Dumb or dumpster, which came first:   Many Egyptians know that it is not very smart to live next to street dumps, but do they have a choice!!!

This photo on your left depicts a regular street within the greater Cairo area.  Not a fancy, upscale community, neither a poor neighborhood.  If you click on it, you'll have a better look and say, so what's wrong with it .. so far absolutely nothing,  but hey wait a minute .. extend your view to the next photo (right). This is not a different street .. believe it or not this is the same street, which is just about one single block in length.   

Taking a look from a balcony located on this street, you can see an acceptable view on your left and completely the opposite on the other end of it.    This is not all.   Take a look at this photo.   To add insult to injury, this is what you see right in the center of this street (photo left) .. a vacant lot and nothing, but a pile of accumulated garbage in a middle of an apartment building complexes.

This street is not an exception or one of a kind, but I hate to say it is simply very common allover the city.  I have seen it over and over, where it has become just the norm for people there to live within piles of garbage. 

Who is to blame!!  I am not too sure .. do you blame the people who live there for not taking care of their community?  Do you blame the city for not providing basic services which should & must include garbage removals?  Do you blame the owner of this lot for allowing it to become a public dump?  I assure you, if a minister or let's say any government official at  some level of importance lived in this neighborhood, none of this would have happened.  You would have seen nothing but manicured lawn, with flowers planted and a dozen of police officers protecting it.  (I have seen this for myself where the minister of interior lives and I will discuss it in a separate edition). 

The sad thing is that this has become acceptable to the general population.  It does not seem that it bothers people anymore or maybe they just gave up!! Here is another photo to prove it, just sweep the garbage back where it belongs .. on the vacant lot!!