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Several years
ago, Christina’s* mother took Christina* with her to a larger city
to visit relatives where her mother could receive medical treatment
for an illness. When they came back home, they were confused and alarmed
when their landlord tried to stop them from entering their own apartment
by force. They soon learned that while they were gone, Christina’s
father sold the apartment and all their possessions, changed his religion,
and disappeared.
Coptic Orphans
helped Christina and her family find a new home and start a new life,
but now they urgently need new plumbing for their house. Her bathroom
leaks water onto their neighbors through the ceiling of the flat below
them, which causes a lot of trouble for Christina’s family. If the
plumbing goes unfixed it will cause problems not only for Christina’s
relationship with her neighbors, but will destroy their bathroom.
They already need new plumbing and floor tiles.
With $645, Coptic Orphans
can help Christine’s family renovate their bathroom and plumbing,
even making it better than it was before.
December
8th Update: a generous contributor has paid $25 towards Christine's
renovations. We just need $620 more to cover it. Thank you!
December
19th Update: three generous contributers from California, New Jersey,
and New York have each contributed amounts totalling $350.
December
30th Uodate: Two generous contributors from New Jersey have just given
$100 and $25.
January
2nd Update: a generous contributor from Massachussetts has
paid the remaining amount. Thank you! Stay posted for more urgent
needs.
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Danielle’s* father sold
poultry until his death from liver failure several years ago. Since
then, her mother has struggled to support Danielle on her meager widow’s
pension and on the proceeds from raising poultry in their home. Their
house is roofed with metal sheets and constructed from limestone.
The limestone has been cracking and disintegrating bit by bit and
now one wall, which she shares with the neighbors, is leaning heavily
and threatens to collapse at any time. Danielle needs this wall reconstructed
and a new, more adequate roof put over her head.
Coptic Orphans
needs $797 to build a new wall and put a new safe roof up that won’t
be a constant danger for Danielle.
December
3rd, 2008 - UPDATE: a generous contributor has paid the entire
amount to finish Danielle's roof. We've received more from the field
that we will share above.
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Sara*
lives in the garbage district of a major city and her family's house
is poorly ventilated.
Because
of their unhealthy environment, Sara and her little brother both suffer
from eye infections and her mother suffers from bronchial asthma.
The family needs a wall with a window to increase ventilation and
close the house to pollution, a new door, manual cleaning appliances
to keep their clothes and house clean and healthy, and a bed with
a mattress so they do not have to sleep on the dirty floor. Sara’s
family is contributing a small amount and Coptic Orphans has partnered
with their local church to provide another portion.
We
need only $445 to finish the work. These changes will make a big difference
towards making Sara’s house much healthier.
December
2nd, 2008 - UPDATE: This just in, a generous contributor
has paid the entire amount to finish the roof. We've received more
from the field that we will share above.
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Mary’s* family
was kicked out of her flat when the landowner sold the building where
they lived. The money they were
paid as compensation was only enough to purchase a brick frame for their next home. The walls must still
be finished to make the flat livable. In the meantime, the family
has had no choice but to live with Mary’s grandfather in extremely tight quarters.
Mary’s family has managed to save money
towards finishing the walls. Their priest and members of the church
and community have also rallied around them, contributing funds to
help get the family back on their own feet.
Coptic Orphans
has promised to find another generous contributor from abroad to join
the many that have already come together around Mary’s family to help
them flourish again in a place to call their own. The amount that
we need to complete this circle of community effort with Mary’s family
is $1,165.
December
2nd, 2008 - UPDATE: This just in, a generous contributor
from Canada has paid the entire amount to finish Mary's new home.
Mary will be delighted. We've received more from the field that we
will share above.
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Michael*
lives with his mother and three siblings in a flat on the roof of
a seven-story building without electricity or furniture.
Coptic
Orphans has already partnered with their local church, which is providing
simple furniture and a gas stove for Michael and his family.
Desperate
for an electrical connection, Michael’s family once tried to solve
their other problem by negotiating an agreement with their neighbors
to unofficially ride their electrical connection; however, when the
utility authorities found out, they took both families to court and
slapped them with a hefty fine.
