Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘mediterranean’

An Egyptian Beach Opens Doors

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on February 4, 2023| 5 Comments »

Photo: Mariam Ehab.
View of Mandara Beach in Alexandria, Egypt, where floating ropes help the visually impaired enter and exit the Mediterranean Sea, Aug. 23, 2022.

You may have noticed that I love stories about Sweden and Egypt. That’s because two of my grandchildren are half Swedish and two are half Egyptian. How lucky is that!?

Today’s story comes from Alexandria in Egypt. Miriam Ehab covered it for the Christian Science Monitor.

“In a sunny spot along the bustling shores of Alexandria, Egypt’s second-largest city, a group of beachgoers splash and frolic in the sea. But this is no ordinary beach.

“Holding onto floating barriers and ropes, safe in the knowledge that attentive lifeguards are nearby, almost everyone here is blind or visually impaired. Mandara Beach is the first of its kind in the Arab world’s most populous country, specially fitted so it’s accessible to swimmers with physical disabilities. For many, it’s more than just a day of fun and relaxation – it’s a rare window of empowerment.

“Inaugurated in 2021 for people using wheelchairs, Mandara underwent another renovation last year. When the revamped beach opened again in June, at the height of Egypt’s summer season, thousands of citizens with visual impairments could also safely swim in the calm cerulean Mediterranean waters. …

“ ‘This is the first time I’ve been to the sea,’ Sarah, one beachgoer, says with a beaming smile. ‘I was very happy and did not feel afraid at all when I was swimming.’ … 

“Some 12 million Egyptians live with a disability, roughly 3.5 million of whom face visual challenges. In 2018, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared the ‘year of persons with disabilities.’ … Parliament responded with a slew of laws, including the provision of state-subsidized health care to people with disabilities.

“Other benefits included tax exemptions on the purchase of cars, educational and medical materials, and imported assistive devices. Legal fees, whether for plaintiff or defendant, also were lifted for people with disabilities. And in 2021, Parliament approved tougher penalties for the bullying of people with disabilities.

“ ‘The laws from 2018 are excellent,’ says Hassan Abdel Qader, head of Alexandria’s Blind Association. ‘But the problem is in their implementation.’

“The fact is, say campaigners, that many public spaces and means of transport still lack accessibility, assistive technologies are hard to come by, services for people with disabilities are patchy, and discrimination is not uncommon. Still, change is coming, slowly. 

“Some months ago, Jihad Mohammed Naguib, an employee at the Department of Tourism and Resorts in Alexandria, was inspired by something she heard from the governor of Alexandria, Maj. Gen. Mohamed el-Sherif. He noted that there were never any blind people on the beaches, which are the pride of the coastal city. …

“ ‘The idea ​of ​allocating a part of the beach for the visually impaired … was put forward after we inaugurated the free Mandara Beach for people with motor disabilities and the success that it met,’ Major General Sherif says in an interview. And so, with funding from the Rotary Club of Alexandria Pharos, the work began. 

“Floating ropes with plastic balls were installed on a flat portion of the beach, so that swimmers with visual impairments could enter and leave the water holding these ropes. People in wheelchairs could use a modified ramp, the end of which was fitted with a metal box submerged in the water, ensuring their safety while in the sea. Lifeguards and a first-aid unit were also available – which isn’t always the case on Egypt’s public beaches.

“Those directly affected – and most likely to benefit – were consulted from the beginning. ‘We proposed some things that they have already implemented, and others that they promised would be implemented in the future,’ Mr. Qader says.

“Those suggestions included a whistle for children who feel endangered, and a rope that extends from the entrance of the beach to the water, so that even if a visually impaired person visits on their own they can reach the sea without assistance. …

“The beach is the latest in a recent string of hard-won successes for Egypt’s visually impaired people. The Egyptian Blind Sports Federation already runs several sports teams, including soccer, weightlifting, judo, and showdown – a type of air hockey for blind people.

“But gaps remain.  ‘Most services, and recreational and sports activities for the visually impaired, are concentrated in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, while other Egyptian cities have little capabilities,’ says Moamen Mostafa, the former head of public relations for the Blind Association of Egypt. …

“That makes Mandara Beach all the more poignant for a group who have difficulty accessing recreational and sports activities.  For 52-year-old Mohamed Attia and his 40-year-old wife, Sahar, both wheelchair users, this was the first time they could enjoy the beach together. 

“ ‘I am happy to go into the sea for the first time in my life, after I could only watch it from afar,’ says Ms. Attia. 

“The couple were delighted to find a group of people who helped them move their wheelchairs into the water. … 

“Mr. Attia says … ‘Those who had this idea have a compassionate heart. We really wish this project to continue and spread on all the beaches of Egypt,’ he adds. 

