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COMIC: Temps are predicted to hit 106 in Egypt this week. How do people stay cool?

COMIC: Temps are predicted to hit 106 in Egypt this week. How do people stay cool?
Malaka Gharib / NPR

My dad, who lives in Cairo, told me the heat this summer has been punishing.

I asked how hot it was. He said 39 degrees.

“What’s that in Fahrenheit?” I wondered.

He said “Hot!”

I looked it up. It’s 102. And next week’s forecast: a high of 106.

In the ’90s, when I was in elementary school, I’d spend my summers with my dad. Back then, air conditioners weren’t as ubiquitous as they are now. It was hot, but I coped. In this age of extreme heat, i wonder: How are Egyptians getting by?

Copyright 2026 NPR

Malaka Gharib/NPR
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Malaka Gharib is the digital editor of the NPR podcast Life Kit. Previously, she was the deputy editor and digital strategist on NPR's global health and development team, where she covered topics such as the refugee crisis, gender equality and women's health. Her work as part of NPR's reporting teams has been recognized with two Gracie Awards: in 2019 for How To Raise A Human, a series on global parenting, and in 2015 for #15Girls, a series that profiled teen girls around the world.

Gharib is also an award-winning cartoonist. She is the artist and author of I Was Their American Dream, about growing up as a first generation Filipino Egyptian American, and It Won't Always Be Like This, about her summers with her dad and stepmom in the Middle East. Her comics have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Catapult Magazine, The Believer Magazine, The Nib, The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Before coming to NPR in 2015, Gharib worked at the Malala Fund, a global education charity founded by Malala Yousafzai, and the ONE Campaign, an anti-poverty advocacy group founded by Bono. She graduated from Syracuse University with a dual degree in journalism and marketing.

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