Meet a Few Coptic Orphans Reps

Rosie, a Coptic Orphans sponsor, describes a few of the Reps that she met on a visit to Egypt:

Rep Rose – Rep Rose takes a personal interest in the living conditions of people in her district, a particularly poor one. As she walks through the streets, she scans the children. She approaches children who are without shoes or in filthy clothes and gently takes them to their homes, where she explains that they need shoes or their nails must be cleaned and offers help to their mothers. She teaches every child how often they must change their clothes, their underwear, wash, and how to wash. As we walk through the streets together she tells me: “This place was very, very bad. I wish you could have seen the improvement. The children were barely clothed, filthy, barefoot, and constantly sick. Now you see the children clean, and their homes are cleaner.” Rep Rose shows that no matter how much or little people have, everyone can have the dignity of health and hygiene.

Rep Waguih - He knows every child by name, where they live, their school marks, and where they work. He is like a vigilant hawk. He makes his rounds to the employers of the children and in the presence of the both the child and his employer he negotiates the child's time off for Sunday school, church, church trips, etc. He explains to the employers that by allowing these children to have a spiritual life allows them to grow into better people and therefore better employees. He checks up to make sure that each child is attending church and Sunday school. He was in the midst of organizing a big trip for the kids and went to each employer and got three days off for every child. He does not even forget about the children that have dropped out of school, and he routinely gets children who have dropped out of school back into school because of his persistence. In one family a sister and her brother who were recently orphaned have begun making crosses from wood for a bit of extra income. He taught them ways they can simplify production, reduce costs, and improve quality. To encourage them, he placed an order to be delivered to the church for his Sunday school class at 2 pounds each. He motivated them by telling them that when they improve their quality he will promote their crosses in even more places.

Rep Mohsen - The most enthusiastic of all the reps I met. He has turned his home into a storage facility for Coptic Orphans. He buys in bulk to reduce costs. In his home, you open one room and it’s full of laundry detergent, dried foul, sugar, tea, rice, flour, etc. Another room is filled with school supplies and books. Another room is full of clothes organized by box. That room opens into another room that children use as a fitting room. He says that it has been a problem for the families when he arrives with supplies for the families. Instead, they come to his home where they go "shopping" and take their supplies home with them. What I found so intriguing about this rep is that every child we visited had massive stacks of books. The children have read all their books and will talk at length about each book. The rep is so concerned that his children use their minds that he has bought them mini game boards that can be used for checkers, chess, and backgammon. He has taught the children to play chess and they all play together in their homes to pass the time.
The most amazing thing is that these reps do this arduous work for no money. They say their spouses complain that they don’t see them, but they love their work and constantly try to improve both their work and the lives of the children with whom they work.

-Rosie, Coptic Orphans Sponsor