An anti-smoking association kicked off a campaign in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria to persuade people smoking shisha or water-pipe in the cafes dotting the city’s corniche to end the unhealthy habit.
The Egyptian Gazette newspaper reported that hundreds of people in the area were surprised to be approached by individuals asking them to participate in intelligent discussions, listen to poetry and songs and even have drinks for free if they would only stop smoking.
Smokers were surprised but they were also curious to know what the whole thing was all about.
The purpose of the campaign stepped up by the Association of Environment Lovers in Alexandria was to get people excited about the idea and to persuade them to give up smoking and attend to more useful pursuits.
The campaign is a new approach by the Association to fight prevalent smoking, especially shisha smoking which mushroomed in this Mediterranean port city and all over the country in the past few years.
The Association's chairperson, Wafaa Meneissi, professor at the faculty of Education in Alexandria University, said the Association had to think of unconventional means to persuade smokers to stop smoking for a while.
"The idea is to make them pause for a while and think that there are other activities in which spare time could be invested," she told the paper, adding that the initiative was consistent with the national campaign to combat drugs.
She said the approach of circulating leaflets and giving lectures was rather futile and the best thing they thought of was to hold direct dialogue with smokers in their hangouts.
The campaign included physicians, psychiatrists and other experts who spoke to smokers about the impact of this habit.
"Not that the people need anybody to tell them about these dangers, but they needed to be reminded anew of these dangers which could have been obscured by the force of habit," she added – Albawaba.com
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