Recently there have been many photos of 'Ezbet al-Assaal, a slum in Shubra which has been developed and painted. However, the depiction of the area seen in those photos is not entirely true, and the slum was not properly ‘developed’. The houses have undergone no development beyond simply adding a bright coat of paint on the outside, as entire families are still stuck in single rooms, which have not even been expanded. Rather, spaces were taken from those already small rooms to create bathrooms, and residents were forced to put their gas cookers and ovens in the hallways. And instead of using reinforced concrete for construction, they used wooden materials in month-old housings, and the defects quickly started to appear.
One of the locals told me that he petitioned to the governor during his visit, asking him: “Would you, sir, accept to live in such a small room where you defecate in the same place where you eat?” He said the governor turned a deaf ear to his plea and continued talking about “how beautiful the place became” after “development works”. The governor was reported to have said that each house's renovations cost EGP 850,000, whereas the reality I saw said that the actual costs spent would not even exceed half!

Sufi family gathering to rest and prepare food near Fatma Al-Nabwia mosque, al Darb al Ahmr,
The family provides services and hot meals to other Sufi worshipers attending the Mawlid. They are used to do that with other Mawlids around Egypt, They consider it as a service for prophet Mohamed and his family.

 A man play an traditional musical instrument “ Rababa” at the Upper Egypt train.