Coptic Bishops, NGO: Egypt Needs Approach to Poverty that Gives Dignity, Avoids Shame

From front to back, Father Antonious from St. Mark's and his wife, Father Raphael of St. George, and Fr. Mikhael of St. Mark with his wife.

At a cultural fundraising dinner for the local NGO Coptic Orphans at the Casa Grecque restaurant reception hall in Montreal, members of the local Coptic community listened to bishops from Egypt and other community leaders emphasize the need for a new approach to the problem of child poverty in Egypt that will avoid causing shame.

According to Manal Bedwany, the director of Coptic Orphans Canada, “The ‘charity’ approaches that we see most often today of passing out hand-outs causes a lot of shame for children in Egypt. Coptic Orphans rejects the stigma that is attached to orphans and widows in Egypt, and offers them the chance to be partners in becoming self-sufficient to overcome a life of poverty.” In Egypt, society often forces widows and their families into a dependent social class viewed with disdain by others. Instead, Bedwany says, the answer is a “development” approach that emphasizes new opportunities for widows and their children “to pursue their education and expand their horizons as their basic needs are met,” discovering how they can solve their problems with the gifts and talents that they already have.

Those who attended the event listened to seven bishops from Egypt discuss the positive approach of Coptic Orphans through a recorded video. Director Manal Bedwany explained that Coptic Orphans works with 42 bishops in Egypt--representing nearly all the dioceses there. In their comments, the bishops all commended the work of the organization. One of the bishops emphasized the importance of the development approach, saying: “It’s not just about distributing food or money to live…but giving [individuals] the taste of life, to live an honourable life, by helping [impoverished communities] to them help themselves”.

Father Yousef of St. George's Church, Montreal, enjoys the event with his wife.

Coptic Orphans featured two of its programs at the event to highlight the differences between a development and a charity approach. Not Alone, the flagship program of the organization, enlists volunteer representatives (Reps) from local villages in Egypt to foster creativity and leadership through workshops, personal visits, and field trips for children who have lost a father. Another program, Serve to Learn, brings youth from around the world to some of the poorest areas of Egypt to lead activities with children in English for a three week period in the summer. A former volunteer with Serve to Learn who was at the event shared her experience, saying, “the children taught me invaluable lessons on love”.

Throughout the evening, raffle prizes were distributed and a silent auction took place as the guests savoured a four-course refaa (pre-fasting) meal heralding the beginning of the Great Lent.

Five Coptic priests attended the event, and opened it in prayer. The event raised over $12,000. The Casa Grecque administration donated both the food and the venue, so the entire amount raised will benefit the children of Egypt through the programs of Coptic Orphans.

Coptic Orphans is an award-winning international Christian development organization that unlocks the God-given potential of children in Egypt, and so equips them to break the cycle of poverty and become change-makers in their communities. Since the founding of the organization in 1988, Coptic Orphans has touched the lives of over 14,000 children in Egypt.