We visited for the day on a Friday. This is the day S and P are not at work. Nowadays they go to church in Heliopolis for the sake of their children and then spend the rest of the day with the people of Rubbish Mountain. We arrived at P’s parents' house by Uber before midday and stayed until late afternoon. We talked with them about the partnership and P’s parents about EGY02a.
Several groups of people came from the Rubbish Mountain project to get food supplement packages. They had purchased 500 Ramadan packages for the poor at a cost of US$4 each. They give these out to families when they come and sometime cash, and sometimes they add a chicken which costs the same. The boxes are stored in the lounge of P’s parents' place. We also met one group away from the house as they do not want too many to come to the house, it would cause issues with the neighbours and draw unwanted attention to them. They went out and met another family at the train station as they had come from another town.
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We found them in good spirits and much more positive than on our last visit about how to go about the ministry now and what they are seeing happen. They feel like they are connecting at the right level again now, praying for them and listening to and responding to the needs and emergencies at the health, economic and spiritual levels.
Generally, in Egypt the economic situation continues to decline despite huge subsidies from the government. Basic foodstuffs and petrol especially are subsidized. Petrol is US$0.26 cents/litre!! 50% of the people they know from the old place have no employment now and that is happening across the whole society.
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The latest development is that many families are now in the new accommodation provided by the government. There are 25 buildings each with 28 apartments in them. Each has seven floors with four flats per floor and each flat has two bedrooms. There are 670 families in the flats and on the database S manages. Two thirds of the people are Christians, the rest are Muslims. They pay EGP350 (US$7.30) per month for their apartment and if they also rent a work area that will cost EGP300 (US$6.20) per month. They have a right to live in the flat if they pay the money until the owner dies. As far as I understand it, it’s not rent but rather a right to occupy. The flat is fully furnished with whiteware, beds and bedding, a TV, and is so much more than they have ever had. But of course, they still complain!! Most do not have work and cannot afford to pay the 4-month rental bond before moving in. The utilities are connected except the new occupiers have to buy the meter for gas, water and electricity and they cannot afford the US$115 to buy these. They have had to help some with these expenses.
Some people saw a business opportunity and “bought” an apartment as soon as they were completed to become absentee landlords. However, the government caught onto it and they have all been given the boot! This is social housing and some who were renting in another place tried to get one of these apartments but were forced to choose between the existing one or the new one. Many have not been able to afford to rent a workplace, so they have either gone back to operating in the old location, which is illegal, or they have no work.
The medical container has been sold to a company for their own use. The facility was not functioning, they had nowhere to store it and it was deteriorating and required money to be spent on maintenance. Because it was owned by an official charity the funds had to be used for the original intent, medical treatment, so the funds are held in a government-controlled bank account and if there is a severe medical case it can be accessed, but not easily. Prior to the flood, the clinic was operating under the radar with the full knowledge of the authorities. It was operating illegally but doing so much good the officials overlooked the issue.
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As they don’t have a place to meet with the people near the site of the housing and that is just not going to happen, they currently go to the housing blocks each week. They gather four families on one floor together and have a little gathering with them. They get more chances to talk this way and notice those who might need more input. However, they cannot get around many in an afternoon, sometimes not even one building.
The economic situation is extremely difficult and deteriorating by the day. It has been a very difficult time for the people in the project to survive and now they find themselves much worse off. The cost of living has reached crisis proportions. We heard this in every partnership we visited.
- There is a medical crisis, there is not enough foreign exchange available for drug purchase such that stocks have run very low. There is a chance that S may lose his job as he works in the medical provisioning field.
- The government is spending so much money on the armed forces, they are building whole new cities including a new capital, and there are huge subsidies on many essential commodities. The government cannot sustain these subsidies in the real world and are forced by reality to reduce their contribution to the subsidies. This of course affects people like those in the project more than anyone.
- The exchange rate to the US$ is changing which mitigates the rising inflation somewhat for funds coming in from outside but for those earning in country, it is critical.
- 4 years ago they could buy four loaves of bread for EGP1. Now it is EGP2.50 per loaf.
- A flourishing black market has emerged because of the increasing shortages. One year ago, the official price of sugar was EGP8, now it is EGP27 but there is very little available due to the Ukraine war and the black-market price is EGP68!
- Three of the larger types of expenses S and P currently have found a need to assist people with are: 1) medical operations, tests and medication; 2) Caesarean operations, partly because the girls marry far too young and there can be complications like fistula and 3) the utility meters for the new apartments.
