Approaching the shanty towns in Duweiqa’s Talat Street in Minshayat Nasser, one is overcome by the oppressive stench of raw sewage. A stagnant green pool marks a forbidding welcome to this cluster of shoddy housing, whilst trails of litter and waste tinker up the rocky tracks.
Although many shanty towns (ashwa’iat) are built without official licenses, residents invariably build their own drainage infrastructure, install their own electricity and water pipelines. The residents of Duweiqa were no exception, until October 2007, when the government destroyed their drainage infrastructure, leaving them bereft of water, electricity and drains.
The story goes back to 2003, when the government, under the auspices of the Suzanne Mubarak projects, arrived in Duweiqa to carry out an investigation with the intention of moving residents of the ashwa’iat to government purpose-built flats.
“I was in hospital when they came, resident Ashraf Ashour Hanafi Mahmoud, told Daily News Egypt. “On my return, I found that some people had come from the housing ministry had collated a list of those who would be given new housing. My name was not on the list, even though we bought the house in 1988 and pay annual tax. They said our houses were no more than huts, and that we didn’t therefore have the right to new housing.
The representatives of the housing ministry then disappeared for over five years, before reappearing in mid-2007.
“They came to take another census, and again the name of my family, along with 17 others in the neighborhood, were not on the list of residents who would be re-housed, even though our houses were exactly the same, Ashraf continued. “They bulldozed the houses of the latter. They also bulldozed the second room of my house, which I have not been allowed to rebuild.
The fragile houses now stand dismembered from the rubble of the neighbors houses, which serves as a hazardous children’s playground. However, between the litter-strewn rubble, flow dank streams of raw sewage: a toxic testament to the once noble aim of providing adequate housing for those whose average income is well below the poverty line.
Amal Abdel Hamid Abdel ‘Aal, lives in a two-bedroom slum house with her five children.
“When they destroyed the drainage system, there was nowhere for the waste water to go. It started to seep in under the ground, she said, pulling up a flimsy carpet revealing the extent of the waste.
“I put down another layer of bricks, but the water is rising and we can’t stop it. This is where we sleep and eat; we are living in our own waste.
However, despite these conditions, the prospect the residents fear the most is that of being made homeless, should the housing authority act on its plan to remove all the remaining shanty towns in the area.
“I am divorced and have five children. We will have to sleep on the streets. If they had told us this would be the case in 2003, we would at least have had a chance to search for housing, Amal told Daily News Egypt. “But they told us this in the last census in 2007. With inflation and the rise in prices the cost of a room is now LE 15,000. There is no way we can afford those prices.
But in the local community council, Ahmad Anawy, an elected member, claims that these residents will not be evicted.
“There are 18 families in all who have filed complaints. We are standing by six families who have been living here for over 15 years and have documents proving they bought government land legally. The fact that government security hasn’t already cleared their housing proves that it is being solved. We expect the situation will be over by Feb. 25. The rest of the houses, however, were built illegally and will have to be removed.
Yasmine and Samah Goma’ are sisters, both married and both with their own families. They live with their respective husbands, children and unmarried brothers and sisters in a three-bedroom shanty house. The bedrooms double up as kitchens. They were among the families who were offered new flats. This was in 2003 when the family consisted of five individuals. Now there are three families; around a dozen people overall.
“We will have to stay here, but I don’t know how. They took the census in 2003. How can they come back five years later and expect there to be no marriages and births? said Yasmine. “Look how the rain has come in through the roof, she said, pointing to a concave wooden roof sinking into the bedroom. “We have also made our own wiring to fix a light, but if it gets wet, the place will burn down.
“We want to make a public appeal because a court case will take years and my children are already sick from the pollution, says Mahmoud, opening a fridge stuffed with medicine. “Al-Masry Al-Youm and El-Badil have already spoken about it, but Suzanne Mubarak still doesn’t know about us. If she did, she’d solve this case for sure.
