Process Journal

Date 12/11/17
Questions: What was the Egypt like before?

Summary:

Egypt was a very powerful country. It existed long time ago and passing to many dynasty.
There were lots of conflict and war during that time. Living near the river make them easy to take
advantages on the agriculture.

Egypt timeline:

- Egypt restored their independence from British around 1922, although British influence
still remains in the country.

- Egypt declared a republic in 1953.

- Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt over nationalization of Suez Canal.

- The Aswan High Dam was completed in 1971 which has a huge impact irrigation,
agriculture and industry in Egypt.

- President Sadat was assassinate by islamist extremists and was succeeded by Vice-
President Mubarak.

- An islamic group began five-year attacking on government and tourist from 1992 to
1997.

- Islamist continued the terror attack in 2005 killing lots of people.

- Egypt started to develop domestic nuclear programs to create more energy resources in
2006.

- In 2010, former UN nuclear chief Mohammed ElBaradei returned to Egypt and formed a
coalition for political change.

- President Mubarak handed power to army council and was charged with ordering the
killing of demonstrators.

- Protestors were risen up accusing the military of trying to keep their grip on power in
2011. The security forces clash with protestors.

- President Morsi create a new constitution in 2012. Government paralysis weakened the
currency and delayed a $4.8 billion.

- Army overthrew President Morsi in 2013.

- US suspended $1.3 billion in aid.

- Parties based on religion are banned in 2014 due to muslim terrorist group.

- Islamic state makes moves and killed lots more people, mostly Christian. They also
bombed the church.

Analysis and Opinion:

From the information above, Suez Canal is very important and beneficial not only for Egypt
but for other countries such as Britain and France. I notice that there are lots of protests
happened in Egypt. All the presidents in Egypt are in someway bad. They mostly ordered to kill
people and other who are opposite to them. Egypt got a lot of loans from other countries,
however, people are still poor and the country is still in bad condition, and the economic too. The
president did corrupt, in large amount. Also, the Islamist State is keeping on killing people, mostly
Christians. The Islamist is using religion as an accuse of killing others and calling themselves
islam.

References:

- History.com Sta. (2009). Ancient Egypt. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from http://
www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-egypt

- Timeline of Egyptian History & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved December 09, 2017, from https://
www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/egypt02-01enl.html

Date 20/11/17
Question: What are the social issues in Egypt?

Summary:

- MDG(Millennium Development Goal) consists of eight goals with measurable targets and clear
deadlines for improving the lives of the worlds poorest people. Leaders of 189 countries signed
this millennium declaration in 2000 to meet these goals and end poverty. Target achievement date
was set at 2015.

MDG:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

- The goal is to decrease half of the number of the poverty rate it was in 1990/1991. However, the
outcome is opposite from the goal. Poverty rate is getting higher and higher every year due to
fluctuation and decline of economic growth rates, disparity and inequitable distribution go
income, low investment and savings rates, decline and inequitable distribution of government
investments, rising inflation and unemployment rates, and slow implementation of program
targeting the poorest villages. So it will not be possible for Egypt to achieve the MDG. Actions
taken by the government in order to reduce poverty are to reform wage and income policies,
reform subsidized supply goods system, reform subsidized bread system, reform subsidized oil
product system, increase the value of Social Security pension, adopt an equitable investment
policies, and support farmers.

Achieve universal primary education

- To ensure that children everywhere will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
However, Egypt cant achieve the goal because there is a continuous decline in the rate of net
enrollment rate in primary education.

Promote gender equality and empower women

- Girls and boys rates of going into primary and secondary school are increasing, however, share
of women wage is still the same which is less than men. Also, there are very few seats in the
parliament that are held by women.

Reduce child mortality

- The reduction of mortality rate in rural areas has been greater than the in urban areas which is
because there was less child mortality rate in urban areas since the past. Egypt has already
achieved this MDG by 2015.

Improve maternal health

- Egypt is close to achieve the MDG target because the rate has significantly decreased in the
first ten years, however, slowing down in the years later. The rates are also depends on the
areas.

Combat HIV, malaria and other diseases

- Egypt has already achieved this MDG target because HIV and malaria doesnt represent a
serious problem in Egypt.

Ensure environmental sustainability

- Egypt is likely to achieve this MDG

Develop a global partnership for development

Analysis and Opinion:

From the research, our group chose the goal that is the hardest to be achieved which is
poverty and hunger. In my opinion, food is the most important thing, it is the based that everyone
should have. Money is also a main thing that people should have. So, to be able to solve other
problems in Egypt, people should be able to access too food and should at least have some
money for to survive. Other goal are most likely to be achieved or already achieved so I am not
going to consider about them much.

References:

- Lowell, L. Social Conditions in Egypt According to the Millennium Development Goals.

Retrieved from http://ucanr.edu/sites/uc_and_the_mediterraean_/files/110120.pdf

- Delivering on commitments. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2017, from http://

www.mdgfund.org/node/922

Date 24/11/17
Question: what is the cause of the poverty and hunger in Egypt and what are the eects?