We heard several stories from the women and children who came to visit them. Here are some:
- The gate keeper at the old facility in Rubbish Mountain has several children. His 9-year-old son began getting headaches to the point he couldn’t function. He was taken to a hospital and had an MRI. Funds were released for this. It was discovered that the boy had a cancerous tumour in his head. He was given palliative medication as nothing could be done and he died a few weeks later. All of this had to be paid for.
- Another family has a 4-year-old son who had a disconnected urethra. He has had one operation to put in a stent. However, he is in a lot of pain and must be carried around by his mother. He was due to have another operation the week following our visit.
- One couple lived outside the garbage area and he collected garbage. They were hard workers and decided not to move into the new housing and continue operating in the old area. However, they were forced to relocate but they could not afford both an apartment and a work area so they couldn’t work and quickly had no money. The husband took out a large loan and travelled to Libya to find work but failed. Now, he cannot afford to live there, he cannot afford to come home and if he did, he could not afford to support the family and pay off the debt. The wife lives on the 7th floor of the apartment block and has nothing, the husband sends nothing home and never calls. She cannot afford the utilities and must get water in the garden for herself and the kids and carry it up seven floors. One month she couldn’t pay the rent and now the electricity has been turned off. She sometimes gets a little work cleaning in other people's homes, but this situation is not sustainable. They are trying to get a ground level apartment, but it is not likely. S and P are very worried about this family.
S and P’s observation and experience tells them that many of the health issues the children from Rubbish Mountain face are because of the very poor nutrition of the mothers during pregnancy. There is a lot of nutrient deficiency and epidemic proportions of anaemia in women and children.
They are developing a close relationship with the 15th of May City Evangelical Church and a strategy is being developed for that church to eventually adopt and bring this work under its authority. The wife of the pastor of the church is a medical doctor and has come with them on several visits and is keen for the church to become involved. They are in discussions with the leaders and are waiting for the church board to make a decision. Part of the plan would be to send buses to the area and pick people up and take them to a monthly service at the church facility. It would be a programme just for them as it is very difficult for the people from the project to mix freely with the other Egyptians!
The strategy has 4 steps to it. The timeframes for this are not clear yet but will emerge over time.
1) To continue visiting people as much as they are able while they wait for the church board decision
2) Assuming it is yes, then to begin taking church people with them on visits and to build a team. They did have people helping them before the flood.
3) To begin a monthly meeting at the church for the people from the project
4) For the church to take over responsibility for the ministry
Another idea they want to act on is:
There is a city south of Cairo called Arab el Saf in the Giza Governate. The church S and P attend in Heliopolis has been trying to help a pastor there for 15 years. He has been trying hard but has not been successful and there is no church established. This is a very difficult place, full of dangerous gangs, drug dealing, violence and abuse. There is no light of the gospel. S and P and another couple have been visiting with the team, but the church has decided it cannot continue any longer. However, there are a couple of families there that they want to continue supporting as they are in great difficulty.
In one family, the father was very violent and abusive. They had five girls and one boy. The eldest daughter was forced into a marriage to a terrible man who was just like the father. Then the father died. The man abused his wife and beat her frequently. One day he gave drugs to his son, and he died. The family is totally devastated. The daughter is trying to survive but life is very tough. They cannot give her money as he will find it and steal it. S and P and the other couple are helping her when they can from their own money, but they have to be careful. They asked if they could use some of the BHW funds to help this family and one or two others that are not from Rubbish Mountain. I agreed that this was OK.
Partnership's Influence within the CommunityThe people love S and P. You can see by the way they relate when they come to visit them at the house. They are hugged, cared for, encouraged and prayed for. They are still not entirely sure where they would fit if the church picked up this opportunity for them. They want to make sure that real care focused on the actual needs of the community will be met. It will require more from the church than just a service once a month.
The grinding poverty of the people living in the apartments and the huge, ongoing physical, economic and spiritual needs they have.
The economic situation in Egypt and the impact it is having on the poor. This is largely caused by external factors.
1) That the housing situation has been resolved in many cases although there are individual families still missing out
2) That S and P are feeling much more connected and useful in the current situation
3) For the developing relationship with 5th of May City Evangelical Church, that there would be a positive decision made about the future with them
4) That the opportunity for spiritual development of the people will increase and they would be open to this
These are good people, and I am impressed that they have taken the initiative with this new strategy. We need to continue to monitor the progress and details of the initiative with the church as the details and timeframes emerge.
The strategy they are developing seems good to me. The work has become too demanding for S and P with limited time and is not sustainable unless others become involved.
From my observation, the government has pulled off a pretty impressive outcome with the housing deal. The test will be how the people respond to the opportunity.