Lost in the slums
cial policy failure is deepening inequality, particularly among Egypt's youth, writes Sarah Sabry
According to the Egyptian government, there are 1,133 slums in Egypt of which 171 are in Greater Cairo. UN-Habitat defines slums as overcrowded areas with poor or informal housing, inadequate access to safe water and sanitation and insecurity of tenure. In 1996, a conservative estimate reported that 34 per cent of Egypt's urban population was living in slums ( ashwaiyyat ). More recent estimates are closer to 60 per cent of Greater Cairo's residents. You can see the scale of informal settlements in Greater Cairo for yourself: try flying over Cairo using Google Earth. Despite the great diversity between and within Egypt's informal settlements, they house the vast majority of Egypt's urban poor as well as many members of the lower-middle classes who cannot afford housing outside these areas.
Egypt is currently experiencing a demographic youth expansion characterised by a large proportion of youth in relation to other age groups. Given that the poor in Egypt generally have more children, a large proportion of Egypt's urban youth live in slums. Moreover, many migrant labourers, many of which are youth, move to large cities in search for work. Many of those end up living in slums, particularly those of Greater Cairo. This means that a sizeable proportion of slum populations are young people.
Young people who grow up in slums are born into a world of terrible inequality of opportunity. If you are born into a family where means are available you will be adequately nourished in your childhood, will go to a private school, have access to private healthcare and have the potential for a bright future available to you -- just because your family has the means, independent of what your talents are in life. On the other hand if born in one of Cairo's ashwaiyyat, there is a great chance your family will be poor. You will probably be inadequately nourished growing up, which already places you at a huge disadvantage. Most likely you will be forced to drop out of school either to help supplement family income or to avoid the extremely expensive costs of majmuat -- an almost compulsory after school parallel education system of private tutoring. At best, if you are not forced out of school you will probably go to some of the worst public schools in Egypt. While it is widely acknowledged that the public education system's quality has severely deteriorated, the limited numbers of public schools located in Cairo's ashwaiyyat are the worst of the lot.
Youth who drop out of school early will probably end up in low paying dead-end jobs. Some luckier ones will manage to learn a skill or craft through an apprenticeship, for example with a mechanic or a carpenter. The vast majority will end up as arzuiya or casual daily wage labourers who gather in the early morning in various locations to be picked up for physically demanding jobs that pay pitiful wages. Moreover, these jobs are irregular: one day there is work and on another there isn't. Often workers go home without an income.
Young women face even worse prospects. They usually leave school before their brothers, stay at home to help their mothers with the housework, or do all the housework so that their mothers can go out and work. They mostly remain confined to their homes. If they work without an education, it is mostly as domestic servants. That is, they will remain stuck in dead-end jobs where their potential to escape poverty is almost non- existent given current social policies.
The luckiest young people will be those who actually managed to stay in school and completed their education. Young people finish their education with the hope of finding decent jobs that pay good salaries. Unfortunately though, Egypt's current public education system produces people with limited skills, skills that are not those required in the "good jobs" available -- if at all -- in the labour market.
Remaining healthy and getting adequate healthcare are yet further challenges for young people from poor families. They are exposed to greater health risks due to overcrowded living conditions, lack of clean water and sanitation, lack of solid waste disposal services and overall appalling environmental conditions. As infants, this increases their vulnerability to becoming ill and increases infant mortality rates. The only affordable option is the public healthcare system. Today though, it is overused and under-funded; doctors are rarely available, equipment is lacking or faulty, hospitals are severely unhygienic, medication and nursing are rarely available, so people have to provide for themselves and if they cannot afford it then they simply don't get healthcare.
Beyond basic necessities, young people need safe spaces to play, to develop and pursue hobbies and to spend leisure time. They need to play sports, learn how to use computers and generally do the things young people do. Such spaces and activities are almost non-existent in Egypt's slums.
Social policy today is providing very little opportunity for young people who grow up in poverty to escape it. Thus, poverty continues to be transmitted from one generation to the next. The World Bank's poverty assessment report published in 2007 stated that in 2005, 40 per cent of Egypt's population lived in poverty. In 2008, this is probably a gross underestimation. The recent hike in inflation rates, particularly the increase in costs of basic foods, will have had a great impact in increasing the number of poor people in Egypt today. Indeed, as one observer put it, there seems to be two stories in Egypt today. One story is that of economic growth that has benefited a small percentage of Egyptians. The second story is that of increased hardship for the vast majority of Egypt's population.
Social policy in Egypt needs urgent and immediate revision. One crucial element of this social policy must be to create equal opportunities for all young Egyptians. Government policies today do not provide equal opportunity to Egypt's young people.
Sarah Sabry is a PhD candidate, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/893/sc061.htm