Help in Egypt - new charity

Here is a news letter from this new charity.

HELP IN EGYPT was granted full charity status on 16th August 2011.

It was a momentous day for Philip, Brenda and Ruth. Two years hard work to build up our reputation, with the support of our kind sponsors we are on our way to a brighter future for the needy families in Beshlaw.
In October 2009 HELP IN EGYPT was officially formed and has been releasing funding to enable children from poor families to register and attend school. Most recently a chance meeting between Brenda and Mr Mohamed Ali from Beshlaw on the West bank of the Nile opened up a wonderful opportunity for HELP IN EGYPT to join together with the Egyptian charity AL BADER, run by Mr Mohamed Ali. The village did not have a school and Mr Mohamed Ali, together with a small team of village members have renovated an old mud brick building and opened it as a school. Philip and Brenda with their daughter Ruth asked if they could visit Beshlaw village and on doing so found 4 young lady teachers teaching about 50 children in 2 small classrooms. The children sat on rough wooden benches whilst the teachers taught orally and the children learned parrot fashion. There were no blackboards, pens pencils or paper. In fact, no facilities at all. Mr Mohamed Ali and the village Sheikh produced written records of their project which showed the distribution of food deliveries sent by a business man from Cairo. The recipient families had to sign for their share and it was noticed that all the signatures were thumb prints. No one in the village can read or write so there is a great need to develop this new school.
HELP IN EGYPT has pledged its support and will endeavour to raise the profile of this project. Already 10 sponsors have offered a monthly donation which will go a long way in supplying paper, pencils and equipment for the school. It is hoped that in the future the school can encompass a small clinic to give medical aid to the children and adults. Head lice is prevalent, minor cuts and infections are a regular problem with the children. Also an advice clinic to help young mothers with any problems regarding the welfare of their child. .
There is so much to be done, it will not happen overnight. HELP IN EGYPT visited Beshlaw in July 2011,the improvement in the school was noticeable, all the children had their own book and pencil, the storage boxes we had supplied in April were being utilised in each classroom and the story mats had been laid down as the children were about to present a concert. A number of the younger girls sang Arabic songs to welcome us back to Beshlaw. At the Summer School, puppets had been made and we were treated to their version of Punch and Judy although it was all in Arabic, the children's laughter was entertainment in itself.
Mohamed Ali called a meeting to discuss the next project we want to start, Dr Mahmoud a young man from the village is keen to develop a room into a small clinic when HELP IN EGYPT, who knew they had 90 square metres of village land, gave them a surprise donation of 20,000 Egyptian pounds for the AL BADER charity to begin work on the building of a proper clinic for the village. A further donation of 5,000 Egyptian pounds to erect lighting in the local streets near the school as the building is used in the evenings by village women who attend sewing classes and discussions on families and the care of young children and babies.
Mattel Toy company gave us great support by donating £3,000 to HELP IN EGYPT which enabled us to help the village to start their project and we shall continue to support this project to its completion.
Would you care to give your support to this village? It is a very worthy cause and HELP IN EGYPT monitors the progress and publishes regular newsletters with photos showing the positive steps being made.
For more information please contact HELP IN EGYPT.

helpinegypt1@hotmail.co.uk~~~~~01494719817~~~~07500039278. charity no 1143379.