Egypt - Sister Emmanuelle - slums
The slum dwellers of Cairo
Thursday 06 November 2008
Sister Emmanuelle dedicated 20 years of her life to improving the lives of slum-dwellers in Cairo. FRANCE 24 reporters returned to this impoverished Egyptian area to honour the work of a great humanitarian figure.
Special Report Caring: humanitarian reports around the worldThursday 06 November 2008
By Karim EL FAWAL - Ygal SAADOUN (video)This week, FRANCE 24 reporters returned to Moqatam, one of Cairo’s biggest slums made famous by the humanitarian work of the late Sister Emmanuelle.
Nicknamed the little sister of the slum-dwellers, Sister Emmanuelle lived and worked with the some of the area’s most disadvantaged people for 20 years, sharing their daily lives and battling to make their living conditions better.
Our reporters visited the slum to pay homage to France’s most famous nun. She met slum children condemned to an existence in the most pitiful conditions. These children are often very young and have no other choice than to help their families clear up rubbish, which they then sort through and sell on to foreign multinationals.
Most of them cannot read or write and are unlikely to get out of the vicious cycle they are in. Some charities are realising that even if it is impossible to stop the children working altogether, it is still essential to give them access to education.
FRANCE 24 joins Chenouda and Samaan, two child rubbish collectors from Moqatam doing the rounds of dustbins in Cairo’s moneyed areas to take to local recycling centres.
23/11/2008 11:44:56 Alert a moderator
Slum dwellers of Cairo
By Mike - Glasgow, Scotland, Uk
A very moving and eye-opening piece about these people who seem trapped in the rubbish-collecting lifestyle. I applaud the efforts of those trying to bring educaction to the kids. It has a parallel with some work I know of in Malawi and Tanzania, where the kids get a basic meal if they attend morning school. Procter & Gamble are also to be praised for being there, albeit with a commercial eye on prevention of fraud. However, everyone's long-term aim must be to get children out of the equation.
Not enough about Sister Emanuelle !
Mike.