Summary:

A poor person is someone who lives on less than $1.25 a day and more than half of Egypt
could be considered poor. Around 60 percent of the population are only having enough for to
survive. The poor have no access to neither education or healthcare. People inability to have
enough food and nutritious food is largely attributed to rising poverty rates and succession of
crises from 2005. Also, the outbreak of avian influenza in 2006, the food, fuel and financial crises
on 2007-2009 lead to the increase of poverty. Findings show that poorest families spend more
than half of their money on food and often buy less expensive and less nutritious food. Rate of
children under five years old that are malnutrition increases to 31 percent. The population has
grown, however, people do not have money to buy good food. Since rebellion keep happening,
the government has to put more money on military for their defense. In 25 January Revolution,
nearly 4500 companies have closed down due to the economic stagnation that has taken place.
The rates of unemployment started to rise up. Most of the areas in Egypt are desert which is hard
to be used in a productive way. Almost all of the Egyptians have to live along Nile River.
Corruption is one of the reason causing people to loose their job. The government sold state-
owned company to private investors which they will close down factories and use lands for other
purposes. Inflation is one of the eects of 25 January Revolution causing the Egyptian pound to
drop down nearly 12 percent of its value against the US dollar, which has led to an increase in
prices in local market. And higher food price increase the intensity of poverty. Healthcare is
becoming harder to access for poor Egyptian due to the inflation and also the government spend
so little on healthcare. 20 percent of Egyptians owned 80 percent of wealth in the country. And
one percent of people own half of that 80 percent of wealth.

Analysis and opinion:

Very little percent of people in Egypt are rich and the rich owned more than half of the
countrys wealth. This means that rich people are the one who control the country and other poor
people. The poor will remain poor because it is very hard to deal with the rich. Also, it is hard for
poor people to get education, having food to eat is hard enough for them. Corruption is a big
problem. People are unable to get what they should get. The corrupted money will mostly go into
the government and those who are rich. In my opinion, all of the changes should come with a fair
distribution, or the problems will remain unchanged. The government should spend less on
military, although military help protect the country but people are parts of the country and have to
be protected too. Government should concern about the citizens first. If the citizens are in stable
condition, the country will also be. However, it is hard to delete peoples greed. The rich people
are still wanting to become richer. So, without changing those people mindsets, it is hard to delete
poverty from Egypt.

References:

- World Hunger in Egypt. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2017, from https://
romeroegypt.weebly.com/world-hunger-in-egypt.html

- Hunger, poverty rates in Egypt up sharply over past three years UN report. (2013, May 21).
Retrieved December 10, 2017, from http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?
NewsID=44961#.Wi03TLaB1sM

- Bossone, A. (2010, March 24). Tackling Egypt's poverty problem. Retrieved December 10,
2017, from http://www.egyptindependent.com/tackling-egypts-poverty-problem/

Date 28/11/17
Question: What are the solutions for the problem?

Summary:

Revolution to true democracy can help uproot poverty. It will decrease the corruption rate
and people will be able to participate in government. Also, the government has to be as
transparency as possible to make sure that no one is corrupting. Micro financing is another way to
decrease rate of poverty. By the helps of the bank giving small amount of money to people to help
them start their projects and pay this money back after a year without a financial benefit. It will
help the youth people to work and achieve their dreams and to fight poverty and have a chance to
live a decent life. However, this required people who have knowledge and able to manage and
fulfill their project. Otherwise, the uneducated one will not be able to achieve their goal and have
to go in jail because they cant pay the money back to the bank. More jobs has to be created to
decrease the number of unemployments and the percentage of poverty because they can get a
good job. Education is another important thing that everyone should have to be able to have a
good job. Government should make school a place to give a right information for children, not
faulty information. Furthermore, providing free education for those who cant aord to pay for their
child to go to school is the basic way to improve their life. If parents cant send their child to
school, their child will grow up uneducated and become another poor. The government should
pay the debt which will help the country become economically stable so that the financial
situations for each person will increase. Taxation is a good way to create equality between rich
and poor. Government should collect higher percent of taxes on rich people so that the money
can be used to help the poor.

Analysis and opinion:

There are many solutions for Egypt to reduce the rates of poverty. If people are not poor,
the rate of hunger will decrease and children will no longer be malnutrition. All of the problems are
linked together, so the government have to start somewhere between the link which will require
times and eort. But at last the result will be satisfied for the country. Before the government start
doing anything, the government should be transparent first, so people can check whether or not
the government is corrupting or stealing countrys money. In my opinion, if the country is stable
enough, the government should spend some money on making the unproductive land productive.
Creating canals would be helpful for those people who live far away from Nile River or using
technology to make the land productive. Education is the most important thing for people
because many Egyptians are illiterate. People can have a good job if they are educate. Higher
education means they can have more choices on what to do. Taxation is a good solution because
it will create fairness between rich people and poor people. Most of the developed country collect
high tax which creates equality between citizens.

References:

- Essays, UK. (November 2013). The Solutions Of Poverty In Egypt Sociology Essay. Retrieved
from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/sociology/the-solutions-of-poverty-in-egypt-
sociology-essay.php?cref=1