“That wish may come true. Buoyed by the success and widespread acceptance of Mandara Beach, Major General Sherif says there are plans to open a similar facility in Alexandria’s Anfushi Beach. From there, he hopes, the idea will spread through the country.”

More at the Monitor, here.

Read Full Post »

The Island of Menorca

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 29, 2021| 3 Comments »

Photo: Erika Page/The Christian Science Monitor.
Yachts are not supposed to be anchored above Posidonia seagrass per a 2018 decree that the Mediterranean island of Menorca hopes will allow tourism to coexist with ecology.

Tourism can wreak havoc on a community’s determination to protect its environment, but educating tourists can make it work. At the Christian Science Monitor, Erika Page reports that on one Mediterranean island, even children know how to take action.

“When the yacht lowers its anchor into the sea off the Spanish island of Menorca, nine-year-old Nubia Manzanares, playing on a nearby dock with neighbors, immediately notices the ecological blunder and leaps into action.

“The untrained eye wouldn’t notice anything wrong. But Nubia, who has snorkeled in these waters her whole life, knows immediately that the ship has anchored itself directly on top of a meadow of Posidonia oceanica, a seagrass most tourists have never heard of. The anchor will damage the precious plant and likely tear it out of the earth when it goes to leave.

“She grabs her paddleboard and oar and sets out to warn the boat that it is parked illegally. (She brings her uncle along as well, just in case the boater doesn’t react kindly.)

“Nubia is one of many Menorcans who are doing everything they know how to protect the ribbon-like Posidonia, which lives underwater in expansive meadows, known to some as the ‘lungs of the Mediterranean.’ Occupying around 250 square miles in the Balearic Islands alone, the plant is as important in the fight against climate change as it is for the local ecosystem. But it is disappearing at the alarming rate of 5% per year.

Menorca has earned a reputation for its sustainable model of tourism, in many cases having prioritized environmental protectionism over tourist development.

“But as tourism has grown in recent decades, and Posidonia meadows continue to shrink, the island is facing a new and serious challenge. Menorcans are working to solve the problem by digging deep into the values that have made the island the oasis it is today: respect, balance, and well-informed care for the island as a whole.

“ ‘High-quality tourism is tourism that understands and values what and who we are,’ says Isaac Olives Vidal, director of sustainable projects for the Consell Insular, a local government body. ‘This is the most important thing: that the people who come to your house, or to Menorca, or to any other place, value what you are, what you have, and that they respect it.’

“Posidonia is found all around coastlines of the Balearic Islands, an archipelago off the Spanish coast that includes popular tourist destinations Ibiza and Mallorca, as well as the smaller and more pristine Menorca.

Posidonia meadows soak up five times more carbon dioxide each year than a similarly sized segment of the Amazon rainforest and are a major producer of the region’s oxygen.

“The seagrass also acts as a powerful water filtration system, provides a habitat for 20% of the Mediterranean’s species, protects coastlines from erosion, and is responsible for around 85% of the island’s sand formation. Without Posidonia, locals are quick to note, there would be no crystalline waters or white sand beaches for tourists to visit.

“Some scientists estimate that nearly 30% of the Mediterranean’s Posidonia has already disappeared, due to damage from boat anchors, eutrophication (excessive accumulation of nutrients), and construction projects. Because the plant grows back at the slow rate of less than half an inch each year, and replanting Posidonia is difficult and costly, protection is key.

“Saving what is left of the Posidonia won’t be easy for Menorca, an island whose economy depends fundamentally on tourism. …

“ ‘In general, the people of Menorca are much more conservationist,’ says Victor Carretero, a marine technician at the Balearic Ornithological Group (GOB) Menorca, an environmental organization that grew out of demonstrations against plans for urban development in the 1970s. …

“For Nubia’s mother, Rocio Manzanares, protecting the Posidonia is a matter of respect.

“When her two daughters were younger, they sometimes complained about the seagrass – even the most ardent Posidonia devotees admit that the plant stinks when washed up on the beach. So Ms. Manzanares modeled the reverence she knows the plant deserves.

“ ‘Well, I love the Posidonia,’ she would respond excitedly to her children, telling stories about the many ways the plant protects the island – things she learned from GOB Menorca. ‘When kids say it’s gross, I give them another vision,” she says.

“But in the past two decades, she’s noticed that the tourists who come to the island don’t treat the beaches or the ocean with the same respect her daughters now do. …

“ ‘The real political interest is nautical tourism,’ says Pep Escrivà, a firefighter who wrote a proposal to formally protect specific regions of the island from motorized boats. … ‘[Politicians are] scared that if they pressure the boat renters, they won’t have as much business. But that’s the wrong way of seeing things. Because if you protect the natural world, you create space for another type of tourist.’ ”

More at the Monitor, here. The beautiful pictures of the island will make you want to go there, but if you do, please be respectful of the seagrass!

Read Full Post »