Manshiyat Naser ( arz, منشية ناصر ; , "the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

suburb", ) is a ward (''kism'') of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. It covers 5.54 square kilometers, was home to 262,050 people in the 2006 census, up from 168,425 in 1996 census, and borders

Nasr City Nasr City ( ar, مدينة نصر ) is a district of Cairo, Egypt. It is located to the east of the Cairo Governorate and consists mostly of condominia. It was established in the 1960s as an extension to neighboring settlement of Heliopo ...

to the east, central Cairo districts to the west, and Khalifa ward to the south. It is famous for the Garbage City quarter, which is a

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

settlement at the far southern end of Manshiyat Naser, at the base of

Mokattam The Mokattam ( arz, المقطم , also spelled Muqattam), also known as the Mukattam Mountain or Hills, is the name of a range of hills and a suburb in them, located in southeastern Cairo, Egypt. Etymology The Arabic name ''Mokattam'' ...

hills on the outskirts of Cairo. Being Cairo's largest concentration of

Zabbaleen The Zabbaleen ( arz, زبالين ', ) is a word which literally means "garbage people" in Egyptian Arabic.Assaad, Ragui. (1996) Formalizing the Informal? The Transformation of Cairo's Refuse Collection System. ''Journal of Planning Education & R ...

garbage collectors, its economy revolves around the collection and recycling of the city's garbage. Although Manshiyat Naser has streets, shops, and apartments as other areas of the city, it lacks infrastructure and often has no

running water Tap water (also known as faucet water, running water, or municipal water) is water supplied through a tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used for drinking, ...

, sewers, or electricity.

Coptic district

Coptic Christians Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are Co ...

were originally the predominant inhabitants of Manshiyat Naser, though in recent decades the area's Muslim population has grown. The Christians are well known for herding swine within the city, which are fed edible pieces of garbage and marketed across Cairo to Coptic Christian establishments. However, in the spring of 2009, the Egyptian government, in response to the worldwide

threat A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. Intimidation is a tactic used between conflicting parties to make the other timid or psychologically insecure for coercion or control. The act of intimidation for co ...

swine flu Swine influenza is an infection caused by any of several types of swine influenza viruses. Swine influenza virus (SIV) or swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) refers to any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As o ...

, embarked on a massive program to cull the herds of pigs in Manshiyat Naser. The Cave Cathedral or St Sama'ans Church, used by the Coptic Christians in Garbage City, is the largest

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

in the Middle East, with seating for 15,000 people.Glenn Smith,
Transforming Lives in Cairo’s Garbage Villages
'
Lausanne World Pulse
February 2008.

Garbage and recycling

The city's garbage is brought to the Garbage City in Manshiyat Naser by the Zabbaleen (garbage collectors), who then sort through the garbage to attempt to retrieve any potentially useful or recyclable items. Families typically specialize in a particular type of garbage they sort and sell—one room of children sorting out plastic bottles, while the next of women separating cans from the rest. Anything that can be reused or recycled is saved by one of the numerous families in Manshiyat Naser. Various recycled paper and glass products are made and sold from the city, while metal is sold by the kilo to be melted down and reused. Carts pulled by horse or donkey are often stacked high with the

recyclable Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

goods. The

economic system An economic system, or economic order, is a system of Production (economics), production, resource allocation and Distribution (economics), distribution of goods and services within a society or a given geographic area. It includes the combinati ...

in the Garbage City is classified as the

informal sector An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government. Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countrie ...

. Most families typically have worked in the same area and type of specialization in the garbage piles and continue to make enough money to support themselves.

Media

Garbage Dreams ''Garbage Dreams'' is a 2009 feature length documentary film produced and directed by Mai Iskander. Filmed over the course of four years, ''Garbage Dreams'' follows three teenage boys growing up in Egypt's garbage village. ''Garbage Dreams'' ai ...

'' is a 2009 documentary directed by Mai Iskander about boys born and raised in the Garbage City and how they must look for new ways to support themselves and their families as trash collection in Cairo changes.

References

External links

* {{Districts of Cairo Districts of Greater Cairo Coptic settlements Landfills Slums in Egypt

Coptic district

Garbage and recycling

Media

See also

References

External links