Ramadan Around the Clock: Kamel Hassan, Tailor

Kamel Hassan is one of about 40 tailors and dressmakers who gather around a big table to break their fast day every day outside their shops at Maadi Grand Mall. “Ramadan is full of good deeds; every year, the iftar spread is sponsored by a barber, called the Sheikh, who also has a shop at the mall,” says the 27-year-old dressmaker, who adds that two big tables are usually prepared for all the fasting workers in the mall, which is home to some 19 tailor and dressmaker shops.

Hassan describes how some of the tailors while away the time, enjoying a game of football in an empty lot outside the mall an hour before the maghreb call to prayer. “In Ramadan, we have two shifts a day; the first one starts at 11am to an hour before iftar and the second starts following the night prayers until 1am,” says Hassan, who opened his dressmaking shop in 2011.

During the first ten days of Ramadan, work is light because the customers are busy preparing their basic goods for the holy month, he adds. “However, in the last days of Ramadan, some dressmakers stay in their shops and do not return home due to the heavy work ahead of Eid El-Fitr.”