For Gom’aa Abdel Meguid, bread is “akin to hospitals: it’s a basic necessity and ought to be above curfews.”
Many areas throughout Cairo are experiencing shortages of basic commodities due to the daily curfews imposed by martial law on a number of Egyptian cities.
Long past the 2 PM curfew on Sunday, Sheikh Gom'aa was in his bakery in Heliopolis. People queuing had waited for more than half an hour, and the line was growing.
“We’re working at full capacity–beyond, even. See that boy there? That’s my son Abdel-Rahman–I brought him today because we need all the help we can get.”
“It’s my civic and my religious duty”, says 46-year-old Gom’aa. “Do unto others, essentially… Bread is a necessity, not a luxury like meat or fruits. And particularly in time of crisis, if bread is not available the crisis becomes twice as worse."
The demand for bread is staggering. “It’s never like this, not even during Eid or Ramadan. Then, we’ve only got a couple of hours of pressure, the two hours before Iftar. Today it’s non-stop pressure.”
Gom’aa's take on the demonstration is quite straightforward–he laments the ‘destruction’ that has befallen the city without speaking about the righteousness or otherwise of the protests. “Those people have something to say and they should be allowed to say it. But they don’t need to destroy the city to say it. How long will it take us until we’re back on our feet? Several years, surely.”
“We need bread at home, but we’ve got an emergency here. With all those people waiting, I couldn’t bring myself to take any bread home–I guess we can do without today”, he says. “It’s a matter of respect for people.”
Sheikh Gom’aa has been a baker since he was younger than his 9-year-old son, and has memories of previous curfews.
“In 1986, during the Ahmed Roshdy riots, I used to work for a state bakery, and bakers could be identified by our clothes," he says, pointing to his flour and dough stained galabeya, "or by a stamped document from the government that stated our profession, to allow us to move freely past curfew hours.”
"People need bread, and I will provide it no matter what. I live nearby and there’s sleeping room in the attic for my employees. Today, we're staying open as long as we have to."
