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Poverty amid revolution
VIRGINIA ERSKINE says the disturbing reality for the orphans of Cairo is that their existence since the downfall of Hosni Mubarak earlier this year has not changed one iota. For the millions of children that sleep rough and spend their waking hours on the streets, the revolution may as well have happened on another planet.
Frightened young girls continue to deliver babies on their own in filthy conditions with no medical aid - most of the unfortunate babies are then tossed aside to die on rubbish dumps, in doorways or down drains.
The lucky ones end up in an orphanage, such as those Virginia works at, but most children arrive with dire health problems which are often severe, ranging from cholera to tuberculosis and anaemia.
Virginia runs the Cyprus branch of the FACE charity, which raises funds and operates several orphanages in Cairo and provides care for “the poorest of the poor”.
“They live in rubbish tips and sleep in tombs at graveyards,” she explains. “The children we help are at the bottom of the ladder. They have absolutely nothing”.
The charity’s mission is to assist and protect orphans, street children, their families and communities, regardless of race, culture or religion - it’s an enterprise which has been working for over a decade, but with the recent revolution, providing aid has been tricky at best.
One of the main drivers of the recent unrest had been the appalling poverty suffered by many - but as Egypt celebrated the end of Mubarak, those at the bottom of the pile suffered more misery - almost unimaginable for the average person to digest.
“Well, the revolution brought strikes. The rubbish trucks went on strike during the unrest, so the kids that find their food in the rubbish tips and garbage heaps had nothing to eat. They were starving.”
Many kids are exposed to a variety of toxic substances, both in their food and in the environment around them. They are also at risk of various kinds of abuse, with many children subjected to horrific rapes on an almost daily basis.
Virginia had left her job as a sister at a hospital in Wales in 1995, and just months after retirement in Cyprus, her world changed forever when she took a small detour during a weekend break in the Egyptian capital.
“We turned into an alleyway where we saw a tiny child being beaten to death with sticks, his head was caved in. It was just horrifying - worst of all nobody cared, we were so traumatised that I wanted to do something for these kids.”
Since then, she has visited Cairo every six weeks to deliver medical supplies, food, clothes and essential care to the children of the city. As a former professional staff nurse, she was perfectly placed to help, both on the ground and raising funds.
She says the streets of Cairo are literally littered with rape victims, prostitutes, street children, desperate single or disgraced divorced women abandoned infants. Such is the shame and social stigma of being an unmarried mother that is why so many kids end up on the street.
Under Mubarak about half the population lived on $2 a day or less and largely kept tight lipped about their appalling standard of life, but Erskine says that the silence has been broken.
“I think with the elections coming we will see a lot more progress. At one time nobody ever mentioned politics. Nobody criticised the police, or Mubarak or anything,” she says. “But now everybody is a politician. Everybody has a voice - barbers, taxi drivers, shopkeepers.”
Virginia also now works with the FACE sister charity ‘Cherish’, which is aimed at helping children in the most desperate situations. Virginia says that amongst the stench emitting from decomposing corpses buried in cracked tombs, small villages of homeless children have sprung up in the vast graveyards on the outskirts of Cairo.
“With Cherish we are working with children that actually live amongst the graves and tombs in cemeteries - these are the poorest of the poor. They are not alone; there are old, widows and others living next to graves. In these areas the suicide rate is appalling - but what we do with the children is give them medical checks, and we provide schooling of a sort.”
Inefficiency and bureaucracy of state structures inherited from the Mubarak regime appear to have survived the revolution, as one crate of clothing and supplies sent over in April still sits on the dockside at Cairo port.
“Nobody in authority seems to want to put their signature to anything since the uprising, so we have to wait for the container,” she says. “I’m not sure how long that will take, hopefully it will be released next week.”
To raise funds, FACE operate a small charity shop in Paralimni, collecting clothes and bric a brac to raise food for medicines, toys and other essentials, which are then shipped to Cairo. The shop is manned by a small team of volunteers and is open six days a week and every penny raised goes directly to the street children.
Volunteers are always needed, especially to help on the ground - so those with a medical background are encouraged to help.
If you can help FACE or CHERISH in any way, call Virginia on 99405681 or email cherishcharity@cytanet.com.cy
