Egypt | Embrace the Middle East

OUR WORK IN EGYPT

Egypt is the most populous country in the Middle East, with over 100 million citizens. Despite being classed as a middle-income country, it is one of the poorest states in the region. More than a third of the population lives in poverty. As much of the county is desert, 95% of the population live on only 4% of the land, meaning cities like Cairo are polluted and over-crowded.

Egypt is home to the largest Christian community in the region. 10-15% of the population are Christians, the majority of whom are Coptic Orthodox. You can find out more about the Christian communities in Egypt here.

Embrace works with 10 partner organisations from across the denominational spectrum of the church, reaching across the geographical spread of the country. They work to provide: women’s social and economic empowerment; education and training to marginalised communities such as African refugees; healthcare for pregnant women and children under 5 years old; and inclusion into society for people living with disabilities.

EGYPT PROJECTS LATEST UPDATES

Rebuilding lives with dignity – vocational training helping Sudanese refugees in Egypt

A brutal civil war has driven you from your home with little more than the clothes on your back. You’ve witnessed horrors that still play out again and again in your mind. You’ve lost your husband, the breadwinner of the…
Refugee Week: Serving Sudanese refugees in Egypt

The war in Sudan has resulted in the displacement of nearly 13 million people. Staff at our partner, Refuge Egypt, are working tirelessly to meet the urgent and growing needs of Sudanese refugees arriving in Cairo…
Project update: Supporting refugees amid a deepening economic crisis in Egypt

Dr Ruth Valerio, Embrace’s new Programmes, Partnership & Advocacy Director, recently travelled to Egypt to meet our Christian partners. She witnessed the deep need in Egypt but also the amazing work that our partners are doing to bring love and…

The Soteria Project: Promoting gender equality in Egypt

In the heart of the Egyptian desert there’s a Christian retreat centre where women can go to explore their identity, heal from trauma, and find purpose.
Sudan’s refugees seek shelter in Egypt

Since April, over 300,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived in Egypt. Our partner Refuge Egypt has shared with us what they have been doing to help the new arrivals.
Embracing Autism in Egypt

In Egypt many autistic children and their families face an uphill struggle to be accepted in society and to get the support they need. Meet Jomana, Omar and Nadeen, who’ve all found support through Embrace partner BLESS.

OUR PARTNERS IN EGYPT

ANAFORA INSTITUTE

Anafora is a retreat centre on the desert road between Cairo and Alexandria. Part of the Coptic Orthodox Church, it is a haven of peace and a centre of learning and reconciliation. Embrace supports their Soteria programme, which trains young women to be ‘agents of change’ in their communities in Upper Egypt. It challenges gender stereotypes and brings healing from trauma that many women experience as part of their daily lives.

ARKAN CULTURAL CENTRE

St Mark’s pro-Cathedral in Alexandria is home to the Arkan Cultural Centre, which offers short courses in creative and multimedia skills, seeking to address high unemployment rates among university graduates. They also host regular art exhibitions where young people can showcase their creativity, and run social activities, which build bridges between Christians and Muslims.

BLESS

The Coptic Orthodox church’s Bishopric of Public, Ecumenical and Social Services (BLESS) works in over 50 communities across Egypt. They run a wide range of community development activities, working intensively with communities for up to 5 years to increase education, healthcare, agricultural output, job opportunities and community participation.

“Education is so important but my daughter keeps dropping out of school because she finds the classes difficult. This year she was able to continue studying because the fees were paid and she had extra support through the tuition.”

— Episcocare beneficiary

EL SARAY CHURCH & FAIRHAVEN SCHOOL

In the 1980s El Saray Church in Alexandria responded to needs in their local community by setting up a school for children with learning disabilities, and Embrace has been partnering with them for most of that time. Today, over 100 students, aged 4-40, attend the school, 80% of whom are from Muslim families. Each student has an individual educational plan as well as learning life and self-care skills in small groups.

EPISCOCARE

Episcocare, a ministry of the Anglican Church, focuses on working with whole family units in an integrated way to lift them out of poverty and improve their health, education and livelihoods. They operate from community centres, and Embrace supports three of these in Cairo, Giza and Alexandria. The centres provides literacy classes for adults, life skills and health education seminars, after-school tutoring and a mentoring programme for children at risk of dropping out of school. It also offers targeted healthcare and microloans.

HARPUR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Harpur Memorial Hospital, a ministry of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt, has served the people of Menouf and the surrounding areas in the Nile Delta since 1910. It has been a partner of Embrace for over 30 years. Today, the hospital provides quality and affordable medical care to all; 95% of patients are Muslim. Embrace has supported the hospital to start a nursing school, as many of the nurses working at the hospital do not have any formal training.

“I live in a place where there are not many health facilities but soon I will be able to help my neighbours and community.”

— Trainee nurse at Harpur Nursing School

LIFE VISION FOR DEVELOPMENT

Life Vision are a non-denominational organisation working with local community partners to empower and develop marginalised communities. Embrace supports their work with children with visual impairments in rural Upper Egypt and their families and communities, promoting the full inclusion of people with disabilities in society. Embrace also supports work to strengthen and support families with young children in a Zabbaleen (rubbish collecting) community in Cairo.

REFUGE EGYPT

African refugees from Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea and other countries, are amongst the most marginalised communities in Egypt. Refuge Egypt, a ministry of the Anglican Church, provides a friendly welcome and immediate support in the form of food parcels and clothing for newly arriving refugees, as well as access to medical services through a network of clinics.

SALAAM CENTRE

The Daughters of St Mary Coptic Convent is in Ezbet el Nakhl, a Zabbaleen (rubbish collecting) community on the edge of Cairo. The Sisters set up the Salaam Centre some time ago to respond to the needs of the community, which include high levels of drug addiction and domestic abuse as well as poor education, healthcare and nutrition and lack of access to legal advice.

THINK AND DO

Think and Do is linked to the Evangelical Church in Egypt and Embrace supports their work to improve the social and economic position of women in rural Upper Egyptian villages. Life Schools enable women who missed out on an education to learn to read, write, count and master a skill such as sewing or hairdressing.

“I learnt how to read and write and this helped a lot to write my name instead of using a stamp to sign official documents. I learnt also how to protect my children from home accidents and how to cook healthy food for them.”

— Life School participant

PERSONAL STORIES FROM OUR EGYPT PROJECTS

Challenging Disability Inequality in Egypt

“My life became meaningless when I lost my sight at the age of fifteen and I was denied the opportunity to complete my education. My life was filled with fear of many things, the first of which was becoming completely…
Read more →: Challenging Disability Inequality in Egypt
Extraordinary mothers: Protecting daughters from violence

In the last in our series of stories featuring extraordinary mothers we meet Nadeen, who had to go to incredible lengths to keep her two young daughters safe from the violent and unpredictable behaviour of their father.
Read more →: Extraordinary mothers: Protecting daughters from violence
Extraordinary Mothers: Stopping FGM

In the third in our series of stories featuring extraordinary mothers we meet Myriam, who had the courage and determination to protect the children in her care from the harmful and illegal practice of Female Genital Mutilation.
Read more →: Extraordinary Mothers: Stopping FGM