Association helps Cairo's 'garbage people' make a clean living
The residents of Manshiyat Naser, a slum area on the outskirts of Cairo, have been collecting garbage for decades but now, they learn to recycle it as well.
Most people in Egypt don’t think much about their garbage. But for women in Manshiyat Naser, a slum area in the outskirts of Cairo, garbage is an opportunity to make a living.
For the last seven decades, the residents of this community, mainly Coptic Christians who have moved to Cairo from Upper Egypt, go door to door in Cairo gathering garbage, which they bring to their enclosed community to sort out and sell for a small profit.
But a small local association is teaching the women of the community to recycle the waste into paper, gift cards or jewelry so they can make a better profit.
Nora has been working for 25 years in the papercraft department at the Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE), a nongovernmental organization that works mainly with women in developing waste management and recycling initiatives.
