Project update: Supporting refugees amid a deepening economic crisis in Egypt

November 2024

By Dr Ruth Valerio, Embrace’s Programmes, Partnership & Advocacy Director

‘This is the emergency food bag we give a family when they first arrive at the centre,’ Dr Eman tells us as she shows us around the facilities run by Refuge Egypt in Cairo.

I look at the bag – it contains one bag each of rice, pasta and lentils; a bottle of oil and a carton of black molasses, more nutritious than sugar and high in iron. I try to imagine feeding my family with only those things and how long it would last for.

I’m in Egypt with Jamie Eyre (Embrace’s new CEO) and Lana Almualim (our new Programme Manager for Egypt and Iraq). Freshly in role myself, we are all finding our feet in different ways, though of course Jamie feels very at home in Egypt with the work we’re seeing, having been Programmes & Partnerships Director for the past nine years. 

This is my first trip with Embrace the Middle East and I’m excited to meet some of the partners that Embrace works with in Egypt and begin getting a feel for the work we support, thanks to generous supporters like you.

Poverty levels in Egypt are rising sharply

When I think of Egypt I more naturally think of pyramids, pharaohs and all-inclusive beach holidays, but actually between 25-30% of the population live in poverty and the wars in Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine, along with the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, have exacerbated the situation. In the past nine months, the Egyptian pound has lost more than 50% of its value against the U.S. dollar, driving food inflation to over 70%. Basic commodities have become unaffordable for many households.

Up to 30 % of families in Egypt live in poverty.

Refugees are particularly vulnerable – arriving in Egypt with nothing

Refuge Egypt is a ministry of the Anglican/Episcopal Diocese of Egypt with North Africa. They support refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers who have fled their countries due to war, disaster, or persecution, providing emergency help when people first arrive, medical and psychosocial care, and help with finding housing and jobs. Over the last eighteen months since the civil war in Sudan started, huge numbers of Sudanese have arrived needing help (no one knows how many – some say half a million, others one or even two million). People arrive at Refuge Egypt’s doors with nothing: often they have fled literally on their way to work or a woman seeing her husband killed in front of her.

Each morning, newcomer refugees begin queuing at Refuge Egypt’s doors as early as 5am. Staff welcome them with breakfast and they sit in the welcoming area in the shade before being registered and assessed for their needs. We’re told that the needs are so great and resources so stretched that Refuge Egypt can only meet about 10% of those who come to them.

How the Christian communities in Egypt are bringing light and love into people’s lives

My time in Egypt is too short but I feel immensely privileged to spend time in Cairo and Alexandria, meeting wonderful Christians and churches across the denominational spectrum, serving people in need – children with disabilities; providing healthcare in rural areas; working with women to counteract FGM and domestic violence; serving the vulnerable Zabaleen waste-picker community; providing much-needed schooling; training for jobs, and more….

Through it all, it’s that bag of emergency food that stays with me as a symbol of why Embrace the Middle East exists; as a reminder of the deep needs in Egypt and across the region; as a challenge to me not to take my comfortable life for granted, and as a sign of hope that we can do something: we can support the work that partners like Refuge Egypt are doing and bring love and light into people’s lives.