Amal Muhammad Abdel-Wahab is from Ezbet el Walda, Helwan, Cairo.

Eid
“We love the Eid so much because it is always associated with happiness and welfare, which we do not experience regularly. That is why the Eid is different to us. We spend Eid together as a family, as we do not have money to go out and celebrate. We wake up early to attend the Eid prayer, and then return home, cook the meat with some rice and maybe potatoes, if possible, and eat together. Our meals vary between pasta, lentils, beans and cheese, throughout the whole year. That is all we can afford to buy from the market. I try to save money as much as I can to be able to buy meat at least once a month for the kids.

Lost Livelihood
I had some chickens that would provide me with eggs and meat and sometimes I would sell them for money. But after the Bird Flu crisis, the government has taken all my chickens and killed them, and I lost my only source of income. Of course they did not pay me back for the chickens they took from me.

Every mother in this neighbourhood is struggling to find food. I have been struggling as long as I can remember. Having no money means having no food, and it is that simple. Lack of money is the core of most of our problems. So all we can do is accept our circumstances. How else would we cope? I lost count of the days my children slept without supper and sometimes even lunch.

Usually, our conditions are better in the beginning of the month, but by the middle of the month, the struggle begins, and so it goes for the rest of the year, and so it has been for the years before.

The prices are increasing all the time, in a way our income cannot cope with. Yesterday, I would buy three items with a certain amount of money, today I hardly get to buy one item. So if it keeps going this way, I know the day will come that we die of hunger.

The rich get richer…
This country is very rich and full of resources, but this wealth is not for her people, it is only for the rich to get richer, and the poor to get poorer.

IR Qurbani meat
I benefited from the Seasonal Programmes (Ramadan and Qurbani).

Of course it did help me and my family. If it were not for IR Qurbani meat, I would not be able to have meat in my house this Eid, so thanks from my heart. We wish all the year is Qurbani.

We are nine in the house; me, my husband and my seven children. My husband is the main breadwinner. He used to work in a textile factory but he has retired and our only source of income is his monthly pension which is LE270 (33.5 Euro). We do not have anyone else to provide for us and the LE270 is all we have to buy food, pay the bills and school fees. You know if one of the kid's falls sick, I cannot take him to the doctor because medicine is not included in our budget. Also, the transportation is not included. My children wake up and dress to go to school, then they ask me for money, but I do not have any to give them. So they just stay at home. Ahmad has been staying at home for two weeks now. I do not have a penny for his transportation or his school fees. But at exam time, they must go to school, in order not to fail – I cannot afford to pay for the same year twice! So they wake up an hour or two earlier and walk the whole distance to school.

Truly, I do not know how we cope! I wish I had just LE500 (62 Euros) to trade in used goods. I was going to take a loan from the bank, but people told me that loans with interest are forbidden in Islam, and I would never do anything that God forbids even if it means that I live in poverty for the rest of my life.

Debts
My problem is simply money. I have many debts and I do not know how I can pay them off. I borrow money to buy food, I borrow money to pay for the children's lessons, I borrow money to pay the rent…and it never ends.

Ill-health
I have a heart disease that needs an immediate operation, but from where can I bring the money…should I steal? Doctors told me not to exert any effort because I am at risk of heart failure at any time. But believe me; it is out of my hands, if I rest in bed, who would take care of my family?

I have four of my children at school, the other two have graduated, but they have not found a job yet, you know the usual unemployment problem. But the education is very bad at their school. The teachers try to benefit from the children; they do not teach anything at school so the children will take private lessons with them for money. So it is business not education anymore; and we poor people pay the price. I just want my children educated, even if it is a very poor education, and even if I would starve to pay for their fees - I insist on that, and I taught them that education can fight everything: poverty, illness and unemployment. But with my other two sons, being jobless and staying at home now, the other kids start to question the point of their education.

Dreams
My house is made of red bricks; it has two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen. I wish I had a more spacious house. We can hardly move in the house as we are nine persons in just two narrow bedrooms. I wish I had a washing machine and a refrigerator. You know why? Because I would never afford to buy them, it is a luxury I only dream about so if I will dream, I will dream big.”