Among the bustling and bustling streets of Cairo, Zainab is trying to earn her day by selling tissue paper to passers-by and car owners, as one of thousands of street children in Egypt who are suffering from extreme poverty amid the Corona virus pandemic.

As she tries to take care of her one-year-old baby, Abdullah Zainab narrates her suffering how to cover her expenses during the epidemic.

In a temporary shelter for the poor in the Abbasiyya neighborhood in central Cairo, the 20-year-old explained that Corona's influence on them "people’s assaults have become less because they are afraid (of injury) ... but we also have less work and money."

Those working in the shelter do not know the true ages of the children who frequent them because they prefer not to reveal them.

Nearly a third of Egypt's 100 million people live under the poverty line.

Experts said that street children are at the lowest level of the social ladder in Egypt, and many of them are subjected to verbal, physical and sexual violence.

So far, no cases have been officially announced of Covid-19, among the street children in Egypt, which, according to statistics of the Ministry of Health, record more than 80,000 cases, including nearly 4,000 deaths.

There are about 16,000 street children in Egypt, at the discretion of the (French) authorities.

Nostalgia for school

In 2014, the Egyptian authorities estimated that there were around 16,000 street children across the country.

But this is a "underestimate" compared to their actual number, says Jonathan Criks, communications officer for the UNICEF office in Egypt.

Street children often consist of several generations who live without shelter or housing that may be easily accessible, and most of them are excluded from civil status records, which makes the process of documenting their data a difficult task.

"They are isolated and the population in general is avoiding them, which has affected their meager income," says Youssef Pasteuros, director of a SamoSocial International French organization, which works with many street children in Egypt.

The Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity official Mohamed Shaker explained that a national program called "Homeless Children" was launched in 2016, and aims to "integrate them (into society)" and "abandon street behavior".

This program directs 17 mobile units across the country to meet the needs of street children.

Cautiously, little boy Karim was walking to the Abbasid mobile unit for a snack.

After thinking about a few seconds to answer, Karim said he is 12 years old. "I came here to play, I missed school," he said.

He stated, "Since it was closed, I forgot everything. Before that, I was learning to read and count."

The Egyptian government had taken several decisions at the end of last March to close the country from institutions and activities to combat the emerging corona virus, and began to gradually reduce it since the end of May.

This weak boy still sleeps in a public park and earns his living by cleaning car windows on the streets.

New Corona Virus Affected Humanitarian Assistance to Children (French)

Subsidies

The emerging Corona virus affected the humanitarian assistance provided to children who were already suffering due to the economic conditions caused by the epidemic.

Egypt had recently obtained more than $ 7 billion from the International Monetary Fund to stop the economic slowdown caused by the health crisis, but what will be allocated to the Ministry of Social Solidarity is still not clear.

This economic crisis has prompted charitable organizations to focus on the health issues of street children as a source of concern.

"We are teaching them (street children) about healthy things, distributing masks and explaining to them how to wash their hands," Pasteuros says.

The closure of mosques and churches by the authorities as part of the precautionary measures against Coved-19 increased the suffering of street children, as these institutions provided children with a necessary sanctuary in terms of personal hygiene.

The authorities ’decision to lift the curfew in late June served as an outlet for thousands of desperate children, especially with the reopening of cafes and restaurants, where they could practice their activities to get money whether by begging from customers or selling them jewelry and paper napkins.