Caritas Egypt, Cairo
November 28th, 2009
Caritas Egypt does community outreach in empoverished areas of Cairo. They provide cheap healthcare and vocational training for marginalized and mentally challenged children.
We visit one of their centers in Cairo and make a modest contribution for the education of mentally challenged children.
| Name | Caritas Egypt, Mataraya center | |
| Aim | To help the poorest in Mataraya and its suburbs with medical aid, education and social programs | |
| Since | 1976 | |
| Staff | over 35 workers | |
| People reached | over 1000 people are reached each year | |
| Contact | Ebtissam Kamel ebtissam.mina at gmail.com |
|
| Donation | 100 USD |
Caritas Egypt operates a number of centers in greater Cairo. In Mataraya there is a compound center that serves the neighbourhood and its surroundings. The activities of this center are divided into five sections.
Basic clinical services like general medical checkup, oculism, ENT, dental care, among others are provided here.
They have a professional workshop where artificial limbs are produced along with other assisting equipment for the disabled like pairs of shoes with different heights to compensate for legs of unequal length.
The checkup is free for the poor and costs seven EP for others.
Woman development. This section offers a literacy program and second level education for girl that dropped out of highschool. They learn a craft, often against the will of the family who wants them to work and earn immediately. There is also a library free to use for everyone in the community.
A section for the mentally handicapped. There are cases of Down syndrome and autism. A training program is put in place that teaches the mentally disabled a craft. For 2-3 hours a day they visit the center, accompanied by their mother who learns about dealing with her child from the experts so she is able to apply it at home. Caritas has a specialized center that trains professional workers and mothers to pass on experience. They give special attention to child rights, and connect families so that they can assist each other.
Nearly 25 children live in the center’s orphanage.
The Motherhood and Childhood program is the first station where they check everything and often find out about a mental handicap or issues like malnutrition. The center offers lectures for the mothers, and even distributes milk and food.
Susan Mubarak, Egypt’s first lady, organized a contest and the center is proud to announce that three of the winners were trained here. The Christian girl who won the drawing competition had drawn Cairo’s most prominent mosque.
I think Caritas Egypt does very good work by running these centers, and they could use every support they can get.