Rural Egyptians Welcome Change, Economic Worries Linger

February 16, 2011

The Nile has allowed agriculture to flourish for millenia, but a farmer's life remains hard, near Kafr Torky, February 13, 2011

Ragab el-Gazzar says he would return from his job transporting bricks from a factory to Kafr Torky around 10:00 at night, then switch on the television.

He recounts, with deep respect, that "the youth were saying what I could not say."

For the first time in his 40 some years, el-Gazzar saw the fear of speaking out disappear. But as he stands in a field just outside the last village wall, the first green sprouts of a new crop emerging from the soil, he wavers.

El-Gazzar liked Hosni Mubarak, the man who ruled Egypt for most of his life. The villager blames those around the former president for giving bad advice. Moreover, as much as he admires the protesters for raising their political voice, such freedoms are not his only concern.

He says that, for 30 years, the president ensured peace and prosperity. He adds he has seen what his father and grandfather never did.

A neighbor is quick to disagree.

Fouad Abdel Hamid Zahran, a farmer who describes himself as the village sheikh, says those who work the soil are tired. There are no pesticides, no seeds. Fertilizer is expensive, he says, adding that the old agricultural cooperatives no longer exist. He says "I am worn out."