THE PROMISE!!
The OMO Man … unkept Promise! I was born in a village in Egypt called Meet Sweed (Port of Sweed), a small village in the heart of the Delta. with one street, one bridge, one river, one school, one mosque, and one cemetery! I left my beloved village with my family for Cairo when I was 14 years old and finished my school and military service. After that, when I was 26 years old, I left for America, worked, studied, married and had a daughter. Since then, I have been traveling back and forth from my two homes for many years. Over 15 years ago, on one of my visits to Egypt, I went to visit the village as usual, and especially to the cemetery to pay my respects to my parents, who passed away in the late 80s. The cemetery is located on the outskirts of the village near a big mulberry tree, which had survived all this time. We called it the Dokr (الدكر-the male.) If you get to the Dokr (الدكر ( on your own, it was a sign of adulthood, like smoking, then climbing the dokr, you are a Dokr, a man, …! As I was walking toward the cemetery, I spotted a few children playing by the big Mulberry tree, two girls and a boy of the tender ages of 8 to 11. The boy was climbing the tree, and the girls were dumping water in the “el Mashrooua” the project by the tree. Once the kids saw me with a camera, they rushed around me, curious, asking about what I was doing, and what I was filming. They started talking, out of order, everyone eager to share a story! Then everyone calmed down and they started talking about the OMO man’s unkept promise. Who was the OMO Man? He was a company representative who came to the village with a promotion, a promise of prizes. The OMO man promised the villagers if they collected OMO bags, (detergents), they could win prizes, cash, even a washing machine, dishwasher, or TV.! The OMO man assured them he would come back and collect the bags from them and deliver the prizes to those who collected the most. The kids took to the task enthusiastically. They worked hard collecting many OMO bags and brought them to the village mosque on Friday as they were told to do. Indeed, the OMO man came, collected the bags, but then vanished, and didn’t come back, and never kept his promise. The children had been skeptical in the beginning. They had asked the OMO man, how, where, and when he was coming back with the prizes. They had waited and waited for him to return with the prizes, but nobody showed up. “The OMO man didn’t keep his promise,” one of the girls said. “He fooled us all” she added. “The OMO man lied to us,” the other girl explained sadly, Now he is a liar before God,” she added. I asked the children what they would want to tell the OMO man if they had a chance. “I would tell the OMO man, not to lie to people anymore,” they said, “He should have kept his promise,” one girl said. “I don’t want the OMA man prizes, I forgive him, but now it is between him and god.” She said with resignation. I asked the kids, why they talked to me, despite their disappointment with the OMO man. “You are different than the OMO man,” one said. “Once we saw, and started talking to you, we trusted you, “If I saw anything wrong with you, I would not talk with you!” explained one of the girls. “You are like our father or older brother” she added. At the end, I promised these kids that one day I would tell their story. I returned back to the States, my home now. I forgot about this conversation, and I forgot about my promise., too. However, over 15 years later, one day, as I’m working on my film documentary, I found the video file hidden inside a big file. I had promised to tell these children’s story, unlike the OMO man, I’m keeping my promise! Here is a link to the story… I put it on video!! I’m writing to you now not sure what to make of this, how you feel about the dirt that the OMO man put on your cleaning brand. However. I want to work on this story, go back to Egypt, look for these village kids, 15 years later. I’m delivering my promise. Now I'm asking you to keep the OMO man’s promise; and work on a plan to rectify the situation and bring trust back to your OMO brand. I’m working on contacting the village, inquiring about these children, whether they still around, or living in the village. Do they still remember the story of the OMO man and the OMO promise? Could you help? Ahmed Tharwat Host/Producer Arab American TV show BelAhdan WWW.Belahdan.com WWW.ahmediaTV.com
