Getting out or Getting Through?

Sitting in the van, I push the curtain aside as we roll through Muquttam, a poorer neighborhood of Cairo. Women, men and children queue up in a crowded fashion, standing in some semblance of a line pushing and shoving, trying to get to the front. A woman and her son walk away, balancing a plate with several pieces of Syrian bread atop her head. Further down the rode, I see a group of 10 year old boys, some shoe-less, most wearing dirty and tattered clothing. As the dust rises up behind our van, I look back and see faces of all different ages staring at us as we pass through, speeding by. Some look puzzled, most look sternly without smiling.
This struggle occurs on a daily basis for millions of Egyptians. Difficult to watch, I find myself merely a passerby, honing in briefly then cruising out, back to the hotel and eventually, back to the US. Frustration builds inside me, as I wonder how I can possibly help to get these people out of this desolate situation. Merely driving through you are neglected the opportunity to fully observe. You are given a glimpse, a preview, upon which you make your judgments or assumptions about how life must be. Upon actually visiting places like Establ Antar, however, I have learned that the people in these communities manage to make it through each day. As much as they might want to escape this lifestyle, they manage to evade these dreams of an easier life and instead focus their efforts on getting through each day.
As a student studying abroad, I can't help but think of the things I will do once I am out of Egypt. When times are trying or people difficult, I remind myself that there is an end to my stay here, and regardless of the physical ailments or cultural misunderstandings that plague me, in a few weeks time I will be out. My time here has led me to realize that my absence does not cancel out what I have observed; the phrase "out of sight, out of mind" seems faulty. How can I erase the images of women sitting in the streets with their children, begging for money or young children wandering the streets alone, dirty and dressed raggedly. I have only been here two weeks and I find myself now wondering less about quick fixes, instant solutions and more about fully understanding the problem. It takes more than just a preview to understand a whole movie. More often than not, the previews are the most dramatic scenes loosely strung together so you get a gist of the type of movie. But previews are often misleading. I find myself thinking less of ways to remove these people from their situation and more about ways to trudge through, to change the system in a way that will benefit these people. The easy way is out, but most don't have that option.