Email 
Print 
EGYPT: Living in a cemetery
(video)
Source: IRIN
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
CAIRO, 6 February 2008 (IRIN) - This video short looks at how up to a million poor people have made one of the biggest burial grounds in Egypt their home. Dubbed 'the City of the Dead' and
located on the outskirts of the capital, Cairo, many of the families who live there migrated from rural areas in search of work. In the cemetery grounds, they can live rent-free in exchange for
guarding tombstones housed in mud houses. As Cairo's population of an estimated 18 million continues to grow every year, so too does the demand for housing. Yahya Mohammed and his family of three
moved to the cemetery five years ago. It's a basic existence for them, without sanitation or electricity. He digs graves in exchange for a roof over his head. sz/cb© IRIN. All rights
reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org
