The OMO Grant Project2025
The OMO Man Promise
The Project Description
Background:
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 and finished school and military service. Most of our nightmares come from the city, and our dreams come from the village. When I was 26 years old, After that, when I was 26 years old, I left for America, worked, studied, married, and had a daughter, a TV program, and a blog. In a way, I became famous but not many people know that. Since then, I have traveled back and forth from my two homes for many years. Over 24 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, …! I have been working on a film a documentary about the Coptic Man who lived in my village and was buried in my family cemetery. As I was walking toward the cemetery with my camera, I spotted a few children playing by the big Mulberry tree, three 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 at heart.; They worked hard collecting many OMO bags and brought them to the village mosque on Friday as they were told to do. Indeed, “Tarek /طارق” the OMO man came, collected the bags, vanished, and didn’t come back. The OMO man never kept his promise. The children had been skeptical in the beginning. They had asked Tarekطارق 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…
Proposal:
I want to work on this story, return to Egypt, and look for these village kids, 24 years later. I’m working on delivering my promise, and to keep the OMO man’s promise, rectify the situation, and bring trust back to your OMO brand. I’m working on contacting the village, inquiring about these children, whether they are still around, or living in the village. Do they still remember the OMO man promise? It has been over a month since I contacted Unilever’s headquarters offices in the US and the UK, but to no avail. Telling the story of those children was a promise that I made over 15 years ago, now it is for the OMO man and Unilever the parent company that was established over 100 years ago, here is what Unilever says on the website; “… We are known for our great brands and our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance.” For those kids, I’m not sure!
Telling this story, making a short documentary of 45M, will be a soul-searching exploration of children’s memories, it started over 15 years ago, and documented how these children’s lives and memories have changed, through the years, how the OMO man promise changed their relationship with the brand, the company and the TV.
Timeline
Timeline
Description of Work Start and End Dates
Phase One Research promotional activities of Unilever in Egypt and Middle east, establishing contacts with children (adults) in the village 10/15 /2025
Phase Two On Location Production
2 days in Cairo, 5 days in Village, interviews with children, eyewitness and experts. 11/15 to 11/20, 2025
Phase Three
Editing, translation and finalized the project, will be done here in the state and under my complete technical control. 1/1 to 1/21 2025
Post production
Showing, tpt, BelAhdan, Arab Film festival, Int. Film festival
Videos:
How it all started…
Link of the OMO man story,
Promise 24 years late
Other stories
My Dog Story
No Land Without Bread
Budget (estimates based on our preliminary research and investigation)
Description of Work Anticipated Costs
I On location Production
20 hours of shooting X $50/hour X 2 crews $2,000
II Local traveling &services
Renting Van/Driver
Hotels, 5-10 days
($100 /$80 a day)
(Heartland Tour)
$1500
$1000
III Audio Engineering
Editing, and finalize project (50/Hours of raw materials)
Translation
Prizes, 1. Dishwasher, 2. Washing Macing, 3. TV 4. Cash
$2500
$5000
$1500
$2000
*Total $15,000
Videos:
How it all started…
Link of the OMO man story,
Promise 24 years late
Other stories
My Dog Story
No Land Without Bread
My Website, ahMedia
Key Personnel
Ahmed Tharwat (director)
A host and producer of the Arab/Muslim American TV show BelAhdan (with open arms), a weekly TV show that airs on public TV every Saturday. As a regular speaker, blogger, podcaster, and contributor on the Public Radio show All Thing Considered, I have shared my unique view of the world and American political and social events. As a regular contributor to StarTribune, the Pioneer Press, and Twin City Planet, also I have written to national and international magazines, such as Slate, Diversify Inc. and Al Jazeera English. I won the Pioneer Press community columnist award in 2000. In all my work, I have been trying to bring Arabs/Muslims to mainstream Americans. My role as producer for this project, writing the script, traveling on location, researching, meeting, interviewing, organizing, and directing
Sara Abdelaal (video editing)
A Video content creator for over 10 years, producing video stories, and podcaster programming for diverse organizations, TPT,
Jeff Strate (video editing)
Mr. Strate has been a television writer/producer for more than 15 years, he is now producing a a progressive weekly TV show, Democratic Vision. He was one of the War on Poverty’s first “soldiers” serving as a teacher in rural Alabama in 1965. He was also a Peace Corps teacher in Uganda just prior to outbreaks of genocide and has a graduate degree in African studies. Mr. Strate began his television career at University Community Video and KTCA-TV.
Video, Cairo Audio, and video service
Video Cairo Sat (VCS) is a Joint Stock Company based in Cairo, Egypt, with a strong regional and international presence and outreach capacity throughout the Middle East and Africa. VCS expertise expand across a wide range of fields including:
* News gathering and packaging
* Satellite feeds and teleport
* Documentary and drama production
* Content development for TV and new media
Said Soulman (fixer)
A childhood friend who had accompanied me throughout the torture ordeal. A military man for more than 20 years, a businessman with 25 years of experience in Egypt and Egyptian affairs.
*Kitty Aal, Screenwriter
Kitty is a film programmer and photographer. She is a graduate of the Communication Arts and Film Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (B.A. 1998). She served 4 years on the Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Film Committee as coordinator of various film series and festivals, including the Starlight Cinema underground series. She also inaugurated and curated the Blow Up Cinema series at the Elvehjem Museum. She held internships at the Walker Art Center’s Film and Video Department (1998) and the Minnesota Film and T.V. Board (2001). In conjunction with Cinema Revolution, Kitty curated Cinema des Artistes, a monthly film and discussion series at the Varsity Theater (2005-2007). She has been a regular guest on TPT Bel-Ahdan program discussing film from the Middle East. She also served on Mizna’s Fourth Arab Film Festival Selection and Planning Committee and was Co-Organizer of the Cinema and Society in the Arab World Conference at the University of Minnesota (2006). She helped translate passages from French into English for the Collectif Jeune Cinéma experimental film distribution catalog in Paris (2007). She was Associate Producer/Casting Director on the Minnesota-made feature “Triumph ’67”. She currently co-programs the Carbon Arc Cinema in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
*Caren Abdelaal, research, editor
Endorsements
1. BelAhdan Fundraising 4/18/2011 ($2,500)
2. Kick Starter Foundation Fundraising ends 5/30/2011
3. Twin City Media Alliance
4. Individual sponsors …
5. Marina Restaurant
6. Heartland Tour
7. African Development Center
8. Jawaher Dance Company
9. Major fundraising at St. Anthony Main Theater, 8/20/2011
Interviews and …………………………………………… .location
Arrangements have been made with interviewers that Interviews will be conducted on relevant locations as much as possible,
Contacts
Please contact us at:
BelAhdan/Egypt Project
Direct Contact:
Ahmed Tharwat
612-250-6567
ahmediatv@gmail.com
Appendix
Contacts
Please contact us at:
BelAhdan/Egypt Project
Direct Contact:
Ahmed Tharwat
ahmediatv@gmail.com
Appendix