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Social potentials and needs assessment
Introduction The squatter area problem tops the list of the headaches of The squatters are defined as the areas where dwellers have built their houses, without license, either on their own lands or on the government owned land usurped by them. Most of the times, such houses mushrooms outside the formal physical zones with no public utilities; as the government never acknowledges of their presence. Moreover, such houses represent a major threat of equal danger to the inhabitants and the society.Many planners assert that squatters started in Egypt at the beginning of the last century due to non compliance to the ministerial decree no. 29 of 1914. The ministerial decree stipulates that all the government-owned-spaces that were allocated to public utility shall revert back to the Authority of Governmental Properties. Such decree was never carried out, hence these spaces turned into squatters; as a result of the absence of supervision and protection and the unprecedented urbanization movement witnessed in the second half of the last century. Such urbanization came as a result of natural demographic expansion and rural-to-urban migration. Many Egyptian cities witnessed an accelerated urban growth coupled with a dearth of material and technical potentials necessary for managing and planning the growth on domestic levels. Myriads of squatter areas sprang up on the fringes of the cities, whether on government-owned desert or arable lands. The squatters were established on informally allocated lands and where the utilization purpose of the land shifted from arable to urban purposes, without paying heed to any of the laws regulating urban planning and construction. The stereotype of such areas is that they are the hotbeds of crimes and social immorality and perfidy. If such a stereotype was partially correct, the unknown part of the story is that such areas comprise scores of people lacking the basics of respectable life. With a little bit of effort, those squatter people can become a productive work force. A large part of this effort should be exerted by the civic society organizations, despite their limited economic resources, can approach the squatterers, get a feel of their problems and contribute to solving them. The civic society organizations can bank on the gained confidence; especially if the organization has been undertaking the development of the region for a long time. A good example of such type of organization is "Al Bounyaan Group" that operates under the umbrella of " Souhbat Kheir Association" licensed under number 2665 of 2006 to operate in Establ Antar and Khairullah helmet in Zahraa Misr al Qadema area. The Group comprises a number of highly qualified volunteers who worked in Establ Antar and Khairullah helmet since 1998. The volunteers worked with the inhabitants of the areas where they carried out researches and social evaluations. The volunteers endeavoured to offer them micro loans, in addition to health care and various development projects. The Bounyaan Group team, recognizing the dimensions of the sufferings of Istabl Antar and Khairullah helmet, contributing to solving their problems and improving the living conditions of them, have undertaken two qualitative researches: "Accelerated Participatory Research (APR)" and a quantitative research using a questionnaire. It is noteworthy to say that the group needs the formal census of the families in the study area. Accelerated Participatory Research (APR) Development is, primarily, a process of mobilization of all the efforts to upgrade the living standards of the population to surpass the poverty line. The process needs continuous, numerous and intensive attempts. Furthermore, involving stakeholders in the development process provide them with a better understanding of their problems and render them more able to suggest better solutions of such problems. That is why the APR is an important available method to increase the troubleshooting potentials of the community. Moreover, community involvement in research work opens windows of opportunities for them to become proactive and effective in upcoming development endeavours. In order to involve the community members proactively in the research methodology, this new approach used tools and well-known methods that allow people to easily express their own opinions and to scrutinize the conditions of the surrounding community. One of the most important aspects of the APR is offering all the members of the society the opportunity to identify their own priority and to devise real plans to achieve their targets through utilization of resources, experiences and skills locally available. APR, therefore, is the ideal tool that safeguards proactive participation to improve the awareness of the individuals and local organizations on the realities and the orientations towards independence and perseverance to achieve their targets. The objective of the current study is to be introduced to the living conditions of the inhabitants of the squatter areas, identifications of their potentials and problems and the gauging the degree of understanding of the squatterers to such problems and their impact on their lives. Study area
Study team Members The team was divided into 4 three-member subgroups. In each subgroup a member was responsible for conducting the interview with the potential families, another was responsible for documenting the interview and the third was responsible for observing the conditions of the visited family. The visited targeted bracket: During the research, the diversification of the interviewed brackets was observed to reflect the existing variation in the region.
