 |
| “Ninety-nine percent of my kids would not be able to go to school without Coptic Orphans.” - Rep Adel from Mallawi |
Every week, volunteer Rep Adel Labib Riad from Mallawi spends upwards of 10 hours to visit 39 children in 18 Not Alone families. This is in addition to his full time job as a vice principal at an elementary school. "It is the best way I could possibly spend those 10 hours," he says. "I see the children as not fatherless, because they look for their father in me, and find him alive and caring about them. They are like my own children.”
Adel has been volunteering with Coptic Orphans since 2001. “At first,” Adel recalls, “I thought it was another charitable service, but I discovered that we have to support the development of the whole child, from education, and health, social, and their psychological development, and that is the most important part of our work, not the money.”
Adel shares Coptic Orphans philosophy of making education a priority. All families have to commit to keeping their children in school in order to join the program, something that is difficult when just transportation to and from the village to the nearest high school can cost upwards of LE2 (about 0.30 cents) per day.
It may not sound like much but add that to the cost of books, school supplies, and the fees for the virtually required private tutoring, and secondary schooling is out of the reach of most fatherless and many other poor families. “Ninety-nine percent of my kids would not be able to go to school without Coptic Orphans,” he declares.
 |
| "I see the children as not fatherless, because they look for their father in me, and find him alive and caring about them. They are like my own children." |
Despite the support of Coptic Orphans, Adel’s children still face many challenges on a daily basis, and many needs go unmet. So what is his deepest wish for his children this Christmas?
"I wish to be able to make all my children's homes suitable and safe. Now, I can only make improvements step by step, and one by one. Every day, they ask me, 'when will it be my turn to get a roof, or replace the ladder with stairs, or repair the cracks in the mudbrick walls?' "
Adel’s commitment to the children goes beyond that of typical volunteers, but he is typical of many Coptic Orphans Reps, who have been with the program since the beginning. “I can't count the hours I spend looking after them, it is just my life. I want to stay with them and see the fruits of my work," he says.
