Due to recent travel restrictions, terrorist threats and other causes, Egyptians and expats alike are getting increasingly frustrated. Constant hits to the tourism industry as well as the common perception of Egypt and its society caused many to launch online initiatives on a variety of social media platforms in order to show the rest of the world what the country is really like.
Initiatives such as #MyEgypt and #ThisIsEgypt, that were launched by Egyptians to encourage other Egyptians to showcase the daily lives of members within the society, have so far been successful.
Nevertheless, expats in the country, while they attempted to shatter the stigma of a "living foreigner in Egypt," have been relatively quiet.
Susan Ryan, an Australian expat living in Sharm El Sheikh, launched a new campaign called #EgyptSmiles "to show the world the warmth of Egypt." In a Facebook post, Ryan stated that "Egyptians and foreigners who live here will have a huge struggle to remove the stain that all the negative media will leave on Sharm and on Egypt."
"If people do get here and have a great time, please write about it on Trip Advisor, Lonely Planet, Frommers," Ryan said, asking people to "comment on the anti-Egypt stories in the media."
Ryan also added that people must follow governmental warnings and stated that once bans are lifted by authorities, #EgyptSmiles would still make people add Egypt to their "bucket list and make it their second home."
Needless to say, other expats in the country followed Ryan's footsteps. Iris C. Meijer, a Dutch expat residing in Luxor, also encouraged the initiative through a public Faceboook post and asked everyone in the country or abroad to "post lots of pictures of people smiling in Egypt, which shouldn't be hard to do, because the people of this country are beautiful and warm." She added that Egyptian are "people travelling and living here from abroad have so many things to smile about."
Meijer, however, is against all governmental travel restrictions to Egypt, saying that people "do not need to follow warnings from European governments about travelling to Egypt." She explained that "travel warnings and travel advice are based on extremely shoddy fact finding, senseless scaremongering and sensationalism."
Furthermore, the Dutch expat also claimed that she tried to contact Dutch authorities "to give them accurate information as someone actually on the ground, living here day by day." Despite her attempts however, she stated that she was "sent a standard letter and subsequently ignored completely."
Despite heavy setbacks within the Egyptian society and foreign interference, the country remains hopeful and for some, it's the only place that feels like home.