The right to housing? -OK and have you heard of such a thing as the right to housing?
-What? -The right to housing.
Of course - as an Egyptian citizen I know I have the right to decent housing, a decent life and livelihood.
But where - who will get me these rights?
It's the right of every Egyptian to have housing, to be able to live decently - all of this is your right as an Egyptian!
It's my right, sure - but who do I demand this from?
No, I don't know about these things...
My right to housing... I've heard of it, but I don't see it in front of me.
No, it doesn't exist. At all.
Right to housing? There is no equality in housing at all. None whatsoever.
Urban Dangers 1. Pollution
There is no attention paid to sewage systems,
They regularly burst,
[44.4% of housing units in Egypt are not connected to sanitation systems.] -Maintenance is neglected,
They're ruling over the country, and it remains in filth.
Not once have they come here and paved the road or anything for this country.
Those people that won in the elections promised to fix things and pave the roads and so on - and we've seen none of that.
Constant fires... smoke... all of that.
The only thing the district would do is come here and expand the roads and pile up the garbage... until you've got mountains of it.
See this power line?
If one of Habib el Adly's men were living near this power line it would have been removed by now.
Urban Dangers 2. Collapsed buildings
-They pulled me out from beneath all of this rubble, Look what it's like down there - if you look at it, you'd be too scared to pass down there.
This house collapsed, and the rescue team came, and got them out from above,
Neither the district nor the governor has paid any attention to them,
The house collapsed, and we've been stranded like this since Monday.
And no one gives a damn. No one's paid any attention to us, no one's come to us.
Around 2% of housing units presently have construction flaws.
Urban Dangers 3. Forced Eviction
The first day the military police came, and the Ministry of Interior, they raided us out of the blue, at 6 am,
-[Text] This is how the poor are treated in Egypt. They just kept demolishing everything... without a word.
We ended up with our things out in the open, abandoned. They broke all our things, demolished them, beat us and abused us, and then left us.
They did nothing else. We asked about halting the order for the demolitions - they said no, there will be no halting.
They demolished the building with everything inside, furniture and all. They didn't even let anyone.... take even their personal things.
As if we're in Gaza.
[Lacking the Basics]
I'll show you that the flat consists of a room, and something like a kitchen to keep equipment in.
A room, where seven people sleep. Seven people, and a common toilet.
A common toilet.
He has neither housing, nor home, nor living.
He and his family sleep here.
Around 4.5% of families live in a single room.
Around 6% of families use common toilets.
Don't ask me why I sell a loaf of bread for 50 piastres now,
Ask the governor! The governor refuses to subsidize you here, tells you you don't deserve it.
He says, you live in Mohandiseen [an upscale neighbourhood]
We pay a lot for the gas canisters - when we find them. We rarely find them.
Thirty, thirty-five pounds. ($5)
Around 76% of Egyptian families depend on gas canisters to cook with.
[Transportation] -Yeah, transportation, we ride in semi pick-up trucks,
The drivers don't stop, and we can't climb in from the back,
And it's 1 pound ($0.17) per person, no matter how short the distance,
Give them half and they keep fighting with you, and there we are standing at the stop,
And riding in the back, too.
The semi-formal public transport sector (microbuses) provides around 35% of transportation needs in Cairo.
[Water] -We get water but, I mean, it's usually polluted.
You pay for the water, either way you're paying, whether you like it or not,
And if you don't pay they cut off the water supply.
And I'm living in Nile country. We're surrounded by Nile water.
Water cuts for a day or more in Cairo: 37 %
National rate of water network loss: 50%
Community Self-Organization
For them it's a slum, but for us, it's the best place in the world.
It's enough that not a single incident of theft has occurred.
No one has dared to sneak into our neighborhood.
Because we're real men and we stand up to protect it.
Here we don't have singular roles - we take on the responsibility of the local government.
Meaning district governance.
We clean... we do the job of the Ministry of Environment.
We take on protection and security... the jobs of the police and the Interior Ministry.
We protect the place.
They spread the idea that people in slum areas are all filth.
That we don't know anything.
Poverty isn't a shame!
They are the reason - this poverty is targeted - they are the reason it exists.
For 20 years this place was a garbage dump.
We cleaned it up of our own accord.
Because they refused to - even the gas canisters, we get them from outside to distribute among people here.
But state - there is no state. Government? There is no government.
I got these numbers - up till 100,
To get a canister, you take a card, let's say number 8 - and you get that canister.
Out of a very small amount, I have to spend daily wages for protection,
With the same amount, I get bulbs and wires, to light the roads,
I use it to clean.
As you can see, some passerby donate as well.
So we can say... there is still good in Egypt.
We just need more of an awakening in conscience.
We stood and protected the place - why?
I mean.... it's your country, your people, your blood.
It's your place, where you live, where you grow.
That goes for the poor as well as the rich.
During the days of the revolution, things got a bit out of control,
We work hard, and build,
Lest they pop up again and cause any disturbance, you know?
It's your property and everything, but it brings quite a burden,
For anyone who wants to build. Especially someone who's ill - won't build anything at all.
Slums? Of course not.
I mean I was born here, 80 or 90 years ago, and we're doing work no one knows anything about,
If it's developed properly, it'll be the best place in all of Egypt.
These 'slums' are their own creation,
I am, thank God, a poor man with faith.
But, thank God, I am rich with God's blessings and people's prayers for me.
But I have the capability and the ability to do things even the biggest authority in the country can't accomplish!
Why, because I live in the area, and I know what will benefit the area, and what it needs.
Now who are they that can benefit the country?
And who will listen to us, and help us, and see what our demands are.
Our demands are not personal demands for us - they are public demands.
That can benefit the country, benefit the citizens using these roads.
The right to housing, and a just and sustainable society. Have you taken your rights?
Special thanks to the people of: Kom Ghorab, el-Basateen, Shubrament, St. Katerine, Greater al-Amrawi farm, el-Hagana farm, el-Muneeb.
The Right to Housing Series First Episode