Ezbet al-haggana

Hello all,
Within the past few weeks, my partner and I were not able to meet with Abdou, our contact with Al-Shaheb because he had been busy. However after calling numerous times we were then told to meet with Ali Abdou (his brother) in Ezbet Al-Haggana. This was exciting because we had been waiting to visit the "slum" area for some time. After a thirty minute taxi ride from AUC's campus we came upon what I would describe as another world. Ezbet al-Haggana is located just outside of the airport and would be hard to miss if one simply looked around.
The first thought that came to my mind was "ummmmm". This small city of one million was nothing like I had seen in Zamaalek, Mohandiseen, the downtown area or anywhere else I had been in Egypt. The streets were not paved, extremely rocky, and very narrow. There were women selling food on the side of the street, children running and men chatting. We received stares in our white meter taxi as we drove closer to the office. On the way in I noticed structures that were extremely dilapidated, the small convenience stores, and the endless amount of garbage that lay everywhere in the streets. The sight of so much garbage proved Abdou’s statement to be true regarding the non-existent waste service. Driving through the streets I noticed that there were some really nice cars parked along the side of the road which seemed like such an oxymoron for the amount of poverty in the area. When we pulled up to the office, we were met by Ali who quickly ushered us inside of the building. The door downstairs was wide open and it was completely dark with the only light coming in from the outside. As we walked up the steps and admired murals that children had painted we reached the first floor and were led into an office complete with all the things an office should have.
Ali then proceeded to enlighten us on the community within Ezbet Al-Haggana and the issues that its people face. He mentioned that only 60% of the population(1 million) receive water after the Egyptian government was sued for not providing that service. There is only one public medical service, two public schools and one private school. One can only imaging the chaos that ensues when people aren’t able to be seen or treated. Although they are private practices within the city the majority of the people cannot afford to be seen. Two public schools for thousands of children forces many parents to send their children to school in other areas which involves riding on the backs of trucks other means as there is not official transportation system. One can imagine the money poor families would have to spend sending their child off to school everyday. As a result, parents have taken their children out of school at very young ages to work and make some sort of income for the family. Al-Shaheb has found that most able working bodies are comprised of women and children because the men in the community have either passed away or left their families. For this reason, many of the programs in Al-Shaheb are geared toward older women, young women and children. Women’s co-ops and secretarial classes are given to these groups in order to increase their chances of getting jobs elsewhere or creating an income for themselves. Al-Shaheb also promotes development through the children’s summer camp; children who have attended camp in the past are promoted to being camp counselors and volunteers gearing them towards roles of leadership and communication.
Water is a huge issue in the area. Ali shows us the video from the website that showed mothers, wives and young children setting out early in the morning to gather water from the pipe in dirty bottles and barrels. The line for water is very long and fights often occur between individuals while getting water from the pipe. The video also showed the dangers of living in an area with high voltage from the electric lines that run above most of the city. These electric lines have caused cancer, chronic head pain, and eye injury in Ezbet Al-Haggana.
After being told that the children meet on Saturdays at Al-Shaheb I was anxious to come then and also to meet with the women’s health coordinator at the office in Nasr City. This meeting was extremely eye opening as I felt I had entered a new world that was unknown to the international students or maybe even Egyptians who attend AUC. I had lived in the poorest and most dangerous city in Nicaragua for a time but it was certainly different from Ezbet Al-Shaheb. After being warned by Ali numerous times to never walk the streets without an employee of Al-Shaheb and the violent altercation that occurred right outside of the office window(damaging our cab) it became clear to me that depriving whole communities from necessities like water, sanitation, housing led to the creation of a hostile environment.
As of now we are still trying to communicate with Al-Shaheb about our responsibilities as far as the proposal to the EU. For now it seems that our main place of work will be in Ezbet Al-Haggana.