Just passing me by?

What is happiness to you?

Drop a line or two.

First Entry for 2010

Still here, still here
Don't mind me

From an Orphanage, Cairo

Every girl has a story.I don't want to write about them.I don't even write about my favourite moments because if I put them into words, it's like letting the world know our secrets. They are for me- for us alone.

Portrait of a widowed mother waiting for her children to come home from school.I miss wandering around and getting lost. It lead me to unexpected places.

All work and no play makes me a dull girl

What's new?
+As much as I try to blend in with the norm, I end up doing the uncommon.+I'm more aware of what I really want in life- I want to experience the extraordinary.

+ Oh and I've rediscovered that I am actually a beach person!(Yep those are my stinking feet...small aren't they?)

I left my heart here

†

A Crumbling Neighbourhood

Boy standing at the rubble of what's left of his home from a collapsed building of apartment blocks in Old Cairo.

Building collapses are a common occurrence in the many areas in Cairo inhabited by masses of Egyptians on lower incomes. They are typically the result of unregulated constructions with poor materials and corner-cutting contractors. One of the most significant infrastructure problems in these areas is the practice of adding on more stories than a foundation can bear. Here, the foundations are built by just putting bricks together and buildings are placed next to each other to balance them. Time and extreme dry conditions also takes its toll with deterioration of these buildings.

Below the collapsed building of the apartment block(see above pic) is a gritty and overcrowded home to Old Cairo’s street vendors, taxi drivers and doormen. In the cramped, unhygienic rooms live families of up to ten members in each apartment consisting of just one room, measuring 20 by 10 foot. Paint is used on the walls to cover and fill in cracks to make their homes look aesthetically pleasing.

The families within these households are at risk from diseases, particularly due to airborne pollution, unsafe food handling practices, exposure to household’s garbage, and the overcrowded housing which are all characteristics of urban slum environments.