Sister Emmanuelle | Cairo's Mother Teresa, 99

Sister Emmanuelle, 99, a nun who spent years among scavengers in Cairo's slums and who was compared to Mother Teresa for her fight to defend the rights of the poor, died Monday at a retirement home in southeastern France, said her assocation, Sandrine de Carlo.

Sister Emmanuelle spent more than two decades working with Cairo's

zabbaleen

, or garbage collectors, who eke out a living through scavenging. She helped create a network of clinics, schools and gardens to serve the children of the slums. An association she founded now operates in eight countries. Born Madeleine Cinquin in Brussels on Nov. 16, 1908, she spent her childhood among the Belgian capital, Paris and London, according to the association's Web site. A member of the Notre Dame de Sion order, she lived many years in France.

- AP