CAIRO - The rubbish piling up everywhere in the capital and other big cities is one of the most offensive things in post-revolution Egypt. The speculation that the revolution would witness the dismissal of powerful officials loyal to Hosni Mubarak has proven to be wrong. These officials have survived the best efforts of the young revolutionaries. We wanted these corrupt officials dumped in the street, not the household rubbish. What is also strange is that the phenomenal accumulation of rubbish in the capital has been happening, despite the presence of hundreds of rubbish collectors, who, armed with their brooms, are deployed in the capital's main streets and squares. Some people suspect that the post-revolution trash-collectors are not concerned about hygiene, but something else. Angry that they have been left out of the Government's generous pay rise for civil servants, the trash collectors have been refraining from sweeping up trash, preferring to beg from motorists stuck in traffic jams. Unlike your classical, rude Egyptian beggars, trash collectors do not tap their fingers provocatively on the car window and reel off a litany of blessings for the benefit and edification of passengers inside. Instead, they stand there looking pale and despondent in their dirty overalls, hoping to melt the hearts of motorists. Female trash-collectors are more fortunate than their male colleagues. They abandon their morning shift to work as charwomen in the homes of affluent families. In addition to the LE600 per month they get for allegedly contributing to the cleanliness of Cairo, they pick up another LE1,000 for cleaning the homes of the rich. The notoriety of the old-fashioned beggars has prompted kind-hearted motorists and passers-by to shift their generosity to the trash collectors. The police will tell you that many of these old-fashioned beggars are wealthy people, even landlords of high-rises. A number of movies produced over the past 50 or 60 years have contributed to their notoriety. I remember a police report back in the 1990s about a beggar woman in an old district in Cairo, who was arrested; police found LE2 million in coins and banknotes in her room. There is sometimes friction between the old-fashioned beggars and their new rivals. When they appear in the same place simultaneously, the old-fashioned beggars often wisely decide to withdraw and deploy somewhere else. In the meantime, the public have been complaining that contaminated rubbish is piling up on their doorsteps and outside supermarkets and restaurants, ignored by the trash collectors and their supervisors. Stray dogs, cats, rats, flies and cockroaches love this trash, posing a great danger to little children whose grumpy mothers leave them to play outside in the street. It seems that the trash collectors' supervisors aren't at all interested in investigating the public's complaints about these new beggars. Nor are health officials worried about the threat posed by the ubiquitous mountains of garbage. The majority of the helpless victims live in poor districts and slums and cannot afford medical treatment for themselves or their children. When asked why he does so little sweeping, a trash collector promptly retorts: “How do you expect me to feed my five children with the LE600 per month I get from the municipality?”
