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Working together to move forward – A Thrive event in Egypt

The situation in Egypt           
Egypt is home to the largest Christian community in the Middle East, the Copts. About 10% of all Egyptians (10 million) belong to the Coptic church. There are also Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches, including the Anglican Church. In mid-July, a group of about 45 Christians from various churches met at the Anglican Church centre in Cairo for a conference. These Christians all work in different organisations that care for children in need, among street children, children in slums, or in villages. For children, there are various programmes such as homework help, children's clubs or a daycare centre in Garbage City. All residents of the Garbage city neighbourhood earn their income by collecting and recycling the waste of the huge city of Cairo. Many of these families are poor and their children sometimes end up in orphanages because they get food and education there. Many Christians in Egypt still see orphanages as the only solution for children in need and it is often very difficult to convince them otherwise. Many orphanages are affiliated with churches and run by priests.
 
Time for a change!
Two staff members from the project in Garbage City have learned from their own work among orphans that orphanages are not good places for children to grow up. They started a project to change this. Their idea was to either strengthen and support the families of these children so that the children could return home, or to find foster families for children who really had no one left. In Egypt, the adoption of children who no longer have parents is not possible, but instead raising children through "Kafala" is an option. The term 'Kafala' in Islamic law is used to describe a situation similar to adoption, but without the severing of family ties, the transference of inheritance rights, or the change of the child's family name. These two staff members wanted to take advantage of the Kafala system and developed a project to apply this to Christian families. They were aware that they could not do this alone, so they invited Christian workers from other organisations to this conference. 
 
I have been praying for 15 years for something like this to happen
Right at the beginning of the Thrive event, one of the participants, who had taken in two foster children herself, said that she had been praying for 15 years that something like this would happen. Many participants also said that they had never experienced a conference where people from different churches and organisations came together with a single goal: to help children in need to grow up in a family. Through videos and presentations, the participants learned why it is not good for children to grow up in orphanages, and why the best thing for a child is a stable family. This thought was completely new to some participants. Nevertheless, they went home with a new understanding and a new conviction that the best place for children is the family.

Click on the video to see some encouraging work being done in Egypt!

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