Context: The Daughters of Charity serving 300 families in Upper Egypt

The house of the Daughters of Charity of Koussieh and Menchieh (two villages 10 km apart) is located in Assiout in the region of Upper Egypt, 350 km south of Cairo, in the Nile Valley. This establishment has existed since 1947 and currently four Sisters work there with the Christian and Muslim populations of the region in collaboration with the local Coptic Catholic Church.

The inhabitants used to be mainly farmers, but for the past twenty years, many men have left to work as construction workers in Kuwait. This has allowed them to build multi-story cinderblock or brick houses for their own families.

Today, the poorest people are still among the peasants, as well as the elderly and the sick, who are not provided with any care. The basic salary is 1200LE or 65€ per month and Upper Egypt is a region where the large family remains a deeply rooted tradition.

Koussieh is a fairly populated city full of young people who need space and work.

"The space we manage to provide for them in the courtyard of our community, but the work they need to find outside the country.

"The community serves over 300 families. In our mission, we receive many poor people in our home, but we also visit them in their homes. During our visits, we find ourselves very small in the face of so much misery."

"Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, many young people who were in Kuwait were fired from their jobs and had to return to their country and fell back into poverty, which is increasing every day in the region" Sister Nada EID.

The project: Completing the renovation of a house to house three young orphans

Recently, we met three young teenagers (Elham Abed Massih - 15 years old; Walid Abed Massih - 13 years old and Hammam Abed Massih - 10 years old) who lost their parents (Mr. and Mrs. Marzouk Abdel Messih).

"These orphans continued to live in the family house. However, one morning the house made by the father, of bricks but without foundations, completely collapsed. And from one day to the next, these children found themselves on the street.

The parish priest is temporarily housing them until they can take care of themselves. At the same time, the community is trying to find funds to rebuild a house for them in a more solid way.

"We have taken care of the construction of the foundations and the raising of the walls, but now the work must be completed before the winter arrives.

"The neighboring population is taking care of the children for food, clothing, medicine, school, furniture and we have mobilized alongside them to give them the opportunity to stay together and be more secure."

It may take two or three months, if the workers get to work soon, the project will be monitored by the community and the parish priest.

In this beautiful network of solidarity of the Rosalie Projects, we have come to ask for your help to provide these three young people with a home. The construction of their house has already begun, however, all the electrical work, carpentry, cement work, painting and the bathroom are still to be done.

Thank you for your generosity!

Avec eux, Grâce à vous