NewsLab

Despite that this new cultural magazine is still struggling to get the rest of the « permits», “Om El Dunya, has finally published its first trial issue in March 2008. Interview with the Editor in Chief, Adel Saad.

S.M.: What is new about your magazine?

A.S.: My team and I wanted mainly to show an Egypt that seems to be overlooked and forgotten. We wanted to create a new magazine which is not labeled as “political” nor “religious”. Our magazine is a cultural magazine about Egypt and life of Egyptians. This is why also we called it “Om El Dunya” (Mother of the World). Each street has a story, a history to write about, each person has something to say. And even though writers and journalists writing in the magazine have different religions, beliefs, and currents, “Om El Dunya” is not a confrontational magazine.

S.M.: How did you manage to overcome the problem of issuing the permits for your magazine?

A.S.: As an Institution, we have presented an official application to the “Supreme Council of Journalists” asking them to give us the approval for establishing a cultural monthly magazine. Unfortunately and to my surprise, our application has been turned down for “political” reasons which do not concern us! As an alternative, we issued our permit from London, UK, and required that the magazine gets published in Egypt. We are still in the process of getting few remaining Egyptian “security” permits.

S.M.: What are the technical challenges that you faced during the issuance of your first trial issue?

A.S.: Beside the obstacles for issuing permits, the selection of topics represents a challenge for us. As I mentioned before, our magazine does not belong nor represent any religious nor political currents, however, some articles can have a “sensitive” nature. Thus, we show those “grey” articles to the “Supervisory Institution on Printings” before publishing them! Our magazine, which compromises great and well known journalists and writers like Iqbal Baraka and Hamy Abou Glayel and others, focuses in its 132 pages on the life of Egyptians and the cultural and historical sides of our country. We have published 1000 copies for the trial issue and were happy that our articles attracted many readers and satisfied them.

S.M.: What are the most appealing topics that you wrote about in the first trial issue of Om El Dunya?

A.S.: Different and many stories about people in Cairo or outside of Cairo. In Cairo for instance, in El Sayeda Zeinab we had an article about “Azhar”, an extremely popular lady who sits in the street to sell different things and who turns to be a “millionaire”! We went to the north in the Delta, in Damietta. Usually Damietta people have this bad reputation about being cheap and tight fisted. As a matter of fact, they are not! They just tend to be generous but towards their family members only! We went to the south of Egypt, in Upper Egypt, where we met this man who in order to make a “ballas” (a big jar in faïence to contain water or honey), has to go naked inside a room full of mud! We wrote about 100 years of Cinema in Egypt and published very rare and old photos like the first Cinema Institute in Alexandria in 1936. We also made a “dossier” about the “Compound of Religions” in old Cairo. Where one can see the Jewish, Christian and Islamic heritages side by side. In this area you can see the “Izra Temple”, considered as one of the oldest Jewish temples in the world! Just next to Izra Temple, you find 14 Christian monuments like Abu Serga Church for example. It is told that Virgin Mary was hiding in this church with Jesus Christ. You also find the Amr Ibn El Aass Mosque, the oldest mosque in Egypt.