This is the English version of my blog GDAMAS (Portuguese language, online since 2010). I'm still working on it. English is not my native language.
Felucca is a small, primitive wooden sailboat used in Egypt. Particularly in Aswan, tourists love to be part of a felucca ride on the Nile River. While observing the exotic nature, maybe singing and dancing with the tour guide and the small crew, they see a curious scene: children in a tremendous effort to approach the boat.
The kids use rudimentary mini boats. Smart and kind, they know popular songs from a lot of countries. By paying attention to how a tourist speaks, they spot his or her origin. Next, they sing a popular song from the tourist’s land. For this reason, people call them “the singing kids of the Nile.”
In fact, the kids are trying hard to captivate our attention to get some money — a tip, or baksheesh, as we say in Egypt. Yes, it’s a shrewd strategy, but we can feel the innocence, the candor that involves them. Always humble, they don’t want to just ask for money, so they appear to offer “a service” in exchange for it.
Heart touching.
I will publish here a detailed post to cover felucca rides on the Nile, with photos and tips for your ride. Today, I come just to talk about those kids and ask you one simple favor: to pay attention to them. To see the grace in what they do. And… to give them some money. I mean, baksheesh.
Agreed?