Savouring the cave church at Garbage City

But there has been one exquisite treasure it flaunts that only a few tourists are aware of  –  the breathtaking cave church within the Garbage City. The architectural masterpiece, was carved out of rocks in a cave Travelling, for many people, can be a form of stress, relief or relaxation. For tourists visiting a small […]

But there has been one exquisite treasure it flaunts that only a few tourists are aware of  –  the breathtaking cave church within the Garbage City. The architectural masterpiece, was carved out of rocks in a cave

Travelling, for many people, can be a form of stress, relief or relaxation. For tourists visiting a small community called the Garbage City in Cairo, Egypt, the experience blows away the mind. Garbage City houses one of the world’s wonders, the aesthetically breath-taking cave church. Egypt proves with the ever-bustling church that though it is predominantly a Muslim society, Christianity remains very much alive in its womb.
But Garbage City? Are we heading to a dump site? To a first-time tourist to the city, the name can only arouse more curiosity. I was curious to see how dirt can be crowd-puller.
My trip to Egypt was a very short one; it was actually a stop-over on our flight to Nigeria from Turkey. My journalist colleagues and I were discussing at the Cairo  airport what we would be doing for about two days while our flight was being rescheduled to Nigeria when an Egyptian friend and colleague, Marwa Triq, suddenly turned to me, bright lights in her eyes, “I saw pictures of your visit to the last home of Mary in Turkey, so now let me take you to one here. But it is in a cave.”
“A cave?” I asked, astonished. Smiling, she replied, “’Yes, a cave. You would be glad you visited there.” Her words were assuring, but I was apprehensive about wandering away from the airport because Egypt was in the throes of a political crisis and who knows from wherever a cross-fire could come. Marwa seemed to have read my thoughts and quickly re-assured me that all was well.
“Do not worry; I am here with you. This is my country, you are safe.” With a tinge of humour and already holding my hand and walking me towards the airport exit, she added, “You are a Nigerian and no one dare touch you, else your government will come crashing down on Egypt.”
The Garbage City is in Mokattam, a community of the Zabbaleen, who are, at least, 90 per cent Coptic Christians. Christian communities are rare to find in Egypt, so all Zabbaleen prefer to band together in Mokattam within their own religious community.
Why it is called Garbage City Marwa wouldn’t tell me immediately, as she would rather want to keep me in suspense. Though she had been to the city a number of times, she got us a tour guide, as she admitted she was not an expert in explaining the history of places. Getting there was quite a distance, but when we eventually reached our destination, I didn’t need any telling to know we had, indeed, arrived at Garbage City.
Garbage City’s real name is Manshiyat Naser, but it has gained popularity as a huge garbage collection centre, a commercial venture that has become the community’s major source of revenue. Dirt is collected from everywhere and dumped in heaps at Manshiyat Naser. But in a waste-to-wealth organised and clean fashion, it is then sorted out accordingly with items that are recyclable itemized and so treated.
As we drove through, we saw why it is labelled a garbage city. Hardly was there a street that did not have garbage trucks and sheds. The narrow streets were hardly enough for a car to manoeuvre through because of garbage heaped on a side.
Majority of the city’s population are Christians who, according to the tour guide and confirmation at the cave church, have come from all over Egypt in waves over the last 100 years to make the city their permanent home. Most of the workers in Garbage City, therefore, also live there.
According to Engi Wassef, in her commentary in her documentary film, Marina of the Zabbaleen, many people in the Zabbaleen village say that even if they could live outside of the village or afford to buy a house elsewhere, they would not do so because they are happy to live within their own religious community and freely practise their religion.
Approaching the cave church from the Garbage City, tourists cannot but marvel at the architectural uniqueness of one of the most beautiful churches in the world. The Church of St. Simon the Tanner in Mokattam, popularly called the Cave Church, is the largest church in the Middle East with a seating capacity of 20,000 people.
A marginalized minority of Coptic Christians in a Muslim-majority country, the Zabbaleen were forcibly relocated to the outskirts of Cairo by the central government in 1969. After creating a new home at Mokattam, they also carved the Monastery of Saint Simon into the entrance of a hill near the community.
Some online sites report that the Garbage City cave church was established when the Zabbaleen felt more secure in their location and began to use more permanent building materials, such as stone and bricks, for their homes. Given their previous experience of eviction from Giza in 1970, the Zabbaleen had lived in temporary tin huts up till that point. In 1976, a large fire broke out in Manshiyat Nasir, which led to the beginning of the construction of the first church below the Mokattam Mountain on a site of 1,000 square metres. Many more churches have been built into the caves found in Mokattam, of which the Monastery of St. Simon the Tanner is the largest.
