On January 1st of this year Tarek Amr's Change the Channel initiative took off. A month later,Inji's Going Local campaign hit the blogosphere. More initiatives followed on various levels of development starting from anti-harassment and political awareness to culture , anti-terrorism, and freedom of creativity and expression. Now, Mostafa Ahmed and more than 4,500 enthusiasts kicked off Egypt's first Cleanliness Day on April 10.
On their Facebook group, the creators of the event said:
هو يوم واحد
مش مطلوب منك غير انك تتعاون معنا وتنشر الموضوع ويوم العيد تتطلع تنظف الشارع اللى انت فيه انت وكل أهالى الشارع
اخوانى الأعزاء
أدعو كل طوائف الشعب للتعاون فى هذا اليوم ادعو كل الأحزاب ان تتبنى هذه الحملة أدعو كل المدارس أدعو كل الجامعات أدعو كل الإتحادات الطلابية أدعو كل الطلاب أدعو الأمهات أدعو كل الأباء أدعو كل الوزارات انت تتعاون معنا وان تتبنى الحملة وتنشرها
ياشباب مصر حافظو اعلى مصر
ياأولاد مصر نظفوا مصر
ياأولاد مصر دللوا على حبكم لمصر
Egyptian youth, protect Egypt.
Children of Egypt, clean it up.
Prove your love for Egypt!
On April 10, the campaign was put to action in El Sharkia, El Mansoura, Agouza & Dokki , Al Arish, Heliopolis & Nasr City, Suez, Al-Haram (Pyramids Area), 6th of October, Al Zawya Al Hamra, Ain Shams University, Maadi, Helwan, New Cairo, Matareya, Shobra El Kheima, Meet Ghamr, Mohandeseen, and many more areas.
The campaign was endorsed by the media and the Ministry of Environmental Affairs:
In frame of Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs' efforts to encourage voluntary activities in environmental field, Friday 10th April will witness the first celebration with Cleanliness Day, that will be held under the auspices of Eng. Maged George, Minster of State for Environmental Affairs. The idea was declared by a group of voluntary youths on a Face Book's site called Parliament.
Eng. Maged George assured that 10th April will launch a continuous campaign for cleanliness in all Governorates of Egypt as the Ministry supports executers of the campaign with in-kind contribution such as 300 large plastic containers for wastes' collection in coordination with Authorities of Municipalities in Governorates and Regional Branches, in addition to 500 T-Shirts and Caps to be distributed on participated youths in the celebration.
With such an overwhelming response, a clean Egypt is not an impossible dream:
