an abode

while listening to The Yacoubian Building, i was wondering why Alaa Al Aswany devoted a section to describing the transformation of the tiny, windowless rooms on the rooftop - from storage rooms, to animal coops, and later to homes for migrant families.

here i am in Ethiopia, seeing a man come out of a tiny shack right next to the hostel. in this residential part of the town, the houses are multistory and have enclosed gardens big enough for car parking. outside, attached to these houses, are tiny shacks. this is where the butlers live.

it is not big enough for an adult to stretch out completely. the entire space consists of an elevated bed, with some necessities stored underneath.

the book described these transformations from 1950s Cairo. here, today, in another part of the world, the same necessity for an abode quietly persists. 

the yacoubian building on talaat harb, cairo

yacoubian building entrance, cairo