Historical Hint on the Region The inhabitants of the region associates the name “Establ Antar” (The Stables of Antar) with Antar Ibn Shadaad claiming that he established a stable for his horses in the area. The area is, also called, “al Gabakhana” as Sultan Saluldin used to store his cannons and ammunition in it. Perhaps it was called al Gabakhana because it served as the gun powder factory in the age of Mohammad Ali. It is considered an important Islamic monument. The area, moreover, was called al Hadjaana” helmet (Border guards helmet) due to the border guards camps that used to be found in the area.
The houses of the regions were built over the Zahra’a rock, a piece of the Moqatam Mount in I .General Description of the region
The study focuses on two regions, they are: Establ Antar and Khairullah Helmet in Zahra’a Misr Al Qadima district. The study region is a mountainous squatter area comprising of houses that were built 40 years ago at the foot of the mountain. The study region, also, comprises houses on the slopes of the two Zahra’a hills that were built only 15 years ago. Most of the houses of the region, either one or two-storey high, are built of waste bricks that are dampened with the drainage water. The houses, not fit for human residence, are badly ventilated and do not allow the sun tocome in. Each of the houses are divided up into rooms. Each family lives in on or two rooms. The bathroom is common. The new units are built up of red bricks. The houses are poorly ventilated and do not have sanitary drainage system. Electricity is illegally installed. The houses are not healthy and very damp. Moreover, the wall surrounding al Gabakhana, near al Nour Mosque, despite being an Islamic monument serves as a waste dump. In front of the mosque, there is a plot of land used by the kids as a play ground. The ownership system in the area is squatting. At the regions situated at the top of the mountain the following important services are absent:
One example of the streets found in the areas located on top of the Mount is a street called The same scenario applies in the region of al Jabal al Thani where the streets are winding and unpaved, with no means of transportations available and no numbers or marks distinguish the houses or the streets. 2- Potentials and available resources - The 10ms x 20ms dumpster situated at the end of al Sa’ada road can be utilized. But on the other hand, no natural, agricultural, nor industrial resources are available in the area. Moreover, the human labour force are both illiterate and untrained. - The empty spaces around three inactive mosques in the Sa’ada street can be well utilized.
5- Proposals to meet the needs and solve the problems 1- Cleaning up the dumpster and turning it into a market or a park. 2- Establishing a clinic, a nursery school and a police station near the dumpster. The role of the community in implementing the proposals Desisting from throwing waste randomly. II: Organizations operating in the region 1- Quality of available services
2- Efficiency and effectiveness of offered services The offered services are ineffective and inefficient; as they never achieve the targeted goals. The small loans are used up for purposes other than the targeted purpose like paying up lease arrears. Afterwards, the family keeps on paying up the loan and its interest weekly thus stretching the tight budget of the family to extremes. On the other hand, the donating body does not monitor the loan utilization to the extant that some ladies became specialists in convincing others to apply for loans provided that they nominate them as their guarantors. The professional guarantors take from the applicant 30 EGP/loans/ applicant. As for the humanitarian aid, although the inhabitants of the area are in dire need for it, yet it creates a sense of dependence and apathy that turns them into “humanitarian aid recipient professionals”. 3- Proposals for improving the services from the point of view of community: Establishing a hospital, a nursery school, a police station, a vegetable market and a bread bakery. III: Social conditions Within the family 1- Roles and responsibilities of each member of the family a- The husband: The main bread winner in all the interviewed family is the husband. The occupation of the husbands included: a carrier in al Sahil area, an electrician, a carpenter, an incense peddler, a worker in poultry shop ( temporarily unemployed due to the avian flu crisis), a shoemaker in a shoe factory (seasonal employment), a worker in a café, a plumber, a lorry driver assistant, a microbus driver, a worker in an iron foundry and a cart driver. The only permanent jobs that were found by the research were: a sheikh of a mosque, in Maadi district employed by the Ministry of Waqf and owns electrical appliance repair shop, and a teacher in b- The wife: She might be a secondary provider for the family if she works as a maid or if she sells home-made products e.g. juices. She, also, can get a small loan from donating bodies. c- The Children: In most of the cases of the interviewed families the male children under the age of 13-14 years were at school. The male children more than 14 years have left the school and joint the work force to help in bringing in additional income for the family. On the other hand, most of the female children always drop out of school at an early age to save their education fees and to help out with the house shores. They rarely work. 2- Decision making mechanism within the family In most of the interviewed cases, the husband is usually the decision makers, In one instance, the father of the husband was the decision maker by virtue of being the member with a permanent income, being an employee of Forensic Authority. Moreover, the father of the husband owns the house where his married children live. 3-Relationships within the family: the relationships within the interviewed families are distinguished by coherence and mutual respect between the young and the old. 4- The size of the family: The family size ranges between 4-7 members. In the region of al Jabal al Thani, the family size ranges between 5-9 members. There are houses and separate apartments where extended families dwell (the father, the married son, and the married daughter). 