Some of the other tourists with us testified to the fact they have seen magnificent churches and monasteries in the world, but this is the first and largest church they would behold to have been carved out of rocks and in a cave.
The beautiful work built in 1975 is one of the seven cave churches in the Mokattam mountain. The church derived his name from Holy Simon the Tanner who lived towards the end of the 10th century when Egypt was ruled by Fatimid Caliph al-Anba Abram. Then, Christians in Egypt were busy handicraft artisans. St. Simon worked in one of the craft workshops that were widespread in Babylon (Old Cairo).
A drive through the garbage town took us into the massive church cut deep into a rock of sheer limestone.  The church was desolate at that minute, but our tour guide made us understand that services are conducted there every day of the week, with attendance always at its peak.
Inside the massive hall, beautiful engravings and sculptor cover the walls. The tour guide said each of the paintings, sculptures and engravings represents stories from the Bible. Just like the seating arrangement in the Ephesus theatre, the seating arrangement in the cave church is equipped with a large projector in front which effectively captures the church’s meetings and sermons.  The Arabic inscriptions on some of the walls and rocks were translated by the tour guide. The city’s garbage eponym is interestingly not allowed to rub off anywhere on the spotlessly clean church. “This is the house of God and it is our pride in this city, so it must always be kept clean,” a lady we met at the church said.
The tour guide and a church clerk then took us round the church explaining to us how and why the religious institution remains relevant to the people of Garbage City. With our voices echoing as we asked questions, the clerk explained that there are other cave churches but this is the biggest. He explained that regular church services hold there every day, attended by not only residents of the city but also by worshippers from all over Cairo. He added that the people believe it is a place where other Christians can meet in large groups and numbers in Egypt.
The cave church has an education centre which the tour guide said is mostly attended by children from the Garbage City since they cannot afford to attend schools in the outer city. We met some of the children and they took turns to shake hands with us; in return, we gave them some of the sweets and drinks we had with us.
Fatima Abe, a member of the garbage community who is also a social worker in the church maintained the city is blessed to have the cave church within its vicinity. “It has exposed us to the world. Without this place we would have been the forgotten community in the world.  This community has had a lot of opportunities to meet with people from all over the world. It’s good to know that the world comes to a place they have termed the garbage city to relax and even purify themselves spiritually. I would not trade this place for anything in the world,” she enthused.
Among the tourists visiting the place for the first time was Anne Magdalene Obi. “My son was in Cairo four years ago and he talked so much about this cave church. He visited the church and told me about the wonderful blessing it is to the city’s Christians. He also declared the garbage city the cleaner part of Cairo; I am yet to be convinced about that though.  It is good to also know that despite their challenges and social status, the people of the community are always with smiles on their faces. It is amazing to find out that in the midst of dirt, they have found a place in their heart and community to serve and rise up for our creator. I say they have found God even in the face of neglect. It also proves that we can worship God in whatever situation we find ourselves. Our social class is not enough reason not to serve and worship God. This I have learnt from the people of the Garbage City,” she said.
Hajiya Zainab Abdullahi, another Nigerian tourist chipped in: “I have never heard of such a place. I have been to Egypt several times but have never heard of this place. Just seeing this whole neighbourhood is interesting in itself. The people do not mind the condition in which they live but are satisfied with what they have. Touring the church for me was the highlight of the whole trip. I would have been glad if we had time to wait and witness the baptism that is expected to take place in the church later tonight.  But now that I know that such a place exists, I am sure of scheduling another trip here to be able to witness the worship process on a Sunday.”
Driving back to our hotel room, I could not help but ponder how the people of the garbage city have found happiness among filth and dirt. I could only come to one conclusion: You call them inhabitants of a garbage city, but they have one of the most amazing and mesmerising landmarks in the world today.
Marwa took one look at me and smiled. That smile told me she knew she had been proved right on her words that I would be glad I went there. Without waiting for her to utter the words, I thanked her and told her I was glad I had the chance to see the world’s famous cave church. The cave churches have become something of a tourist attraction. This you can only understand when you pay a visit there.  Garbage or not, the cave church is a must visit.
*Additional infor from www.amusingplanet.com