Much of the Egyptian economy is “informal” at that economic level, and so they don’t have the papers to get a bank account. Banking access is still pretty low in Egypt at that socioeconomic level, although they are working on improving it.

They have some options to get an account if they really want one, like the employer can help with that, but thus far it hasn’t been enough liquid savings to truly justify it. Practically speaking, I think she should ask the employer to at least hold her savings in dollars, since he does have access to them and that’s normal at the middle class level, but she hasn’t done so.