Ossama El-Deeb is 54 years old. His failing body and lined skin are the result not of a very long life, but of voluntarily living on the streets of Downtown Cairo for seven long years. He sits in his home, a roofless but orderly heap of discarded material, on Ismail Abaza street. At the corners, like fence posts, are oil drums on which he has attached large posters, flags and signs, all written beautifully in his own hand.
The streets are muddy from last night's rain and El-Deeb's cardboard signs and bedding are all damp. "I bear all the cold weather and the heavy rain," he says, resigned to it. "Yesterday, I took it all on my head, and see — all my things are wet." El-Deeb is camped out here because he believes that if he can attract the attention of the powers-that-be to his condition, they might cover him the cost of his medical treatment.
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