Cairo’s City of the Dead and Girls Education

A Community Schools for Girls in the City of the Dead challenges pre-conceptions about what is possible in non-traditional communities.  Again, from the forthcoming The Cairo Codex:

“The City of the Dead. Nearly a million of the living joined the thousands buried in Cairo’s notorious cemetery, an area nearly as large as Venice. Small tombs that looked like dollhouses had become home to families who subsisted without basic plumbing and water services. For years, the government had sought to dispel this encroachment upon holy ground, but it had finally given up. Now, small shops and an occasional water faucet made life there somewhat more bearable.

Justine felt as though she was still observing the scene with the uncomprehending eyes of the teen she’d been when her father had brought her there. Flies crowded around the eyes and mouth of the small girl of about five who stood in front of her. Her curly hair, the same color as her skin, looked as though it had never been combed. She wore a faded pink cotton dress with a sash that had come loose on one side; the long sash with a bow in the middle touched the dirt near her bare feet. The young girl stared intently at a dead donkey lying in the middle of the street. Across the back legs of the donkey lay a dog, both surrounded by flies.

She couldn’t take her eyes off the girl. She wanted to hold her, to comb her hair, to chase away the flies, to sew her sash. Such a beautiful child. What does it mean to care? Her western notions connected caring with cleanliness and order and combed hair…and battling flies.

As though on cue, a somewhat older girl emerged from the doorway beside the child. The older girl was wearing a clean blue and white school uniform and carrying a backpack, ready for school. The contrast between the two girls was disconcerting.”

These schools, the reason Justine came to Cairo, are at the heart of the women’s movement in Egypt—in sharp relief from the echoes of abuse now plaguing the great country.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 22nd, 2013 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Education, Egypt, Fiction, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.