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I heard that Egyptian children ask for pens from tourists. Is this true? Does this happen often? If yes, what kind of pens do they like? Why pens?
sonomod Member # 3864
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The pens are for school work. Very expensive for most families in Egypt.
I would think any type of pen would to, but make sure that these pens won't leak. I know the ball point pens aren't the sturdiest if made in Egypt.
Try pink, purple and green pens. Something unusual.
Personally I have a few sets of "Hello Kitty" stationary sets waiting to board a plane for my daughter and my nieces.
wise_woman Member # 444
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I stopped outside the Etap Hotel, Luxor, to put my camera back inside my handbag. A Policeman came over and said pen in Arabic to me. It so happpened I had boughts lots of cheap pens from £1 shop, shiny holographic pens. He looked so happy when I gave him a pen, but only in exchange for me taking his photo which he didnt seem too pleased with but I threatened to take the pen back. I got my photo.
sonomod Member # 3864
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quote:Originally posted by wise_woman: I stopped outside the Etap Hotel, Luxor, to put my camera back inside my handbag. A Policeman came over and said pen in Arabic to me. It so happpened I had boughts lots of cheap pens from £1 shop, shiny holographic pens. He looked so happy when I gave him a pen, but only in exchange for me taking his photo which he didnt seem too pleased with but I threatened to take the pen back. I got my photo.
you know there are laws against photographing service men or officers?
But now I am seriously considering filling a 30 gallon bin in my shipping container with pens! I'll have a decade of bakeesh!
By the way, why hasn't anyone invested in the stationary and writing utensil industry? There seems to be an amazing need for it!
pandora Member # 10146
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i gave pens to children in cairo, minya, luxor, and aswan..they all asked for them and were happy when they got them..i didn't ask for anything in return...i noticed while in minya that people buy a few sheets of paper at a time to write on from the little markets...and we all know t.p. is a premium in egypt..
ExptinCAI Member # 1439
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i remember this phenomenon in luxor, and i couldn't understand why bcs nobody in cairo ever asked for them. pens are not expensive in egypt. the only answer i got was it was 'a trend' for kids to see what kind of foreign pens they got from the tourists (rather than any monetary value). didn't think that it was still the trend 6 yrs later.
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