Back in 2015, I visited a swimming pool in the Deweika neighborhood in Cairo, which is a working-class area. The pool was started by Um Aya, known as Sanaa, and her husband, Hussein. They created it for their kids as a way to entertain them during the summer, as they couldn't afford to travel to one of the local beaches, and the neighborhood lacked a pool for the residents. Soon enough, many other kids from the neighborhood wanted to join in, and they established a small business by charging a modest fee of 2 Egyptian pounds, which was approximately 40 cents at the time.

Three years later, I returned to see if the pool was still there, and I was glad to find it was still operational, filled with kids and adults enjoying the water. It provided a necessary escape for many who couldn't afford to visit Egypt's beaches, becoming a source of joy during a growing economic crisis.

I came back in the summer of 2023, which coincided with one of the hottest summers in recent memory. Hussein had upgraded the pool to a larger one before he sadly passed away a few months prior to my visit. The fee had increased to 5 pounds (around 14 cents) due to the devaluation of the Egyptian pound and the worsening economic crisis. This amount now feels expensive for many kids who continue to struggle amidst the ongoing financial challenges in Egypt.