CAIRO, Egypt
Sayeed Farouk is a 12-year-old Egyptian boy who wears a red baseball cap, lives near giant pyramids and has a camel named after a local rock star.
The camel is one of the most important things to Sayeed because tourists pay him to let them ride around the pyramids and look at the ancient tombs of the Pharoahs. It's how Sayeed's family makes a living. The camel, named Riyal, lives next to Sayeed's house, along with chickens and ducks that Sayeed's mother, Karima, raises for food and to sell. Riyal is occasionally noisy at night and keeps everyone awake by kicking the walls.
Sayeed Farouk, 12, sits on his camel near the Pyramids of Giza outside Cairo. Tourists pay Sayeed for camel rides through the pyramids.
(Daniel Williams - The Washington Post)
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Sayeed doesn't go to school and never has. Even though children in Egypt are supposed to stay in school until at least the sixth grade, many go to work instead. Only 60 percent of Egyptian children finish elementary school, according to a World Bank study.
Egypt is a very poor country and people on average make only $7 a day.
"I like the money and I like to ride," Sayeed said in Arabic, the official language of Egypt. He knows just a few words of English, including "pyramids" and "beautiful." "My grandfather was a camel worker; so is my father, although he's old now and doesn't work. My brother also takes tourists on the camel."
Sayeed and his brother Awad, who is 21, take tourists on camel trips from morning to sunset and even at night if there is a full moon. Then, the pyramids seem to glow in the dark. All camel riders are boys. Girls are not allowed to do the work.
Some tourists are afraid to ride alone. When that happens, Sayeed sits on the large, wool saddle with the passenger. When Riyal walks slowly, it's like riding on a big rocking chair. When he trots, though, it's bumpety-bumpy. The camel has to kneel down for a passenger to get on and off.
After Sayeed finishes his work, he rides the camel home through dirt alleys, some no wider than a sidewalk. Along the way are stores that sell vegetables and perfumes to tourists. Cairo is famous for its perfumes and for papyrus, the world's first paper.
Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, is Sayeed's day off. On all days, Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day, but Sayeed says he doesn't. "With work, it's not realistic," he said.
And work is something he would never give up. "At night sometimes I take Riyal for a gallop by the pyramids. I love camels and always want to be a camel man," he said. "And my sons, too, in the future will be camel men."
-- Daniel Williams
