Farag has worked for fifty years in the Hoda Sharawi neighborhood, beginning as a tailor until his sight failed and then working in an electronics store.

“This passageway used to be taken up mostly as a storage space for Abu Goukh Bicycles, as well as medical supply stores, which brought a lot of doctors around. The rest of the stores were tailors or cobblers.... In the 1980s Mr. Albert bought a tailor’s store and turned it into an electrical supply store and was followed by Mr. Hossam who changed his own store from medical supplies to electronics. Then the Bustan Mall was built, first it housed a lot of clothing and shoe stores but now it’s mostly electronics due to the influence of the neighborhood. Thus the neighborhood became a commercial area like Ataba or Muski.

The relative lack of traffic in Huda Sharawi street helped preserve some of the spaces inbetween the buildings, which led to the accumulation of waste in them, however now that there are shops in the pasageways the activity in them has increased."