The Streets of Egypt

Last year I visited Egypt for a month. I had this dream since childhood, of sailing up the nile, of long days on the beach, in Alexanderia, and I did both.

Cairo was a dissappointment to me for two reasons, one was the fumes from the cars. The traffic was so heavy, and there was no traffic lights. (was enought to give you a heart attack). These taxi drivers were excellent though, and I knew that my life was totally in their hands. Had I been driving I would have wrecked before going a block. But, of course I am used to traffic lights. Omg, it was awful. It was a somewhat modern city, but you would see the occasional donkey with a buggy trailing behind it.

The morning that I was leaving Cairo for Alexanderia, was my most dissappointing morning. As I waited for my bus, I saw this child, maybe a six year old lying in the street. I did not know........Was he alive? Was he dead? I was in shock, as I nudged my male companion, he said, "don't worry he is a street child." as if it did not matter. A street sweeper came..........he picked the child up by one arm, (I swear to you, I was by this time in tears) and he pulled him to the other side of the street so that he could sweep. The child did not wake up, he was either totally exhausted or dead!! I ask my male companion to go check on the child, which he did, and he came back to me and said he is okay, just sleeping.

I later learned that there is quiet a few of these children in Egypt, it seems no one is watching over the children there. These children lead an unhealthy, and very dangerous life there. They have no protection, not from the government, or anyone else. No Human Rights organization fighting for them. For many of them just surviving means begging, and sexual exploitation by adults. I have later learned that Cairo is home to nearly 150,000 street children. How sad is that?

When I was in Egypt, I was treated with dignity and respect, but I came home feeling very sad over the numbers of children that I could not help. The children that the Egyptian Government should be helping. These are children who will become terriost, because think about it........What do they have to lose??