Your Egypt

[Winky]

:) I post this here since people who visit Egypt dont always think about this sad aspect of this lovely country.

There are between 600,000 and a million children in Egypt who either live on the street or are made to work outdoors to earn a living for their families. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/egypt_30616.html




"I tell you, you cannot feel the pain of this suffering if you don't see it physically. If you only glance at it, a sword of sorrow will pierce your heart... What on earth is it that man today does not care for his fellow humans?"

- an Ugandan schoolgirl who escaped abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army-



This thread is to pay off my debt I feel I owe this little boy
:) My own story :( :
It was around midnight , we had just finnished dinner and walked along one of the busy downtown shopping streets

when suddenly I saw a man walking in front of me , kick a bundle on the ground very hard, several times and in one big swoop lifted the bundle up onto his feet, which happened to turn out to be a young boy, I guess about 10 years old, ho then stumbled and walked on in a daze his eyes glazed, I could see he had been using some sort of narcotic substance and he was filthy.

I was stunned and shocked to the core, my immediate and instinctive reaction was to shout at the man and go and help the little boy

My Egyptian friend had been walking in front of me and had not seen this particular incident but of course had seen it all before , he had turned around looking for me and when I explained what happened told me not to go near the boy

To be honest the look of his eyes had frightened me and we already did not see him anymore

I still feel guilty when I remember this, but it all happened in a matter of minutes and the street was thronging with people but nobody had batted an eyelid ! :shock:
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IN CAIRO
Al Jeel Centre for Youth and Social Studies in Ain Al-Sira
Ain Al-Sira, for those who don't know, is one of Cairo's many shantytowns
To find it ask almost anyone in the area and they'll direct you straight to it. :wink:
Al Jeel is arguably the first centre in all Egypt to provide what is called "partial care for working children"
Volunteers are always welcome
Al Jeel's accounts, keeping log of every piastre (and that's an understatement), are available for all to see.

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I was looking for charities in South Africa and
this " Streetsmart" abd the memory of the street children I encountered in Cairo gave me the idea to start this thread ;


:) A fantastic initiative to help STREET CHILDREN
So who starts it in Cairo ?

http://www.streetsmartsa.org.za/38.How%20Does%20StreetSmart%20Work?.html

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Already established Charity



SOS Children in Egypt The charity began working in Egypt in 1977 with a community in Cairo, established on a hilly site in the residential area of Heliopolis, on the north-eastern edge of the city. It has 33 family houses

The SOS Children's Alexandria community opened in 1980, close to the sea about 30 kms outside the city. It has eleven family houses and two youth houses and, like Cairo, a kindergarten which children from the local community also attend

http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/africa-child-sponsorship/egypt.htm

SOS Children in Egypt
Egyptian Society for SOS Children's Villages, 9 El Mohandessin El Askarein Street, Off Tayaran St. Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt
Tel: +202/2 40 47 635
Fax: +202/2 40 47 635
email: soskdi@gov.eg
www.sosegypt.org.eg
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Plan Egypt: working with and for children



Despite a growing economy, poverty is a life-threatening issue for huge numbers of children in Egypt. One in four children under the age of five suffers from stunted growth due to poor nutrition. Infant mortality is high, at a rate of 59 per 1,000 live births.

Plan works with nearly 40,000 sponsored children, their families and communities.

Working in partnership, the aim is to tackle the causes and effects of poverty.

http://www.plan-international.org/wherewework/eastafricaeurope/egypt



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Chain of Hope
http://www.chainofhope.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=99&topic=27
It is a little known fact that around 1 child in every 100 is born with a heart defect. Most of these defects can be corrected by operations which are performed as a matter of routine in the developed world.



In contrast, if uncorrected these defects can cause considerable suffering and premature death. This afflicts a massive number of children around the world. Chain of Hope is dedicated to helping as many of these children as we can.

This is accomplished by bringing children to the UK and also by sending volunteer teams to their countries in the longer term to help develop local facilities.
Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub ( Born in Aswanto a Coptic Orthodox family , educated in Cairo)
Founder Patron

Mohamed Tamer



During 2005 and the first part of 2006, money was raised for the equipping of an entire Cardiac Theatre at Abu Eresh Children’s Hospital in Cairo. A total of £60,000 was donated by several very generous supporters of the charity’s Egyptian Project.






I always wanted to be a surgeon, because I had a lot of admiration for my father, who is also a surgeon.

I also wanted to be a heart surgeon. That was motivated by the fact that my young aunt, a sister of my dad, died in her early 20s of a correctable heart disease.


Science and medicine stand up for all mankind - with the emphasis on all

Heart surgery was in its infancy, but I had heard about great surgeons in different countries, including Britain.

I'd heard about particular ones who I'd targeted and wanted to go and work with and learn from them.

I couldn't have done what I have done if I had stayed in Egypt, for the simple fact that heart surgery was not developed in Egypt, and the kind of studies I wanted to pursue were not available there.

I go back regularly now, to work with my colleagues there. I have a charity called the Chain Of Hope, where we target children from poor areas where heart surgery is not available, and we offer our services.

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About Sunshine

Sunshine was founded in 1996 by Pearl Smith and Dr Amr Taha, secretary of the Egyptian Doctors Association.

The history of the project dates back to 1992, when Pearl visited Egypt and became concerned about the street children. She visited Luxor regularly, then decided to sell her home in England and use the money to set up a special home for these children.




http://www.justgiving.com/charity/info.asp?FRSId=12297


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Hope Village Society was established by the late British Man Mr. Richard Hemsley with the collaboration of a group of Egyptian business men and ladies whose interest was given to charitable deeds.

Hope village Society works with UNICEF Cairo on protection of street children with a special emphasis on girls. "

http://www.egyhopevillage.com/origination.htm