Footballer turns a street vendor
Manfalut (Egypt), May 19: On a hot Saturday afternoon, Mahrous Mahmoud is busy as can be. The professional football player, however, is working up a sweat in a different way these days as a street vendor.
At this time of the year, Mahmoud would be on the field playing as a defender for Beni Suef, a club in Egypt’s second division. But like millions in the Arab world’s most populous country, he has been hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic.
These days, he heads to work in a crowded market in an Upper Egypt town. Shoulder-to-shoulder, shoppers jostle around stalls as he prepares a pancake-like pastry.
Prior to the pandemic, Mahmoud made about $200 a month playing for his club. That went a long way toward feeding his family of three. The league was shut down in mid-March and Mahmoud’s main source of income dried up.
Egypt has implemented a strict curfew and closed cafes, malls and other shops as part of a government effort to stem the spread of the virus.
His club told players to stay at home until they could return to playing. That’s not an option for Mahmoud. His family has to eat. “I should do any kind of work to help feed them,” he said.
The market in Manfalut, a town 350 kilometres south of Cairo, has remained open throughout the pandemic, bustling as shoppers buy provisions for the evening meal that breaks the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The small pancakes that Mahmoud makes, called qatayef in
● With the Egyptian league shut due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Mahrous Mahmoud of Beni Suef club works in a crowded market, preparing popular Ramadan desserts to feed his family.
Arabic, are among the most favourite Ramadan desserts.
The 28-year-old Mahmoud is the eldest of two sons. His father worked as a part-time driver but is retired with heart problems. He supports his father, mother and brother, who live in one room of a three-storey building they share with six other families of his uncles.
Mahmoud showed athletic talent from a young age. He started as a boxer in a local club, then moved on to handball, before coaches convinced him to join the club’s soccer team. By 16, he went professional. “They told me I would be a good defender,” said Mahmoud, whose teammates nicknamed him Kompany after former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany.
However, Mahmoud sees Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk as his role model. Mahmoud helped his team to the top of its league, and he hopes to advance to the country’s top division.
In the meantime, he’ll just have to keep working, despite the dangers. There’s his family, and another reason to save Mahmoud had been scheduled to get married next month. “Nobody is immune. But those like me and my family have to survive,” he said.