Garbage City

Yesterday I caught a glimpse of a not so glamorous lifestyle.  Well, that might be the understatement of the century.  Shelbi and I visited "Garbage City," in Masr al-qadima (Old Cairo), which is exactly what the name implies.  The inhabitants make a living off of collecting, sorting, & recycling garbage.  Upwards of 45,000 people live there, and most of them (98%, Khaled the taxi driver told us) are Coptic Christians.  We just drove through the city, and the smell was nauseating.  The streets are lined with garbage, and people were hard at work collecting it, etc.  By people I mean everyone, boys, girls, men & women over the age of...5?  I have this one image I can't get out of my head, a young girl of about 7 was sitting right in a pile of garbage eating a bag of potato chips.  She seemed happy enough to have a snack, but it was possibly the saddest thing I have ever seen.  I can't believe people actually live like this in the world.  The truly sad part is there are very few opportunities for social mobilization upwards, basically if you are born in this town, then in this town you will stay.

However, they do have a great recycling facility.  It was actually very clean, they apparently don't actually recycle anything from the garbage they find, mostly fabrics and paper that has been donated.  This is actually kinda sad, as there are plastic bags everywhere, just floating around.  These still get tossed, not recycled.  Anyways, so girls start sewing in the recycling center at the age of 5.  They are paid 3 lbs a day (* $1 = 5.5 lbs, you do the math).  That is not enough to buy two bottles of water.  They are, and probably will remain, completely uneducated.  All that they really know of the outside world is the tourists they see coming to look at the plant.  They pretty much have one golden opportunity: get really good at sewing and open their own shop.  They make some really amazing things out of the recycled fabrics.  I wish them all the best.

One amazing thing right outside of garbage city are a pair of Coptic churches. (fyi:  The Copts are native Egyptian Christians.  They represent anywhere from 6-15% of the population {there is controversy over this}. The Copts celebrate Christmas on January 7th and their mass services last anywhere from 4-6 hours, whoa, imagine being a kid and doing that every Sunday) The churches are built right into the sides of caves.  A polish artist came in the late 90s and made rock carvings into the sides of the caves, they are truly beautiful.  In one of the churches, there is also a carving of The Virgin Mary on the ceiling (well, it looks like her, with the use of just a little imagination).  The interesting part is that the Polish sculptor didn't create this one; it "appeared" on its own.  Well, who knows.  Therefore, this area is an extremely popular destination for Christians from all over the world.

I was conversing with one of my friends yesterday and told him about my experience (Ethan, in case you were wondering, most of you reading this know him and his personality) and he was like, "WHY would you want to go there?  That sounds awful!"  And honestly, it kind of was.  I felt really sick after being in a hot taxi and smelling garbage for a couple hours.  But should I just go to the pyramids when I am here?  Visit tourist areas only, and return home with souvenirs and stories of all the fun stuff I did?  I don't think so.  I really got a lot out of this trip.

Basically, the "Garbage City" experience really made me...think.  Ouch.  How can people who live such dreary lives be so faithful?  They have nothing, yet they pour everything they have into their churches, and are there any where from 240-480 minutes every Sunday.  The rest of the time they are just...collecting garbage, sewing, living.  And honestly, they were some of the nicest Egyptians I have met since I have been here.  The men did not catcall us as we have become so accustomed to.  The women did not glare at us but welcomed us and showed us around the recycling plant.  In the churches, we were not required to pay a fee (as we have been in soo many mosques) but were welcomed with open arms.

Of course, the experience also made me extremely thankful.  Thankful for my parents, my home, and the life that I live.