CAIRO (VINnews) — How much can a picture accomplish? In the case of a Cairo woman who was photographed selling lupines in teeming rain, the picture was not just worth a thousand words but rather tens of thousands of dollars.
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An Emirati woman saw the viral picture of Nemaat, a 63-year-old Cairo vendor huddling to protect herself from the cold and the rain while she sold stewed lupines, a popular local dish. The woman decided to donate to the vendor, dubbed “the woman in the rain” by viewers, an apartment as well as a regular stipend in order that she should not have to continue her grueling trade in all weathers.
“She is lucky. A woman from the Emirates contacted us and donated an apartment for her. A regular stipend has also been donated for her,” Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity Nevin Al Qabaj told private Egyptian TV station Al Hadath Al Youm Saturday night without giving details.
The vendor, who suffers from diabetes, lives in a makeshift room near a building under construction, according to media reports. She sells the lupines to support her husband, a car attendant and averages 10 to 20 Egyptian pounds a day, (about 1-1.5 dollars a day).
“I sell lupines to earn money to support my husband. He tells me to stay at home, but I refuse,” she said.
After she appeared on local television, the Egyptian government as well as a famous local actress pledged support for Nemaat, but the donor from the Emirates exceeded all of the local support offered for the vendor.
The Emiratis and the Israelis have another thing in common: both are baalei chessed and tzedoka.