So I guess in the 1960's the king of Egypt created "garbage city" as a way of absorbing all the Christians moving from Upper Egypt in search of work. They became the garbage collectors for all of Cairo and lived here near the rock quarries. Now 50,000 people live in garbage city. They still collect all the garbage for 20 million people. They sleep on it and with it. They sort it and sell everything recyclable and have a pretty intense repurposing enterprise.
And they have this stunning church carved into the side of the mountain.
"Favorite" is probably the wrong word since it was a little strange to drive through the garbage part oogling from my comfortable tour van at people living on piles of trash. But seeing them live thus and then coming upon this humble place of worship left quite an impression.
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| Looking up from midway. Those are the kids at the top. |
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| Looking down from the middle. |
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| The smaller, indoor chapel. |
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| View of garbage city from top of the chapel. |
Separate event: Caleb's Cub Scout service project picking up litter in Wadi Degla.
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| Engaging in important scout activities such as watching other people start a fire. |
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| And swinging pick axes (which they were very pleased to find in the litter they were picking up). |
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| And posing like a rock star while standing on a rock. |
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