5- Description of a house: A building is subdivided into small apartments with an area ranging between 60-80 meters. Each apartment is subdivided into two rooms, a service area and a bathroom. The walls of the apartment are rarely painted and are damp due to the leaching of the sanitary waste disposal well. The apartments that were visited by the researchers did not include sanitary drainage system, except for one house located at the beginning of the road beside the dumpster. The sanitary drainage is done by the help of a sanitary waste disposal car that comes every now and then. All the houses were plugged to the water network and water has been regularly available since September/October 2006. But the water never comes except at night. All the houses that were surveyed had a washing machine, a coloured television and a cable television aerial (dish). All the houses are very humble houses. The most spacious house is made up of two rooms. There are no apartments. All the houses are made up of separate rooms. The one with means can lease two rooms and a yard. All the furniture are old and dirty. Cleanliness is noticeably absent due to lack of water and absence of sanitary drainage. Outside the family 1- Customs and traditions The customs and traditions prevalent in such neighbourhood are Upper Egyptian ones brought by the inhabitants of the area. Such customs and traditions are reflected in female treatment where she is mostly confined to her house in addition to the increased number of female school drop outs. Moreover, female circumcision is rife. 2- Readiness to cooperate to solve the problems or to make use of the opportunities. There is a limited readiness among few interviewed members of the community. The general trend of readiness to cooperate is weak. As for the region of al Jabal al Thani, the members are ready to cooperate and donate money, each according to his own potentials. 3- Disputes and how to solve them Disputes are very common due to youth unemployment and narcotic addiction. Such disputes are numerous and intense, where knives are used and females intervene to support their husbands and sons. Sometimes things might escalate to the extant that calls for the intervention of the police from Misr al Qadima or al Basaateen Police stations. One of the subjects stated that one of her brother was killed in a squabbles. She said that she is afraid for her sons from such kinds of squabbles (she has only four sons). 4- Familial and geographic affiliation Most of the inhabitants are from an Upper Egyptian origins. Besides, there are new comers from other districts from 5- Leaders inside the region The leaders come from the family called the Sons of Hamoudah. The families of the region, sometimes resort to them for help in solving some of the disputes or in rendering them some favours. It is well-known among the uphill dwellers that the water pumps were introduced into the region by virtue of their contribution, being the representation of the MP of the region Mr Yousri Bayoumi. The role of MPs, the Local Council and the political parties stop short at this point. 6- Entertainment and methods of development it No means of entertainment are available for the inhabitants of such region. Men work and return home late at night. Women and girls either watch television or chat together across the roads or insides the houses. Children loiter out in the streets. There are no youth centers or clubs in the area except for the "Prosperity Club" (al Rafaahiya Club) established by Plan International organization. The only activity available in such a club is soccer, where the soccer playground is rented for seven pounds/match, including two pounds for renting the ball. The winning team is exempted from paying the rental of the playground and the ball. Moreover, there is al "Nahdah Centre" (Advancement Centre) but it is removed far away from the mountain. As for the region of al Jabal al Thani there is an exclusive male café. IV: Education Situations 1- The level and degree of education inside each family: From interviewing 17 families in the street, the research found out that education levels of many girls do not exceed the preparatory level, especially if the girl was the eldest daughter. The eldest daughter is mostly expected to help the mother with the houses shores and in bringing up her younger siblings. As for the males, most of them drop out also at the preparatory level. Amongst the 17 family that were interviewed, only two families have university graduate fathers. Very few families have children at educational levels higher than preparatory levels. The results for the region of al Jabal al Thani were as follows:
