Last week, my friend -with whom I have shared countless dev debates when we were studying for our masters and long after- was in the field with his NGO. He visited villages in Luxor where the children have never met a foreigner before and kept on following him.It reminded me of the movie Bienvenido Mister Marshall. Set in a Spanish village post World War II, at the time of the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Western Europe, the movie introduces us to the mayor and people who heard rumors that the train on which Mr Marshall is travelling will pass by their village. They go overboard, disguising their non-Andalusian town in an Andalusian polka-dot frilly gown, for Mr Marshall to be impressed by everything Spanish and make a hefty donation.
Years after, an Egyptian movie, زيارة السيد الرئيس (The President's Visit) takes us to a village where all are waiting for the Egyptian and American President (Clinton at the time), having heard rumors that the train will stop by. People fight about who's more worthy of the aid money, and then synergize to paint their village blue, red and white with stars and anglicize the shop signs. For we Egyptians are proud of our heritage...