Now,
Coptic Orphans is looking for a generous contributor to help Michael’s
family gain access to their basic right to electricity the right way
so that they won’t be vulnerable to being disconnected or fined. With
$387, we can make sure that Michael’s family is legally free and clear,
has access to a permanent electrical connection in their home, and
has a meter so that we can assure Michael of having light to study
by and electricity for daily living.
November
20th, 2008 - UPDATE: A generous contributor from Japan has
paid the entire amount for Michael. Thank you! May God reward you
for your generosity. Stay posted for more urgent needs as we receive
them.
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Helmy* lives with his
mother in a one-room home in a small village that has no bathroom.
Water has been seeping in through the mud-brick walls for some time
now, so that the walls are nearly all wet on every side. The water
has been weakening the walls as it forces its way through, and the
room now threatens to collapse.
In most
cases, Coptic Orphans partners with the local Coptic Church and with
families themselves to cover some of the cost of home renovations
so that the family has a greater sense of ownership over the project.
What we usually ask from Coptic Orphans supporters rewards the hard
work and careful saving of the families whose homes we rebuild by
meeting them halfway.
But the
only income that Helmy and his mother have to live on is the 79 Egyptian
Pounds per month (about $14 USD) that his mother receives from her
government widow’s pension. Helmy himself works hard at school despite
the challenge of being nearly blind, and we want to reward Helmy’s
hard work and tenacity in school despite the circumstances of his
home and visual disability.
We need an especially
generous contributor this time to step up and honor the resilient
spirits of Helmy and his mother by covering the entire amount needed
to rebuild Helmy’s home: $2,727.
November
17th, 2008 - UPDATE: A generous contributor from Massachussets
is sending check for the entire amount to cover Helmy's renovations.
The contributor wrote, "I admire Helmy's Not Give Up Spirit,
despite his disability and living conditions..." May God reward
you for your generosity. Stay posted for more urgent needs as we receive
them.
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Azma’s* mother
and two siblings live on the top floor of a house owned by extended
family members who live on other floors of the same house.
Azma’s* house threatens
to collapse as neighbors continue to building additions to their own
house tightly crammed against Azma’s, putting more structural pressure
on her house than it can bear. At any time the house could collapse
under the weight pressed against it, and Azma’s family fears what
their precarious position on the top floor would mean if this happens.
The priest from Azma's
church has come up with a solution. Rather than leaving and buying
another house for 30,000 Egyptian pounds, for half that cost the family
can buy their half of the house, bring down the whole house and rebuild
it again so that it will be structurally sound no matter how their
neighbors build.
With a little
help from Coptic Orphans, the family proved their ownership with a
written contract. Now, Azma's family needs to raise $1,000 after they
and the local church contributed funds for the renovations to cover
the rest of the renovation expenses.
November
7th, 2008 - UPDATE: A generous contributor from Australia
sent a check for the entire amount for Azma's renovations. Thank You!
Stay posted for more urgent needs as we receive them.
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Maria’s*
mother was forced to marry an older widower when she was young. Maria’s
mother was totally dependent on her husband, as many women in the
rural areas of Egypt are, especially those who cannot read. When he
died at the age of 70, Maria, her brother, her sister, and her mother
were not only left alone, but destitute.
Before
they became part of the Not Alone program it was so difficult
to survive that Maria’s mother once tried to drop Maria off at an
orphanage. Thansfully, Maria’s tears pierced her mother’s heart. She
turned around and brought Maria back home.
Today
Maria and her mother are doing much better now that they are part
of the Not Alone program, and Maria is healthy, happy, and
progressing in school.
Still,
they have a special need right now.
Maria’s
family shares a tiny three room apartment with two other families,
and one of the other families harasses Maria and her mother over the
use of the apartment’s single bathroom and source of water.
Coptic
Orphans has partnered with the Coptic Orthodox Church so that Maria
and her family can establish an independent life with their own flat.
