C is for Culture - sometimes different from our own!

 

Day three -- the letter C. 

Deep South in the United States vs. Egypt

When we were in Egypt, I did notice the difference in our cultures. In my Speech 106 class this semester, we've actually been talking about the differences in cultures and how those differences would affect a zoom call or a business meeting. Thinking about the cultural differences in communication made me remember a difference I noticed when we visited Egypt.

We visited a rug factory and they had gorgeous rugs BUT some of the weavers, who were working with a blade, were so young. Our oldest granddaughter is 9 and I feel certain that the "star worker" was about her age. If you google, "What age can a child go to work in Egypt?" you will find all sorts of articles and papers. Most of those articles report that to work, a child must be 15 which is similar to the U.S. I did find one site that said a child of 13 could be in a training program. I did find a paper (cited at the bottom) that shows there were children working at a much younger age in 2010 and I imagine there are still younger children working.

I know that if a child grows up on a farm in Alabama, they are probably helping to feed and water the animals from a very young age, but in 2025, those children who live on a farm are enrolled in a local school or they are home-schooled. Someone in our group did ask our tour guide about the children who were weavers and they were told that the children work in the factory for half a day and go to school for half a day. We did see signs of severe poverty in many areas and we did discuss amongst ourselves the fact that it might be more important for a child to have a trade vs an education. We can't make a judgement call on the culture of another country UNLESS we have lived in their shoes.

I found this article written by an Egyptian journalist that is very interesting. His article shares that in some families, the children are the main wage earners.

I found another article about a student named Abdelhalim who has lived back and forth between the U.S. and Egypt. He says that one of the main cultural differences between the U.S. and Egypt is this -- Americans are very individualistic; Egyptians have a stronger sense of family and community. He said that Americans live for themselves.

I definitely think it is interesting to compare and contrast our cultures. I think there are probably good things about every culture in the world.

Where have you traveled that you noticed a big difference in their culture vs. the culture in the U.S.? Or if you live outside the U.S. and have traveled to the U.S., what cultural differences have you noticed? I've always heard that Americans are perceived as loud and rude in other countries. I imagine that might be true quite often. Mark has realized that other cultures don't value his sense of humor. If you ever meet him, you should ask him about joking with security in an airport in Germany!!

Some information from: 2010 Report - Working Children in Egypt