2- Illiteracy rates among the members of the community Most of the interviewees had varied ability to read and write. The majority had low literacy and numeracy skills. 3- Types and quality of educational services Uphill there are no schools except a nursery school established by Plan international organization for pre-schoolers. Primary schools are found down hill in al Zahra'a region (Antara's School). In Khairullah helmet there is 4- Educational tendency towards education: The individual tendency for education varies according to:
Most of the interviewees wanted their children to complete their education. However, due to the lack of the children's willingness to complete their education, lack of financial resource for education, low education quality or for all the aforementioned reasons there is a low conviction of the value of education and a low tendency to complete the education. Moreover the general climate in the region is not favourable for learning or education. The houses are narrow, badly ventilated, poorly lit, unclean and unorganized due to the negligence of some of the housewives. On the other hand, the prevalent cultural climate does venerate the value of learning despite the deep keenness of the parents to provide education for their children. One of the interviewees stated that her father used to reiterate "I would sell my very clothes if any one of you would do good in school". Another interviewee said that she was ready to work as a house maid to provide for the education of her daughter and son (three years old and two months old respectively). Some families, however, can not afford to pay for the private group tutorial fees ranging between 50-80 EGP/month. Such families preferred to keep their kids at home despite the fact they are still at primary stage. One of the families that kept their kids at home had a microwave oven and a Nescafe Gold jar. Another kid dropped out of the school though he has reached the sixth grade to work with his brother in construction in order to be able to buy a mobile phone. It is noteworthy to say that his brother, his eldest (16-17 years old) dropped out of school, though he reached the preparatory stage and his father is a preparatory school teacher, under the pretext that he does not like education. There is a widespread trend among the inhabitants in directing their children to learn in al Azhar if there is an available opportunity. They are convinced that al Azhar education is better than regular education; as the children learn Quran and Hadith (Prophetic traditions) that positively impact the morals and behaviors of the children. 5- Classroom density According to the interviewees the density of the classrooms are very high ranging between 60-75 students/classroom. 6- Teachers' efficiency The interviewed students at the primary and preparatory schools mentioned that the teacher is very keen on emphasizing to the students the importance of getting their parents to pay the private group tutorial fees ranging between 50-80 EGP/month. Karim, a second preparatory student, said that the teacher can make up a problem and desist from explaining because for instance he did not find chalk. Hossam, a fourth primary student stated that the teacher can beat them up because he found the windows are broken. These stories were confirmed by other two students though their parents work in the same school. 7- Educational drop out and its reason The drop out rates are very high amongst male and female interviewees due to high educational cost compared to the family income and the inability of the students to learn thus achieving unsatisfactory grades. Such low ability to learn made students who are about to finish their primary education and at preparatory education claim that they can not read nor write. Consequently, the males take up crafts and females stay at home. 8- Education fees: The fees are very high compared to the income of the family. Moreover, the families are obliged to offer their children private group tutorials due to the low quality of education and the low ability to learn. Education-relevant problems
10- Education promotion proposals * Offering affordable private group tutorials. * Offering nursery schools to train pre-schoolers on educational skills before enrolling in the school. 11- The role of the community in implementing the aforementioned proposals The interviewees have not demonstrated such tendency. One of the interviewees, who worked as an Imam in a mosque in al Maadi, mentioned that he tried to start a Quran memorization project in the region but it failed bitterly due to the absence of conscience. V: Health conditions 1- Types and levels of Available services: Preventive- treatment
2- Prevalent diseases Among the interviewees, no disease seemed to be prevalent. But the majority of the children of the interviewed family demonstrated general physical weakness due to the low income of the families that negatively impact the quality of the food offered to the children. Some of the interviewed families with sons or husbands working at certain professions mentioned that those who work in cutting marble suffer from chest disease and those who work as carriers in al Sahal region suffer bouts of recurrent back pains. In al Jabal al Thani region the rife diseases were
