Our first stop in our trip to Ein El Seera was at Omm Basma’s, a very nice and a smart lady. Omm Basma, unlike many of the other residents of this area runs her own small business that has helped her build another room on the roof, whereas Abou Reda, a man who lives right next to her, whom his family shares the same bathroom (in which all the problems lie) has suffered for twenty years in this place and has had it with the living conditions that he and his family have endured for all these years; that he has given up on everything and is just waiting for a fire or any kind of disaster for that matter to wipe out the whole place hping that the government would do something then and build them houses that are fit for human habitation.
These two individuals live in very close proximity, just a couple of steps away from each other, but one still has hope and is trying to better their living conditions, while the other has let depression and despair bring him down, and honest to God he cannot be blamed.
Community psychology is different than any other psychology classes I’ve taken. At first I couldn’t see what does all this have to do with the “psychology” I know, but I’ve came to realize that there is a very important correlation.
Looking at Abou Reda’s family, he told us that he never talks to his wife anymore, all she does is just sit on the stairs step cuz she can’t stand to sit inside the room they live in anymore, and after prices went up, he too has stopped working and just sits at their place and do nothing but cook for them. The problems go way deeper though, they have accumulated in these people souls and bodies that they’ve killed all their feelings of joy and hope and destroyed their health. That they are in a very low psychological and physiologocal state, suffering emotionally, which has lead to an increase in drug addiction that the whole neighborhood is now notorious for its drug dealers and addicts.
This is probably the only mean they could find to get their minds off of all their problems; having to live where you have zero privacy; where you are surrounded by diseases, where you can't even wash your face normally when you get up in the morning, where there is no proper ventilation that one has to step outside every few minutes to breathe. It was a depressing experience in my opinion yet an eye opener and a wake up call that one should be grateful and show their gratitude to God by helping those people who deserve to LIVE.
SO hopefully we would be able to help them inshaAllah.
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2 comments:
poor them...the experience i had in ein el seera was similar to yours. they are prevented even from thier basic needs. they are deprived form breathing a fresh air as their houses is too small and, im sorry its not houses, i guess it should be called "room". their small rooms are very dirty, full of butterflies, and no air reaches it.
thank god for the luxurius life we all are living,
Yes Yasmine, I agree that this was a depressing experience...However, we should try to look at the positive side or the assets of this community to be able to use them to their end in order to help those people...I believe we have a big role and we can contribute positively towards the life of those people, we just need to develop sense of community on a higher ecological level..maybe if we think that we all belong to the same macrosystem (i.e. Egypt), we might be able to develop positive sense of community that would push us towards helping those people...
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