Garbage City and the Cave Churches: A different side of Cairo

Last Saturday, still jet-lagged and exhausted from flying across the ocean, I joined some friends to explore what is infamously known as "Garbage City."

Garbage City is a slum near the citadel in Cairo. Most Egyptians (my students included) simply looked at me in disgust and said "why on earth would you go there???"

It is as gross as it sounds, and lives up to its name. There is garbage everywhere, and the smell is unbelievable. However, through the winding, filthy streets, you arrive at beautiful cave churches that you would never otherwise find.

This area is populated predominantly by Coptic Christians, who make up about 10% of Egypt's population. My friend and guide for the day, Dena, explained that Coptics are not persecuted as much as they are discriminated against. It is difficult here for Arabic Speaking Coptics.



There were many people coming to the churches to pray last weekend after a shooting in Upper Egypt (south of Cairo) on Coptic Christmas Eve. We met a friend of Dena's who explained to us that many people are once again afraid.

Many of you read about the mass slaughter of 20 000 pigs in the Spring of 2009, due to a misunderstanding of the poorly-named "Swine Flu." The pigs were present in Garbage City to eat scraps, and aid in composting the perishable food. Because the pig is also an unclean animal in Islam, this was seen by many as further discrimination against Copts.

Garbage city is also a place of new life and new hope. After touring the cave churches we walked back through the piles of garbage to tour the Association for the Preservation of the Environment, or APE as it is known. Incidentally, one of this year's speakers at Calvin's January Series was directly from APE, speaking about garbage in the streets of Cairo.



APE has several initiatives to train young men and women in trades; the idea is that if women are educated and have a job they will not be given away for marriage as early as they normally would. Young men are taught to be carpenters or other valuable trades.

Upon arriving in Cairo, I was very uncomfortable with putting everything in the garbage, including paper, glass and plastic bottles. And although I am still uneasy about this, I understand that even garbage and recycling works differently in a developing country. My trash is a source of income and a job for other people. I can make their job easier by pre-sorting, but all the garbage goes to one place, where people then sort and re-use or recycle what is good.

I teach children from wealthy families and I live in a wealthy suburb of Cairo where it is easy to forget that this is a 3rd world country with rampant poverty. Visiting garbage city reminds me once again that I am privileged and also responsible for so much, and I will continue to find ways that I can play a respectful role in the development of this country.