Cairo is a city of approximately 16 million people'

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Cairo is a city of approximately 16 million
people.
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In Mokattam, a region of Cairo, there is a group
of people known as the Zabbaleen or garbage
people. Years ago when they came to Cairo they
settled in city slums and began collecting
garbage in carts.This is a Coptic Christian
community of previously landless and unemployed
peasants.60,000 Zabbaleen gather nearly 3,500
tons of garbage each day.
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Their day begins at 5.00 am. The whole family
gets involved.
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The garbage is collected, then sorted into
plastics, textiles and glass.
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The Zabbaleen recycle as much as 80 of it into
raw materials and manufactured goods which are
traded with other businesses worldwide.
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Women and children sort the garbage by hand,
handling sharp metal, broken glass and hospital
trash like syringes. At times, it can be piled
up to three stories high in streets oozing with
waste.Organic waste that cant be resold is
given to pigs that live in smelly old pens beside
their homes. If the pigs cant eat it then the
rest is burned.
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In the midst of such conditions there is a
surprising beauty which is central to this Coptic
Christian community. - Hand carved stone
murals - Cave sanctuaries which seat thousands
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Due to the unsanitary conditions there are many
sicknesses among the families. One urgent need
is to improve child health, nutrition and
development. Another need is health and
nutrition education which will promote safe
motherhood.Illiteracy is a growing problem in
Egypt as well less than half of the adults can
read and write (women are one in three).
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We have joined with Tyrannus Human Resources
Development to finish a first floor flat to be
used as a kindergarten and medical clinic for the
growing needs of the area.
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The needs of this community will continue to grow
as the government has now stopped renewing the
Zabbaleens licenses and replaced their waste
collection services with foreign contractors.
Foreign contractors have offered to hire the
Zabbaleen as collection crews but at half of
their normal wage. The governments actions
threaten to destroy a poor, but thriving
community that knows only one trade waste
collecting, sorting, and recycling.
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Your contributions will help this dream
become a reality!

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