It is around 6 p.m. in Cairo and this Egyptian family sits patiently waiting for the adhan, or call to prayer, to signal the sun has finally set and dinner can be served. As the anticipation rises, the lights suddenly go out. There is no power.
Power outages across Egypt have become more commonplace in recent months, as the energy crisis grows.
On Sunday, the power was out at the most important time of day, iftar, when sunset falls and the daily fast is broken for Muslim families celebrating the holy month of Ramadan.
Mahmoud Yussif is a 31-year-old marketing manager who lives in the middle-class Nasr City area of Cairo.
"We are often hours each day without power," he says.
Yussif blames the government for the outages.
"There simply isn't enough power to go around and the government continues to send gas to Israel when it could be powering our own factories that generate power," he argues.
Pointing a finger at Egypt's gas dealings with Israel has become routine in Egypt as more and more Egyptians face hours without electricity. They argue this gas should be used for Egyptians, not foreigners.
The gas export deal with Israel has been a contentious issue in Egypt. Activists argue that power outages are a result of a lack of energy flowing to plants that should be producing power for Egyptians.
Karim Reda has been an outspoken opposition figure in the call to end the gas deal to Israel. He says that energy should be used for the Egyptian population first.
"If there are power issues facing Egypt, then why are we sending energy abroad?" he asks.
As the electricity crisis hits wealthier segments of Egypt's population, the government believes action must be taken. Hossam Hosni, an energy expert and researcher at the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, tells The Media Line that the use of hydropower is on the decline.
"A few decades ago, much of the power we used for electricity came from the Aswan High Dam, but today this is not the case as a result of a massive growing population and the infrastructure declines. So we have to look elsewhere," he says.
It's not only electricity that is in short supply across Egypt. Water has also become a critical issue for many, especially the poor living outside Cairo and Alexandria.
Nasr el-Din Hassan installed a used faucet four years ago, but today little water comes out and what does is sporadic and unpredictable.
"Not today," the 44-year-old mechanic says, moving to the small electric burner on the tabletop where he heats up some water saved from the previous day. It is just enough for a round of tea for the family.
"I've lost faith that this sort of thing will be resolved, so why should it bother us too much," says Hassan whose family has been struggling to get a regular supply of clean water into their home since 2007. "We have learned to cope with what is going on and my family understands that one day it could be working great and the next it won't be on at all," he says.
Moving to the window, Hassan points to a construction site in the distance. This, he believes, is the reason for the shortages.
"They are building some expensive new development and they need the water to make sure those homes have everything they need. We are left behind," he complains.
That development, within view of New Cairo, is making life difficult for the likes of Hassan and others. The government, he and his neighbors argue, has done little to ease their frustrations and has forced them to take matters into their own hands.
Khaled Abu Zeid, head of the Egyptian Water Partnership, says finding qualitative data is often difficult in Egypt, which makes the shortages even harder to tackle because most are intermittent with the government often coming in to quickly fix the localized problem.
"But this is not a permanent solution," he says. So the problems persist.
"What is needed are real solutions that get to the heart of the issue before it gets out of hand," he continues, saying that his organization is working closely with ministries, residents and farmers to help resolve the issues.
"There is a perception that the rich get all the essential items of life and the middle-class is left behind, not to mention the poor. So unless the ministry makes a concerted effort to solve this crisis, Egypt is heading down a dark path," he says.
The Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities (MHUUC) is tasked with dealing with this issue.
Minister Ahmed El-Maghrabi, who has been widely criticized in local newspapers, has defended his ministry's decision-making over the water crisis. At an emergency meeting last year, the government allotted approximately $200 million to address water supply issues, El-Maghrabi says.
The International Development Research Center in Egypt reports the country has dipped below the "water poverty" line of an estimated 1,000 cubic meters per capita per year, with the country's per capita water supply now standing at an average of 750 cubic meters.
The Ministry of Water and Irrigation has made some efforts to improve irrigation methods with the modernization of pumping stations, and the introduction of automatic control gates. The first modernization project was undertaken in the governorates of 'Beheira and Kafr El-Sheikh in late 2008, covering some 348 square miles. By mid-2008, the water supplies for 778 square miles had undergone modernization, according to the ministry.
Now Egypt is attempting to move toward renewable energy sources, including wind and solar power.
Wind power initiatives have already received a strong push, with the ministry reporting that bids for the construction of a 1,000-megawatt energy park in the Gulf of Suez will open next month.
The new facility will be located in the Gabal el-Zeit area and will be a "build - own -operate" project, giving more incentive for companies to tender bids, says Electricity Ministry Spokesman Aktham Abou El-Ella.
"Ninety percent of the land in Egypt is empty and is suitable for setting up wind farms," Abou El-Ella says.
"With solar power, plant costs are very high, and with hydraulic power reaching its maximum capacity, wind farms remain the best option for renewable energy in Egypt."
Wind is not new to Egypt, with a 500-megawatt power plant already established in the Zaafarana area of the Gulf of Suez; however, the ministry believes that this new effort will spark more interest in the budding field.
Egypt is planning to build a 100-megawatt solar power plant to meet the growing electricity needs of the country, according to the country's Electricity Minister Hassan Younes.
The project will cost about $700 million and will be financed by the World Bank and the African Development Fund, Younes told the official Middle East News Agency (MENA).
Younes said the photovoltaic power plant would be built in Kom Ombo, near the Aswan High Dam hydroelectric plant in southern Egypt.
The government hopes that alternative energy solutions will generate one-fifth of the country's power by the end of the decade.
Although the optimism in the ministries is high, the average citizen is doubtful.
"We have been demanding solutions to our water and power problems to the local government and they keep telling us that it will be sorted out, but here we are, again without water and electricity," says Hassan.
In the end, Egyptians struggling to find solutions to their daily struggles simply want to be comfortable in their own homes.
Yussif says that he and his family "just want to relax, watch some television and enjoy the evening, but we can't if there is no power to run any of these things."
Yussif and Hassan both hope solutions will come quickly.
