By: Julia, 2010-2011 Youth Advisory Board member

The recent protests and violence in Egypt has left the whole world asking questions.  What ignited these protests?  Are the living conditions really that bad?

 The HandsOn Twin Cities Youth Advisory Board was lucky enough to have some of these questions answered through a Community Cinema event that we recently held.  The film, Garbage Dreams, chronicled the lives of the Zaballeen, some of the poorest people in Egypt and their job as the cities recyclers.  The film discussed how the Egyptian government is allowing foreign companies into the cities and taking away the citizens only form of income, trash collecting and recycling.  The big international companies recycle about 20% of all the trash they collect, while the Zaballeen recycle 80%, a huge difference. 

 After the film we held a discussion.  We talked about the way the Egyptian government is run and if they should be allowing international companies to take over the small local businesses.  We talked over what we could do in the United States to better our recycling methods and much more.

 The Community Cinema event opened my eyes to recycling and Governmental issues that I had no idea were occurring in Egypt. It helped me to become better informed and start asking more questions. The Community Cinema event was incredibly valuable and I look forward to hopefully attending more!

To read more information about the film and Independent Lens, click here.