In the area, the phenomena of organ selling, especially kidney selling for 10,000 EGP, are very rife. Such amount of money is squandered in vain without the donor making tangible benefit from it. Moreover, the donor most of the time, suffers post-surgery complications that negatively impact his health and the socio-economic conditions of his family as he fails to work after the surgery. On the other hand, the mothers are very keen on giving their children vaccination shots according to the vaccination schedules annexed to the birth certificates of the children. 3- Disease causes and protection awareness in the community There is a total absence of awareness on the cause of any disease that might be rife in the region. Such oblivious attitude is reflected in the fact that some families still breed poultry, although they know of the outbreak of the avian flu. 4- Methods of dealing and treatment of diseases Dealing with diseases stops short at going to one of the aforementioned centres, buying medications and taking them. VI: Economic conditions 1- Income level The level of income is very low ranging between 10-15 EGP/day. In some case, the family income of a large family of seven may be as low as 50-60 EGP/day. In al Jabal al Thani region the income of a family may range between 200-400 EGP/month. 2- Income resource 1- The income resources are the employment of the father and the children. In these area, also, secondary resources are generated by the secondary employments and activities undertaken by the wives like organization of trips for neighbours that are conducted by Om Mahmoud. Such piece of information was offered to the interviewers by the neighbours not by the lady herself, though she was interviewed for almost an hour. The employment of the wives living in the area are diverse ranging between working as maids in al Sahal houses, cleaners in cleaning agencies, caregivers in nursery schools or hospitals. 3- Expenses a- House rent ranging between 50-120 EGP/month b- Food stuffs for the household needs c- Fees for water, electricity and sanitary drainage. d- Regular treatment in families as in the case of the family of Hossam who is epileptic. His treatment costs 50-80 EGP/month. e- Education fees 4- Income timing The income of the majority of the families is seasonal; as the bread winners of most of the families work on daily wages. 5- Economic activities There is no particular economic activity that is prevalent amongst the individuals of the community. The widespread occupations include: carrier in al Sahal, incense peddling, carpentry, plumbing among other more permanent jobs like lorry assistant driver. One of the interviewee mentioned that the most prevalent occupation is fish mongering in Dar al Salaam market, but the samples of the study did include any. VII: Environmental conditions 1- Quality and resources of potable water: Eight months ago, almost all the houses in the street have been plugged onto the potable water pipelines. One house that was visited during the interviews did not have potable water because the dwellers could not afford paying the installation fees. Prior to water plugging people used to buy water from vehicles that used to pass in the street selling water. 2- Household waste disposal system including garbage, food leftovers, plastic containers and paper…etc 3- The quality and accessibility to energy resources: electricity is normally available in addition to the natural gas and butane gas. 4- Methods of dealing with different climatic conditions: in general, there are no weather conditions in 5- Environment conservation awareness: Environmental awareness is totally non existing; as it is demonstrated in the absence of cleanliness in the streets and the waste dump that causes the outspread of insects. During the visits conducted by the research team, some of the houses were noticeably very dirty from the inside showing the negligence of the housewife to cleanliness aspect, while other houses were relatively clean. 6- Keenness on planting and protection of trees: The interest of the inhabitants on such a theme is very weak. In the area, there no tree except for some shrubs that were previously distributed amongst the inhabitants to plant them in front of the houses. Some inhabitants take good care of such shrubs. Researchers observations 1- The members of the community can not perceive themselves as making a difference and changing the existing conditions. Their motto is “Mind you own business.” 2- Every member of the community lives the day without planning for the future. 3- Expecting charitable handouts and aid: A mother of one of the subjects of the research who sells popcorns and salted lupines expected a kind of assistance from the research team. Meanwhile, another subject denied totally that the region receives any kind of assistance in kind or in cash. However, Om Mahmoud (the mother of Mahmoud), another subject has repetitively requested an assistance from one of the researcher (Marwa Fathi) to help out one of her relatives who is about to get married. 4- Lack of awareness of what goes outside the street and the services and associations that can offer such services. 5- The common desire among the subjects to leave the mount if this was affordable. 6- Consumption patterns among the community are very high as demonstrated in some consumption behaviors represented in the outspread of mobile phones. 7- Weak religious motivation and defective systems of values and traditions. 8- A general observation that was noticed on studying the subjects of the study that is the subject say that they are not suffering from any problem. No. of families Historical More detailed reports Questrionnaire results Photos – ghba7'ana Clips of newspapers All groups members to arrange the problems Have to add institutional design and research plan Female breadwinners A worker in the A vegetable and fruit vendor A very low number of house maids |
