Conscious Travel Episodes - Egypt: Parallels Worlds On The Slums Of Cairo

Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting and communicating that incredible message of “You are not alone”.

Cairo. The capital of Egypt and the largest city in Africa. Cairo, meaning "the victorious city." Its location is worldly known: it lies on both banks of the River Nile near the head of the river's delta in northern Egypt and has been settled for more than 6,000 years. The city is marked by the traditions and influences of the East and the West, both the ancient and the modern.

Most travelers when they go to Egypt, they just see the beautiful part of the city. However, Cairo also is the greatest reflection of Egypt's growing poverty. The city struggles to cope with problems caused by massive population growth, irregulated urban sprawl, and deteriorating infrastructure and public services.

Cairo's slums, like most of the slums across the world, exhibit a complete lack of urban planning and building control. The streets are commonly very narrow, and since there is no construction licensing, there is no light or air shafts. And if you look closer, you will notice that many of the houses there have only one floor and wooden ceilings. Some houses even have no ceiling at all.

And yet, there live people. People who were left to deal with extreme heat in the summer and the long cold nights in the winter. People there are struggling every day, even for their basic human needs.

People who struggle for things we take for granted.

This is the story of Ahmed, a volunteer at Spreading Positivity Project in the slums of Cairo.

I’ve graduated as a civil engineer, and right after that I’ve moved to Qatar and worked there for 3 years. The years passed and as I’ve found no fulfillment within this job, I quit everything and moved to Italy to start a Master's.

I was looking for a change in career, so I chose to become specialized in Social Innovation and Environmental Sustainability. There, I’ve joined AIESEC, and with them, I had my first solo travel experience. I went to Indonesia to work as a volunteer on an HIV awareness campaign.

After these years in Italy, I chose to come back to Egypt once again, at Ramadan time. At the beginning of my time back in my home country, I felt the urge to find something I could fill my free time with, something more meaningful.

A group of friends then introduced me to the Spreading Positivity Project, telling me they would go to several neighborhoods in Cairo that are basically slums. There, they would volunteer in several different tasks: sometimes reconstruct the ceilings of houses, others to offer financial aid or furniture. And other times to help to provide nutrition and food for the population that lives there.

For those who don’t know much about Muslim traditions, the Ramadan is a time of spiritual reflection, self-improvement, and heightened devotion and worship. Muslims are expected to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam. And therefore, they abstain from eating and drinking during this time. Its purpose is the cleansing of the soul by freeing it from harmful impurities.

But is not only about the inner journey. Ramadan is also about helping others in need. “The month of charity” is the name Muslims around the world give to the holy fasting month of Ramadan. And Spreading Positivity is a part of this.

The project consists in granting poor families bags packed with food items. The Ramadan package, as it is called, always contains food, including rice, sugar, macaroni, tea, and dried dates. I thought then, maybe I could help a bit with that.

You know, after living abroad for 6 years I felt completely detached from the Egyptian reality and I figured this would be a good way to reconnect with my roots while putting something good back to the world. So I’ve joined some of my friends and we took part in the project.

The first day I went to one of the slums was hard. Even though I thought I knew how the people there lived, I could not avoid being shocked by the conditions of their surroundings.

For the first time in my life, I saw people living between huge amounts of garbage. The place had nearly every space of it covered in garbage, including the streets and rooftops of the settlement. I knew that the living conditions were poor but I wasn’t aware of how the living situation was so unhealthy.

And that is something you can smell in the air. For me, it was really hard to believe how those people could live breathing that air every day. For me, it was hard to breathe. And that made me so sad that I could not avoid the tears rolling from my eyes.

One of our tasks was to walk around and give the families coupons so they could later collect the Ramadan bags. We would then see how genuine and hospitable they all were. Some would try to give us something small in return for the coupons, even though - to my eyes - they had nothing. And that also made me want to show that I was not better than them because of where I live or come from. We are all the same.

Another initiative of the Project was to add some more color and life to some areas there. So with the help of other volunteers, we were able to paint some walls and get the children involved in this activity. Their smiles said it all. And I learned that very often we don’t need much to change something in someone’s life or to bring some joyful moments in their day.

Often we think we need so much to be happy, we need to keep buying more things, work more to make more money, have a bigger house. Often we forget we actually don’t need much to really find that happiness. Happiness is frequently hidden in small things.

Many people don’t know this, but in Egypt, there are millions of people who live out of the assistance of charity work and NGOs. The government charges high tuition and is very corrupt, so often there is not enough concern about the population that is under the poverty line to provide really good social assistance programs. And the ones that exist cannot support the number of people in the system that need that assistance.

Cairo is very historical and intense. It’s crowded and huge. It has a stressful atmosphere because it is a city that never sleeps. Because of that, the city is also very polluted, the traffic is insane, there is yet no good public transportation available for its citizens.

You know, Egyptians are very hospitable people, they are really warm in their core but, from my personal point of view, almost six decades of a dictatorship made many people lose their will for being good citizens. Our education is deteriorating, and the economy as well.

Actions like Spreading Positivity are there to remind us that we still should care for each other and always look to the others with respect and empathy. Despite the conditions we live or grow up in, we are all from the same country, with the same culture and beliefs.

According to studies, of the 17 million inhabitants living in Greater Cairo in 2009,11 million - or 63%, inhabit areas that have been developed informally or extra-legally since 1960. 11 million people. And this is just the data of 10 years ago.

A recent study conducted by the National Research Centre confirmed that there is an increase in asthma, allergies and renal failure in people who live in the slums, due to the lack of drinking water and unsanitary living conditions. Most of the residents of these informal areas are below the poverty line, earning less than $3 per day. They often do simple jobs such as fruit and vegetable vendor, taxi driver or security personnel.

Slums are not a place of despair. Its inhabitants are all working towards a better life. Just like you and me. And what separates them from us is nothing, but opportunities.

*Ahmed believes in people and their capability to change societies and make the world a better place. He also believes in an alternative way of life, a replacement for neoliberal capitalism and he stands as a social democrat. Travel is one of his main passions, he traveled through South Africa and hitchhiked through Malawi and Tanzania. And from Russia till Berlin. Ahmed is a conscious traveler who tries to have the lowest impact possible on the places he goes, being also an adept of slow travel.

*You can find more information on this volunteer work on the link of the Neya Platform that supports the charity-based initiative called “Spreading Positivity”. Neya’s purpose is to bring together a community of individuals whose aim is to give back and create a sustainable ecosystem. It is a platform made to facilitate volunteering, donating, sponsoring, supporting, and creating awareness for a cause or initiative.