The fight against child labor in egypt, culture, dw

In Egypt, every fifth child has to go to work. Abolishing child labor in Egypt seems unrealistic for the foreseeable future. UNICEF therefore tries to at least improve working conditions.

Fun and games are rare

In Cairo, the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF supports a social meeting place operated by the Red Crescent. Here, for example, girls can play sports. "Superfluous", some would say at first sight of the rather martial exercises under the guidance of a physical education teacher. But the girls, who are all teenagers, have fun. And fun is rare enough in the poor neighborhoods where they live.

Fun despite physical exertion

The girls only come here for sports once a week. Fridays, on the Islamic holiday. More leisure time does not fit into your everyday life and work. Some of these children work 60 hours or more a week – in factories or in shops. You can see that they like to come here in their free time. Even if the sports equipment is a bit older and squeak terribly. But sport compensates for a long day at work and can at least make the consequences of child labor a little more bearable and maybe even raise body awareness. To expect more would be unrealistic for the foreseeable future. Many families are poor or broken – and financially dependent on the children contributing to their livelihood.

Marriage instead of a job

"There are certain reasons that the girls have to go to work. Above all economic reasons – that’s why we want to improve the standard of living for girls here, that is our focus", says Nadia Kamel Garas, director of the Red Crescent Project in Cairo.

The families Life in very poor economic conditions – that’s why they send their girls to work. In addition, the Familys are often not interested in further training of their daughters because the future of the daughters is not to be found in a profession, but only in marriage. According to state statistics, 2.7 million children between the ages of 6 and 14 have regular employment in Egypt – that is around 20 percent of all Egyptian children in this age group.

The employees of the Red Crescent in the meeting place in the West Helwan district are primarily committed to the rights of girls. They maintain regular contacts with their employers and are committed to improving working conditions, social Insurance coverage and overtime pay. Which is not always easy and requires a lot of mutual trust. They also maintain contact with parents. And ensure that the girls, who often dropped out of school years ago, have access to education.

The dream of a better future

Like 17-year-old Samar Samir, who is currently taking a computer course with 15 other participants. Samar Samir and the other girls dream of a better job in the future. They want to get out of the factories and shops, where they often have to work to the point of exhaustion six days a week. At some point you want to become secretaries, nurses – or assistants in a modern commercial enterprise. But they also know how dependent their families are on the little money they bring home.

At Samar Samir, the family has nine children, all of them teenagers or younger. Seven of them have to work – all girls. Only the two boys are still too young for this at the age of six and ten. A heavy burden for Samar Samir. Her mother is sick, the father had a serious accident at work. "My father is a facade painter. But one day he fell off the scaffolding while working on a house. Since then he has been unable to work", she tells.

Learn for life

Samar Samir likes to come here. She likes the health courses that a doctor from the University of Cairo offers because you can also openly ask questions about taboo topics. On sexuality and menstruation – and of course on occupational safety. She likes the computer courses with teacher Abdallah, the preparatory workshops and handicrafts. And she also likes the singing lessons that a music teacher spends with the girls every Friday. The school lets them forget the hard daily routine for a few hours a week.

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