Helwan. A big suburb of the Egyptian capital Cairo, Helwan is known for its large cement factories, which can even be seen from the pyramids of Giza. It used to be a royal spa, but in Helwan only the Japanese garden recalls that golden era. The homeless children try to get some money by selling Kleenex tissues, which aren’t exactly a luxury in the sweltering heat of this African city. Grid locked drivers buy the wet wipes, clean their sweaty brows and dump the soggy wads on the asphalt. life in Helwan is not so bad compared to an existence on the rubbish dumps of Cairo. Towards foreigners, Egyptians tend to play down the problems of the homeless very seriously, arguing that in Muslim culture everyone takes care of each other. There are projects for street kids however, some even co-financed by the government. One of those projects is Tofulty, where Egyptian social workers help children to cope with their perilous situation. The boys are also offered accommodation. For the girls there is no night shelter but there are plans to convert a nearby derelict villa. What they are waiting for is money. Eleven children of Tofulty are involved in the Home/Life photo project. Most of them share a background of parents that forced them into child labour. That’s where it went wrong.

Father and mother splitting up. No more money for the children, no more money for school. In the Tofulty home they get nine months to become literate. And then they can possibly go to a real school. The goal to reunite the children with their parents usually turns out to be unattainable in practice. Sometimes it’s because a new father, the stepfather, doesn’t feel responsible for children from his wife’s earlier marriage. Of all the children, Sayed Hassan has the sharpest tongue. He wants to learn a lot and quickly. To speak English. ‘It will come in useful later’. Sayed and his friends like to talk about plants, animals and the beautiful shop windows in town. Many of the photos were taken in the Japanese garden. Later, they want to be ‘Good people. People who love Allah. Like a doctor. Or a policeman.’ Little Alaa Sayed is very proud of his picture of a friend, seen from behind. His friend is standing in a big pool and staring into the distance. What is he doing there? Alaa: ‘He’s holding a big fish in his hands and is playing with it.’ Was it a big fish? ‘No, of course not,’ says Alaa with a huge grin. ‘If it was a big fish I would have put down my camera and taken the fish from him straight away.’