112 CultureShock! Egypt
from landowners and share profits from farm production.
They are often quite poor but more commonly are able to
maintain traditional family living patterns. Frequently, a
village may be 40–50 people all belonging to the same family
lineage. For example, one couple may have established the
farm a few generations ago, had nine or ten children who,
with their spouses, built additional houses, had their families,
and so on through the generations.
Fellahin houses look like those that must have been
around thousands of years ago. Although electricity is now
available in all villages (though maybe not in all houses),
many houses lack modern toilet facilities, sewage, and piped-
in water supplies.
Throughout most of Upper Egypt, village houses are made
from earthen bricks (much like adobe bricks in the desert
south-west of the United States), sometimes with a mud
plaster on the outside. They typically have flat roofs with
mud staircases leading to the top. Some maintain areas
attached to their houses for animals. Houses typically showElectricity is available in most villages in Egypt. However, this woman’s
village does not have running water or sewerage, so she washes clothes by
hand with water from the canal.