Women in Egypt slum repurpose waste into colourful items

Underprivileged women in a Cairo slum repurpose pieces of fabric, tin cans, and paper waste to make usable and wearable every-day items.

Women are trained in paper crafts, weaving, and patchwork, all as income-generating schemes in a project founded in the late 1980s.

The project focuses on recycling and waste-management in the 'Zabaleen' settlement in Cairo's Manshiet Nasser district, an infamous shantytown on the outskirts of the city.

It was founded by Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE), an NGO that works in waste-reduction and education.

APE helps improve the lives of garbage collectors in 'Zabaleen' district, one of the largest settlements of garbage collection in the city, by providing a space to learn new crafts, while at the same time teaching garbage collectors how to read and write.

The women picked up the skills and started making rugs and other products and after some time, the organisation started arranging classes for them, Metry said.

Items discarded by factories are sent to the slum for collection, where they are turned into rugs, handbags, and belts.

The women receive deliveries and sort through mounds of what they call 'clean' trash to pick out their materials.

Over the last two decades APE has helped hundreds of women, and currently employs around 200 women.

TRT World's Arabella Munro has more on the story.