finishes her shift
  • Sara, Heba's closest friend helps her all the time when buying cloths to her daughter or stopping a taxi
  • Alson is one of the biggest universities in Egypt that attracts women mainly. Somia just started her first semester and made a lot of friends and started to be so popular in her classes because of her spirit and intelligance. Her collegaues ask to help her reach the dorm as she is still new in Cairo
  • Heba is working in one of the biggest libraries in the world, Alexandria Library, its very inspiring to see a blind women working in a library full of books, pictures and words.she has an office were she helps young blind kids to deal with life and live normally
  • Heba cooks everyday for her daughter and herself
  • Heba plays the piano and sings in a choir at {quote}Banat AL Noor{quote} Association, Heba has a beautiful strong voice
  • Technology helped blind people to deal with mobiles and other equipments easily, there is a program on mobiles which is called {quote}Nateq{quote} which means speaking.. it scans every single word you press on and say it loud so this feature makes blind people interact, send msgs on social media apps
  • Somia is living in a rural area in Alexandria from a very simple family in the middle of the farms Altough there are few room in the house and the family is a lot a persons but she has her own private room where she sit and study
  • Sara is Heba's best friend, they met in Alexandria Library when Sara used to train over there. They are most of the time together, sharing thoughts, shopping and enjoying
  • Somaia (Left) and Heba (Middle) know each other from the choir at {quote}Banat AL Noor{quote} Association, they sing Egyptian songs, every week there is a rehearsal gathering all the girls on Saturday. They've been very active doing concerts in Alexandria lately
  • Rowan crying as she's afraid that her mother might fall off the bench, Rowan cares about her mother, she helps her moving in the streets, she was raised to look after her mother and have responsibility
  • Its the first time Somaia visits her family after her first 2 weeks at university, they prepared a meal for all the family to gather as they miss their daughter in simple houses, people are used to eat on a ground table while sitting on the floor
  • {quote} I can see but I'm illiterate, I can't read or write, my daughter is considered blind but she read and writes in 3 languages, she uses the computer and the mobile.. I'm the blind person, she can see with knowledge{quote} Somaia's mother raised her daughter to be dependent and do everything on her own
  • {quote}Hello Dr. wishing you the best{quote} a lot of those comments are being said all the time to Somaia while she is walking around her house, she is very popular as she is having the best education in the whole area
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