This video, containing footage of a food truck, its equipment, and cooking utensils, getting confiscated by Egyptian authorities has caused a frenzy over social media platforms.
The food truck in question is owned and operated by two Egyptian women, Shaimaa and Yasmine. The two women are 31 year old graduates of reputable universities who have decided to start this small food truck –called Burger Station- in the Heliopolis area (near The Sheraton Buildings area), after they were frustrated with the lack of jobs currently available in Egypt.
Indeed, as the authorities confiscate their material, one of the women can be heard clearly saying “hatly sho3’l w ba3den 5od el 7aga” (find me a job, and then confiscate my food truck).
It is important to note here that the person who called the local authorities on the two ladies, was a high ranking government official (an Assistant Minister), who reportedly lived down the street, just a few buildings away from where the truck had been stationed.
In the video it is made clear that the two women had tried time and time again to gain the appropriate certifications for their food truck, but the doors were shut in their face several times, without clear justifications.
The video -and the story behind it- have taken social media by storm with the video getting shared and re-shared under the hashtags #BURGER_STATION, #بنات_بتكافح, and #زينا_زيهم .The Arabic hashtags respectively translate into “#women_persevering” and #They Are Just Like All of Us”.
The true problem does not lie in the fact that the women stationed their food truck, without having received appropriate certification. The true problem lies in the fact that a lot of red tape continues to exist for everyday individuals seeking to open up small businesses.
Even if the women had possessed all the appropriate certifications and licensing there was to possess, the authority of the person who made the call on them would have likely far surpassed the legality of their food truck.
For those who claim that the women deserved what they got because businesses without licensing is reflective of chaos, let us not forget that the literal spark that led up to the chaos of The Arab Spring was one that came from a poor street vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi setting himself on fire in Tunisia.