Life in the Garbage Dump
Any visitor to Cairo, Egypt, will not forget the visit the Moqattam hills, outside Cairo, where garbage trucks and donkey carts lug the city’s refuse. The all pervasive smell is not forgotten. Vegetable gardens thrive in the garbage dumps of Cairo. Some of the inhabitants of the garbage dumps are more than tenth generation, so presumably, some immunization may have kicked in genetically to enable them to avoid the infections that plague the area.
Cairo’s garbage dump is a city in its own right. The population is mostly Coptic Christian, driven into the enclave by the Muslim majority of Egypt decades ago, and locked in now by birth and economics. They are Cairo’s garbage collectors, the people with carts and other makeshift conveyances who collect the garbage and haul it home to the dump. They then do the recycling.
Schools, a hospital, minor manufacturing, composting, growing—the Cairo dump has all this, built on a mountain of garbage. The Cairo garbage dump is self-sustaining in most respects, and recycling other people’s garbage finances the rest. The putrid, choking smell has become part of the daily existence of residents in this urban slum. They are called the Zabaleen. The Zabaleen came into existence in the 1950s when there was an influx of predominantly Christian farmers from southern Egypt who were poor and uneducated.
The Zabaleen children, who were born on the garbage dump have their home, their school and future is here.
The Comboni Missionaries, from Italy also live here, improving the children’s education and life skills and their prospects for the future. Coptic and Catholic volunteers and teachers are working side-by-side in a cooperative effort to build the future of needy children from the so-called “garbage village.” Currently ten teachers, who are the only paid staff, help 150 children between the ages of nine to 14 with their studies in various subjects. Next year, they plan to work with 300 children. The goal of the project is to help the children improve their chances for future success at school and work by offering them a clean, healthy, alternative environment in which to study without costly fees. Children also learn how to be clean, even in their garbage-littered community. The children also get full meals and participate in extracurricular activities, such as singing and practising their soccer skills. The Missionaries of Charity also have a convent there. These nuns help the community and raise funds for the work.
Sister Emmanuelle came to visit me, and I interviewed her at Wesley Mission. Our Sydney members gave enough money for four tractors to be given to the Zabaleen to start new businesses in the lanes and streets of Cairo collecting the garbage. Collecting garbage is good cash business and will help many break the poverty cycle.
REV THE HON DR GORDON MOYES AC MLC
