A relative of mine who works in construction,
Decided to take me to work with his brother-in-law.
Back then, I was in middle school.
Around 12 years old.
I hadn’t worked a day in my life,
And now I was to start work in August?
Everyone in Aswan knows what the sun’s like in August.

I suddenly found myself in the desert,
And the sun was everywhere.
The bricks were hot, and the weather was scorching.
I had spent my entire life at home,
And now, all of a sudden, I was being thrown headfirst into hellfire.
And if you can’t handle the heat, you’re not considered to be a real man.
Only real men can handle it.

"No, sorry, it's getting too hot for me,” I said. “Take it easy on me and slow down."
"You're not a real man. Now be a good guy and a real man" he replied.
"How am I supposed to be a real man?
I will carry the things with you, yes,
but I won't be able to do a good job,
or work the way you want me to,” I said.

Working for a year is not the same as working for two or three years.
Those people have gotten used to working.
They don't care anymore.
But when someone is doing something for the first time,
It’s definitely going to make a difference to them.

I decided to leave, because I had had enough.
I found out later,
That he said that people had begged him to let me work with him,
And that I cried.

But that never happened.
Times change, but minds don’t.
To them, men have to be like steel.
They have to be physically strong. They have to endure.

But after I grew up,
And life started to change,
I started to realize that a real man was a man of action,
Not one who was merely strong.