A true story
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“What does your father do?”
He knew this answer was going to be the end of their conversation - it always was.
“We’re zabaleen.”
“Oh right,” said the farmers looking at each other.
Youssef’s family lived and worked in the rubbish collecting area of Cairo. Bottom of the social ladder. If, indeed, it even registered on the social ladder.
The next day Youssef met the farmers again at his post in the delta. His stint of military service was over half way through.
“Do you come across mangoes?” the farmers asked.
A bit of a stupid question really, most of Cairo’s refuse ended up with the zabaleen.
“Yes.”
***
And so it was that one young man with one of the country’s dirtiest jobs, came to be the first and only mango seed collector in his area. Summer months are spent working 24hours a day collecting the discarded seeds of the city’s favourite fruit, drying them and transporting the kernel to his friends in the delta for replanting.
2 Comments
1.
Lynda commented on February 05, 2008 at 5:20 am
I like that story. I am still struggling with my ‘Garbage City’ reportage.. somehow everything I write comes off flippant or superficial - and the Zabaleen deserve more than that.
2.
insteadi commented on February 05, 2008 at 7:12 am
Thanks. I think it’s a difficult to write about people who have such different lives, particularly when they are at the bottom of society’s hierarchy. It can just seem patronising.
I haven’t really written about them for the same reasons you cite, but I loved this story.