The Cairo Condition

Sitting amidst a small group of men under a street light at three in the morning, fiddling with a small cup of excessively sweetened tea, I held the hot drink with both my hands to shift as much of the warmth as possible into my fingers. The cold march night was windy and unforgiving as we chatted away idly in an alley way coffee shop in a run down part of Cairo.

A typical Cairo coffee shop, with traditional handmade wooden chairs and various decorations of little value hung up on straw covered walls in the Al-Abassia area.

The area is Deer Al-Malak, which is famous for it's Masr We El-Sudan Street, where a collection of shabby shops and restaurants entertain many people from the surrounding areas in the evenings, but that is not where we were. We were somewhere between Al-Mahroosa Street and Tereat Al-Gabal Street, in an alley way coffee shop which had its creaky wooden chairs strewn across a craggy and cracked pavement under a lonely street light in an otherwise pitch-black alley. The occasional car squeezed past our group and the opposite wall in an unsettling manner.

I sat amidst three physicians, an engineer, a social worker, a hostel owner, a self-employed worker, and a pasterma businessman, all in their mid twenties. As promising as the titles seem, only one of the physicians had a steady low-paying job along with the engineer, and the hostel owner and pasterma businessman seem to be breaking even for now. All the others had more free time in their hands than they had hoped for.

Although the official figure for unemployment usually varies between 8% and 14% each year according to government issued statistics, the figure can't be any farther from the truth. As university graduates are starting to be available in droves, the number of jobs attainable are few in comparison, and the competition is high, even for jobs with low pay and no progression.

'That man over there was supposed to find me a job in the petroleum industry about a year and a half ago' quipped the self-employed worker. He pointed behind me. Half of us turned around and burst out in laughter as a tall, bald middle-aged man with a paunch urinated in the middle of the alley with his pajama bottoms dropped around his ankles. The laughter soon died off as he described how the man used to be a figurehead in a government run Petroleum company before he lost his job and subsequently became mentally unstable. The sad story came to an end when the man who had been relieving himself earlier came towards us and stared at us for a few moments before moving back into the shadows of the alley.

As the sun was about to rise, we stood up and the social worker insisted that the bill was on him. As much as we tried to resist this, he wouldn't let us pay a single pound. We all shook each other's hands before parting in different directions, some into the sunrise, and some away.

Green Dream

A group of boys dance around a pile of shoes which they have pulled off earlier to feel the grass blades tickle their toes. The smog covered scene that serves as a backdrop for this rare green space is none other than Medieval Cairo, the heart of the city.

Al-Azhar park is one of the few green spaces in Cairo. Having been built on what has previously been a garbage dump, it is considered a miracle by those who know its history well. When the landscape artists Maher Stino and Laila El-Masry first visited the area which was being considered for the park, they were shocked and stated it would be a challenge. This is not surprising, as the place they were visiting had 5 centuries of waste piled on to it. The dump was bordered on one side by the 12th century Ayyubid wall, which itself was sinking in garbage. The author Maria Golia described it as a source of dust and flying fecal matter, and that the project was a massive, massive endeavor.

This was not enough to deter the Aga Khan IV and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The funds he provided for the development of the park exceeded $30 million. This was not only placed into the park itself, but the park was at the centre of it all. When the 12th century Ayyubid wall was exposed further on the western frontier, it was clear that it was in a devastating state. It was decided that the wall was to be restored as well, considering its historical value.

The people of Al-Darb Al-Ahmar, who lived in the poverty-stricken shadows of the Ayyubid wall were brought into the project as well. Not only did the project provide them with jobs, but the trust went further by trying to restore some of the buildings in Al-Darb Al-Ahmar in which the residents lived, which have fallen into a state of disrepair. This had a profound effect on the area and it’s residents, whom were previously suspicious of the Trust’s activities and intentions. The suspicion was garnered from previous attempts as demolishing their homes; but with time, it was clear they were benefiting from the trust’s contributions.

Having visited Al-Azhar park myself, I find it to be an oasis of greenery amidst the dreary brown and gray that swathes the rest of the city. The park has an entrance fee, in order to cover the costs of management and maintenance. This fee is minimal as to allow people from all strata to mingle in the park. However, I feel this has recently been overshadowed by the introduction of pricey cafes and restaurants in the park, such as Alain Le Notre and Studio Misr, which only a select few can afford.

All in all, it is worth a visit, for its breath-taking views, greenery and history.