Habitat World Online


Zeina, a Habitat homeowner in Egypt, breaks down the insect-infested mud walls of her former house. They were replaced by sturdy limestone-block walls as can be seen in the background.

Meeting Cultural Needs
Partnerships Mean Progress for Habitat's Work in Egypt
by Shawn Reeves

	What You Can Do: • To learn more about Egypt, read Cairo: The City Victorious, by Max Rodenbeck. • To learn more about the Middle East, read From Beirut to Jerusalem, by Thomas Friedman, and Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon, by Robert Fisk. • To learn more about what Habitat for Humanity is doing in the region, please inquire via e-mail at info@habitatmiddleeast.org. • To support Habitat's work in this region, donate securely online at www.habitat.org/donation/.

With a quiet urgency, Hany Kamal, field coordinator with Habitat for Humanity Egypt, tells of an Egyptian family who welcomed him during his visit to their community of need. The family of seven lived crowded into a single 5' x 6' room. It had a dirt floor, lacked a roof, and reflected the desperate health conditions that result from having to house farm animals in the same room as blankets, cookware ... and people.

"These conditions are inhuman," Kamal says. "People should not have to live like this."

Egypt is one of the most influential countries in the Middle East. With a civilization dating back thousands of years, it is home to wonders of the ancient world: the Pyramids and Sphinx. But of even greater value than its golden history are its nearly 70 million people, renowned for their warmth of hospitality and their endurance through hardship. It is the dignity of these people that is the foundation on which Habitat for Humanity builds in Egypt.

The challenges many Egyptian families face are substantial. Yousry Makar, national director for HFH Egypt, visited an 8' x 9' home where 10 people lived, five upstairs and five down. Overcrowded? Sure. But even more critical for the five people living below was the rising watertable that turned their dirt floor into standing muddy water.

Whether the venue is rural or urban Egypt, poverty is the antagonist of these heroic families. In villages, they live in crumbling block huts, scarcely more solid than the sand on which they're built. In cities like Cairo, "home" is crowded, noisy squatter settlements with jackhammers and exhaust fumes and the smell of hot asphalt. Worse, it's where people live in "garbage recycling communities," where one's trash becomes another's meager treasure.

With some 30 percent of the country living in desperate conditions, the need in this largest Arab country is staggering--not only the scope of it, but the severity as well. And that is what motivates Habitat for Humanity's work there.

For 15 years, Habitat has worked with families up and down the Nile River, building today in 14 communities. Habitat has built 4,000 houses so far and attributes its success to the compassion within the people of Egypt and, in part, to an effective partnership with a community development organization called CEOSS (Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Service).

In a land where relationships are as vital as the desert is wide, the HFH/CEOSS partnership has been fruitful, allowing Habitat to build on the trust already established by the 50-year-old CEOSS, which improves the quality of life in poor communities by mobilizing local leadership, improving health, strengthening schools and micro-enterprise--and, with Habitat, building houses.

Until Nov. 15, 2003, when Habitat for Humanity became officially registered with Egypt's Ministry of Social Affairs, Habitat operated in partnership under CEOSS' legal umbrella, says David Haskell, Habitat for Humanity's director for the Middle East and East Africa region. But that wasn't the relationship's only advantage.

"Not only have we built on CEOSS' 50-plus year history of development, relationships and goodwill," he says, "but we've been able to collaborate with its strong network of experienced local volunteer committees who have already succeeded in community development initiatives."

Habitat and CEOSS have cooperated with local partners in Egyptian communities and engaged the people through trust and cooperation. It is in this context of mutual respect and non-discrimination that Habitat for Humanity staff and partners demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ, serving families in need, Muslim and Christian alike.

"The obstacle is to earn the opportunity to demonstrate love in action in genuine relationships and in tangible service with bricks and mortar," Haskell says. "The challenge is overcoming misconceptions people often have of the unknown or unfamiliar, especially when those people are from different cultural or religious backgrounds."

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