It is estimated that there are nearly 1 million homeless people in Egypt - not counting all those who live in the most basic forms shelters without access to electricity or drinking water.

Every member of this family was born and lives their whole lives on the streets, without access to sanitation, education or dignity...  The men of this family elected not to have their picture taken, for fear of the police reprisals that punctuate their daily existence. In many ways, their social status is no better than that of an animal; their lives are a constant struggle to eat and survive in a hostile world where they are totally despised.

Illiterate, these people often don’t have a single piece of ID and don’t even know their date of birth, owing their survival to petty crime and begging. These same men were used for decades by the former regime to spy on opposition demonstrations in return for a little food and money. It was these same poor individuals – poised on the brink of human existence – who came to swell the ranks of released prisoners and the secret police to crush the uprising in Tahrir Square.

The climax of the story: in front of them rises the Sheraton Hotel complex, while behind them, the symbol of global capitalism - an advertisement for Coca-Cola.

Has the revolution changed their lives? Unfortunately, the answer is an unequivocal “no”.

Photo & Report by Gaël Favari for The Global Journal

(Photo © Gaël Favari / The Global Journal)