Chairman and Editor in chief
Dr. Mohamed El Baz
Chairman and Editor in chief
Dr. Mohamed El Baz

French lady "just" hugging Egyptian street dogs

Rozena hugging a
Rozena hugging a street dog

The world only needs more kind people, nothing else. This was the only thing on my mind when I accidentally met Rozena, a French lady who is rescuing, cleaning, and finding new homes for street dogs around Cairo's streets. I was hiding from the heat and drinking a quick coffee when I saw her cuddling dogs in a way I had not seen much of. She seemed honest and loving, and then the conversation flowed.

The Egyptian government is doing all it can do to manage the issue of homeless dogs. Yet the government, on its own, won't be able to solve it for good. No government can do this independently, as the issue needs solidarity between the country's government and its people, including the six million non-Egyptian residents like Rozena.

Egypt faces over 15 million homeless dogs, yet they live peacefully in villages and cities. But the dogs themselves are suffering due to the increase in their population. To balance the environmental triangle, the country only needs five million of them.

Rozena came to Cairo a couple of months ago. Although she is more into cats, the unique personality of the dogs here made her move. "I went to Romania; the dogs there are wild. In Turkey, the dogs seem spoiled. But the Egyptian Baladi dogs are super nice. They only want a hug. Sometimes you give them food, and they ignore it for a hug," she said.

"I don't blame the government as there are too many dogs to handle when you have a population of 110 million."