Discrimination on the metro

I've never been afraid to ride the metro in Cairo...until tonight. This afternoon I took the train from Damanhour to Cairo and decided that it would be easier to get home from the train station on the metro than in a taxi during rush hour. But I was nervous. I had heard stories from several of my American/Canadian friends in the past week about unpleasant metro experiences.

As H1N1 influenza has been identified in Egypt in recent weeks, the Ministry of Health has, unfortunately, done a terrible job of communicating with the public. Most Egyptians - including even physicians and Ministry of Health officials with whom I've talked - believe (1) that H1N1 is deadly, (2) that the virus comes from swine, and (3) that foreigners are the ones spreading the disease in Egypt. Please note, not a single one of these statements is true. Yet this is the message that the Ministry has spread and it's what the public believes.

So American/Canadian friends of mine have told stories in the past weeks of stepping onto the metro and having crowds move away from them, pull out Kleenex to cover their mouth and nose and giving disapproving looks. It's certainly nothing threatening, just alienating and uncomfortable. I was really nervous about being the target of such discrimination and fear.

But thankfully, my ride on the metro was smooth. No one moved away or looked disapproving or pulled their children away or stared (well, at least not anymore than usual). I even had the good luck to be offered a seat after only two stops and was able to sit for the remaining eight or nine stops until I made it home.

But I am still amazed at yet another example of the power that the Ministry has had to control the information that is disseminated in the country and the beliefs of the public.