Both the diocese and their local church has contributed for the flat,
and Maria's mother has also contributed what she can from a small
amount that she saved up. We need $1,000 to reach the total price
so we can purchase the new flat for Maria and her family.
October
30th, 2008 - UPDATE: A generous contributor from Massachusetts
sent a check for the entire amount for Maria’s new flat. Thank You!
Stay posted for more urgent needs as we receive them.
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Samira’s* father was
ironing clothes for a living when he contracted leukemia and passed
away, leaving Samira, her mother, and her three siblings in a crumbling
mud brick house. Eventually, the house crumbled so much that they
had to abandon it and move in with an uncle and his five children,
who all cram into his tiny two-room partially roofed house that has
a pit in the ground for a bathroom.
Meanwhile,
old neighbors have seen that their property and crumbling home are
unoccupied, and are trying to steal their land.
Samira’s family
has fended them off so far, but needs to rebuild a home on the land
and move back to keep it and to avoid the inhuman living conditions
of their uncle’s home. They are contributing money from their savings
and inheritance, and Coptic Orphans has partnered with the local diocese
to provide another amount.
The remaining
amount that we need to raise for them so that they can build a new
home is $2,104.
August
25th, 2008 - UPDATE: A generous
contributor from Massachussets sent a check for the entire amount
so that Samira's family can have their basic right to adequate housing
and be free from the injustice of impending theft. The contributer told us in an email, “I think its wrong for the neightbors
to try to steal it from them, I can't let that happen in good conscience
when I have the funds to help her family.” Thank you!
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Morey’s* father died
at the age of 26 from cancer when Morey was only six years old. Morey,
his mother, and his four siblings live temporarily in a house owned
by their father’s brother, but cannot stay for much longer. The brother-in-law
uses the house as a second home, and when he comes Morey’s family
is without privacy and independence. Morey’s industrious mother refused
to accept a life of dependence and breeds poultry to provide some
income for the family to supplement her meager widow’s pension. Still,
what she earns is barely enough to provide a few necessities and will
not allow her to provide the home that her children desperately need.
Coptic Orphans has partnered with Morey’s local church, who can contribute
a small amount for a plot of land on which to build a house. We need
to raise $2,000 for the remaining amount to buy the land and build
a modest but independent home for Morey’s determined family.
August
6th, 2008 - UPDATE:A generous contributor from NJ called
us to contribute the entire amount needed. Thank you!
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Magdi's* family
of three members live in a mud and reed home in rural Egypt. Their
home has partially collapsed and has suffered from fires several times.
They need their home completely re-built, and that will cost the equivalent
of $1,875 US dollars.
June
27th, 2008 - UPDATE: A generous contributor from the US called
us to contribute the entire amount needed for the house construction.
Thank you!
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Peter* lives with his
mother and three siblings in a house that has no ceiling or walls.
After his father died, his family was left with no way to procure
adequate housing.
Peter and his
siblings are exposed to extreme heat in the summer and to the bitter
cold and rain in the winter. They share their house with livestock,
which makes their living situation unhygienic, and Peter complains
that other children at school make fun of him because of his living
situation.
Peter wants
to succeed in school so that he can break the cycle of poverty, but
he needs a safe and secure home to study and overcome his circumstances.
With $2,318 we will build a roof, walls, and a second room with a
staircase so that Peter and his siblings can be warm, safe, secure,
and confident.
June
3rd, 2008 - UPDATE: A generous contributor from Australia
has stepped up to provide the entire amount for Peter's family. He
told us: "I cannot live with myself knowing
that I have a roof over my head and Peter and his family don't."
May God reward you for your genorosity.
Coptic
Orphans will provide renovations for Peter's family so that Peter
can succeed. This is an example of the basic right to adequate housing,
among others, that Coptic Orphans enables children like Peter to enjoy.
Every day Coptic Orphans Reps work tirelessly to equip their children
with tools like housing, literacy, health, and the fostering of God-given
talents to break the cycle of poverty.
*Name changed
to protect the dignity and privacy of the child.
