Four years of war have left Syria in ruins, millions of people have fled and the violence has spread across the region. Caritas is providing aid to 1.2 million people.
Address: 1, rue Mahmoud Sedki, Khouloussy, B.P. 11231 Cairo, Egypt
Telephone: +202 243 10 201 Fax: +202 243 10 213
Email: cariteg@link.net
YouTube: CaritasEgypte
www.caritasegypt.com
Founded in 1967 after the Six-Day War, Caritas-Egypt was recognized by the Egyptian Ministry of Social Affairs in the same year. Caritas-Egypt first humanitarian aid was to help the displaced people during the evacuation of 3 cities in the Suez Canal: Port Said, Ismailia and Suez.
The work of Caritas-Egypt is spread different areas.
Edution: With the 18-month training program, “learn and free yourself”, participants learn how to read and to write and additionally some skill on healthcare and hygiene. Over the years, peer education and economic awareness components have been added, and village libraries have also been set up. This program registers around 10 000 new learners each year. Caritas Egypt also registers girls from slum areas in Cairo into a school run by the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. First groups of girls will enter the university in 2021.
Social: Caritas Egypt works with street children. There are centres in Cairo and Alexandria which seek to have them reintegrated within their families, and providing them with schooling or vocational. There is also a service for refugees which aims to improve the social conditions of refugees in accordance with the standards lay down by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Health: Caritas Egypt funded SETI centre deals with mental disability among children and adolescents. It also provides management training, rehabilitation programs and vocational training for certain adults.
Five medical and social centres in Cairo include clinics, crèches, pre-schools and vocational training centres for women. Caritas-Egypt also provides a mother and child protection service, including a program to fight malnutrition.
Since 1979, Caritas-Egypt has been active fighting against leprosy, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and the German NGO GLRA (DAHW). Although leprosy disease is definitely decreasing, it is a permanent threat. At first at a
number of 60 000 ill in 1979, there are nowadays 3000.
Fight against drugs and substance addiction: Caritas-Egypt has been involved in the national detoxification campaign since 1982 by founding the “Oasis of Hope”. This project aims to inform people about the harmful effects of drugs and to ensure that drug addicts have the best means of detoxification. This work is done by a team of psychiatrists and social workers.
In 1989, Caritas-Egypt introduced professional training. Its programs were designed to meet an increasingly pressing need among young people in search of a means of subsistence. After a technical internship, candidates receive a certificate of competence issued by Caritas-Egypt and ratified by the Ministry of Solidarity. Another sector is microcredit. Its program aims to meet the needs of the unemployed and operates in Cairo, Alexandria, Minia, Assiout, Sohag, Faioum, Damietta and Quena.
The services of Caritas-Egypt are offered to all members of the Egyptian society, nearly all Muslims (90%) and Christians (10%).
Caritas-Egypt’s main partners are: Caritas Germany, Misereor, Secours Catholique (Caritas-France), UNHCR, Ford Foundation, Caritas Salzburg, German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association (DAHW), Plan International, Italian Raoul Follereau Association (AIFO), Codegaz, Italian Solidarity Centre, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), KindermissionWerk, National Population Council, UNDP, UNICEF, Sister Emmanuelle Association – France, and Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development (CCFD).
Updates from Egypt
Caritas Egypt Director Fr. Nabil Gabriel sj called on European Union to bare in mind the impact of aid cuts on the poor as they discussed stopping or reducing their support to Egypt. He said the EU should increase its funding so the Egypt could be constructed on a sound basis.
Many migrant workers from Bangladesh had been living in Libya for a long time, often for several years. Most of them were employed in the construction sector, in the capital Tripoli but also in Brak, Misurata or Nalut.
Caritas members from around the world have been mobilized to support migrants and Libyans fleeing unrest in Libya. Around 328,000 people have so far fled from conflict in Libya according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Most of them left the country passing through Egypt and Tunisia. Caritas has sent two Emergency Response Teams ...
Thousands of migrant workers fleeing Libya have been stranded in a camp in Salloum on the Libyan-Egyptian border while waiting for their repatriation. The Caritas emergency aid team is still distributing several thousand meals per day, monitoring the flow of migrants at the border and providing special care to families and children. Pictures by Fred ...
Yesterday, a lot of people had to pack their stuff at the Salloum border camp. Salloum looked like a crowded, badly-organised coach station. Dozens of buses were obstructing the access to the camp. There has been a lot of movement here in the last days. A lot of people could finally leave.
Credits: Fred Lauener/Caritas Switzerland Fred Lauener from Caritas Switzerland arrived in Salloum on the Libyan-Egyptian border on Thursday to support the ongoing Caritas emergency aid distributions for migrants fleeing the violence in Libya. Here are some of his accounts from the last days. (Read his original blogs in German) “Today, there have hardly been any ...
Migrants can call their families for free on arrival through Caritas and its partner OKUP. Credits: OKUP Caritas Bangladesh and its partner organisation OKUP are providing assistance to Bangladeshi migrant workers fleeing the social unrests in Libya on their arrival at Dhaka airport. Returnees are given some money, food and transport facilities to reach bus ...
A Caritas team has been assessing needs of migrant workers fleeing violence in Libya and stranded on the Egyptian-Libya border in Salloum. Around 6000 migrant workers are stranded in Salloum and around 5000 people are arriving daily. Asian and African migrants wait two to six days to be processed through the border. They are the ...
Interview with Naguib Khouzam, General Supervisor of Caritas Egypt’s SETI Centre and Professor of Educational Psychology at Ain Shams University. Mr. Khouzam, you are the General Supervisor of the Caritas Egypt’s SETI Center for disabled people. This centre trains special needs teachers, supports disabled people and their families and runs research in this field. What ...