The “real” Upper Egypt: “The Upper Egypt portrayed in TV series and cinema is sensationalist, from the black-and-white movies that used its inhabitants as rough comic material, to the Ramadan TV shows that show it as dominated by people who live in palaces surrounded by guards,” Sohag native Ahmed Ismail writes in Mada Masr in an account translated by Mariam Aboughazi. Ismail gives an insight into what life is really like in Upper Egypt’s villages — one that is seemingly lost on those of us who dwell in the capital city.

For a sharply unbanked society, financial transactions there can get quite peculiar: “As people can buy and sell on credit, it is acceptable to buy groceries all year long and only pay with your yield when wheat is harvested. While barter is less and less common, it’s still used — eggs and wheat are accepted currencies in most villages. I have bartered two eggs for a pack of tea.”

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