Society and religion

The egyptian society is divides into three unequal parts. The by far larger part is the underclass of poor people, which is about 85-95 percent of the total population. The upperclass with about 5 percent lives a western life protected from the outside. As a problem of developing country the middleclass is far to small. Estimations speak of about 45 percent of the population that can not read and write. As a result of a process of concentration more and more people are searching for their luck in the cities (mainly Cairo), which grow fast. Because not everybody can effort a legal house, illegal settlements emerge in the outer parts of the city. Just a month ago a terrible rockslide with several deaths and hundreds of homeless happened in such a illegal settlement. On the other hand side the upperclass draws back into closed private settlements, with western standards and life.
During my time here in Cairo I sort of jump between the both sides of this country. Most of my friends belong to the middleclass and during my internship I meet some Egyptians which are definetely upperclasse. On the other side when I go to work by bus or when I travel within Egypt I see the lowerclass and their life. These people are trapped in their layer of society and their is nearly no way out of it. I feel anger and sadness when I see children searching for plastic bottles in rubbish heaps or mothers which their newborn begging for money. I try to tread these people with repect.
One more thing concerning this topic for everybody who is planning to visit egypt in the near future: everybody in Egypt dealing with tourist in any way or who earns his livelihood in a touristic place is not poor! These people are making a lot of money dealing with foreigners and it is a good advise to inform yourself about adequate prices and giving the safed money to those who really need it.

About religion: 90 percent of the inhabitants of Egypt are Muslims, about 10 percent are Christians and refering to wikipedia.de there are about 100 Jews living in Egypt. I will not write much about religion in this blog, because english wording is not good enough to discuss about this topic properly. I just want to say a short statement:
I talked to a lot of egyptian friends about religion and belief. About the differences and the similarities, about the good and the bad. I learned a lot and I found friends during these talks. My conclusions are, that the three main religions are only varied interpretations of belief. If you like somebody depends on the person and not on the religion. You can only judge something, when you know it.
Inschah'Allah (meaning: gods will)