The following is a story of a young Egyptian woman who recalls when she interfered to protect an abused child, awaking the moral responsibility of her neighborhood.

Part 1/2

“We have an open garage in front of our apartment building. There was a man who was hired to manage it. Part of his job was to clean the cars, manage the parking spots and so on. This man had a son. He was a child. 10 years or younger.

I tell you, that man was a horrid man. He laid not even a finger in taking care of that garage. He would sit at the corner of its entrance and his young boy would do all the work for him, and if he dared to screw up even a minor mistake, that poor boy would get the most torturous of beatings I've ever seen a parent exert on a child.

The whole neighborhood would hear the boy scream, and the man had no shame in showing it, because no one did anything to stop him. I promised myself that if I ever hear or see that boy abused again I'll humiliate that terrible excuse of a so called father. Everyone around me told me to mind my own business. Not to cause trouble. But I just couldn’t shake it off. There was that heavy of feeling of needing to do something, you know.

And that day came. One night, I heard him beating the boy with a large wooden log, and the child was crying for mercy. I was fortunate it was dark, so nobody could see me. I instantly slammed my living room’s window open, and that's when I spiraled out of control. I yelled as loud as I can,

‘I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DARE LAY ANOTHER FINGER ON THAT BOY I'LL SNATCH HIM FROM UNDERNEATH YOUR HANDS AND SEND HIM TO FOSTER CARE. GOD KNOWS THOSE ORPHANAGES COULD BE MORE MERCIFUL THAN YOU YOU DESPICABLE EXCUSE OF A LIVING HELL!

AREN'T YOU ASHAMED OF YOURSELF?! MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON WHOEVER MADE YOU A FATHER OR EVEN A HUSBAND YOU DISGRACEFUL BEING! YOU LET GO OF THAT CHILD THIS INSTANCE YOU MONSTER!’