The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

While no
food bag or cheque goes unappreciated in times of need, if you’re looking for a
way to go that extra mile this Ramadan, consider supporting some of these
charities with your time or money.

Kheir we Baraka/Peace and Plenty Association

Kheir we Baraka is a licensed volunteer organization that is dedicated to providing the
residents of unplanned communities with the tools to live with dignity in a
clean, healthy, and safe environment. Their current projects focus specifically
on the community of Ezbet Khairalla and are working to improve the area by
cleaning up trash and waste in the neighbourhood. On a regular basis, teams of
doctors come in to provide both basic and specialty checkups and services. A
preschool education program works with both children and their mothers and has
grown to include over 900 mothers and 2000 children. The Council of Antiquities
has become involved with the site and is working with Peace and Plenty to
restore Ezbet Khairalla’s ancient sites, and hopefully even promote tourism
there in the future.

Want to Help Out? Contribute
your expertise to any of the existing committees, or participate in some field
work. Donations
of money, clothes, furniture, and school supplies are always needed.

Waqfeyat
Al Maadi Community Foundation

Waqfeyat Al Maadi seeks to offer Ramadan bags filled with produce from the
Coalition of Farmers NGO. Two bags are available: the first (65LE) contains
tea, oil, rice, sugar macaroni and ghee among others, while the second (85LE)
includes the same items plus a whole chicken. The produce is sourced from the Farmers
NGO, which encompasses 5 million farmers in Egypt. So by buying the bag, you’ll
be helping a farmer and also donating it to a needy family. You can order a bag
through their website so there will be time for farmers to prepare it, then
pick it up and distribute it yourself, or have the organization distribute it
for you to disadvantaged families in the slum areas of Helwan. Find more
information here or
call 0181722224 or 02 25272445

Want to
help out?
Volunteers are always needed to assess the community’s needs and to help
distribute bags.

Stabl
Antar Dream (SAD)

SAD seeks
to alleviate the poverty-stricken lives of Egyptians in slum areas by creating
a long-term development plan, rather than just a one-off handout of goods or
services.  Working in both Stabl Antar and Ezbet Khairalla, SAD runs a
community school program and a number of awareness programs both for working
women and those that stay at home. Residents are encouraged to participate in
other projects such as the handicraft workshop, where women can hone their
skills and produce income from the things they create, as well as health and
literacy programs and vocational training. SAD runs a very extensive, but
effective operation and is always in need of donations and volunteers; so
please consider helping them out!

Want to Help Out? Simply
complete the volunteer application form and SAD will place you in an area most
relevant to your skills and experience. You can also donate directly to their bank
account.

FACE for
Children in Need

Founded
in 2003, FACE works with street children in Cairo and has launched several orphanage
projects in and around Cairo. FACE has established two orphanages in Hegazy and
Maadi that seek to battle the epidemic of abandoned newborns in Cairo with a
staff of knowledgeable and dedicated caregivers. A third orphanage in Zeitoun
takes children of up to eighteen-years-old, and a fourth in Benha, which will
house children from two to six-years-old, is still in the process of being
renovated. Over 6500 orphans are currently registered in legal institutions
throughout Egypt, but FACE only has the resources to accommodate about 200 at a
time. With your help, they can continue to expand as they fight poverty and
child neglect in Egypt.

Want to Help Out? Fill out
the volunteer
application and FACE will find a place for you, though they request that
you be able to commit to a minimum of three months in order to ensure
continuity in the program. Donations can be made online or in the form of
a bank transfer.

The Right
to Live Association for the Intellectually Disabled

The Right
to Live Association had modest beginnings in the courtyard of a small Cairo
school in 1981. The organisation has since grown into a massive project that
aims to ensure the welfare of individuals with intellectual disabilities and
their families through rehabilitation centres, vocational training and
workshops, and self help and counselling programs, in addition to early
intervention care, which helps young children and their parents learn how to
cope with disability.

Want to Help Out? Get
involved with the RLA’s annual Right to Climb project,
designed to raise much-needed funding and awareness for the intellectually
disabled by completing a seven-day climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The
cost of sponsoring a mentally disabled person can add up to 20,000LE per year,
so donations are always
appreciated.

Revolution
AID Egypt

The
Revolution AID Group (RAG) is a group of young volunteers who came together
after the revolution to provide physical, emotional, and financial support to
those injured during the January 25th revolution. RAG has formed a
database of patients and a network of doctors, physical therapists and other
NGOs to help them achieve their goals. Through the donations of volunteers they
have managed to help over 200 cases financially, but more help is still needed!

Want to Help Out?
Volunteer to work with one of RAG’s teams, or donate money, medication,
rehabilitation services, or medical services. Find more
information on their Facebook page.

Educate-Me

This
initiative works with underprivileged kids in the slum area of El Orouba (near the Ring Road) by financially supporting
their school education, providing all their need school supplies and also
working on character building through creative workshops, leadership programs
and technical skills workshops. For the year 2011, Educate-Me aims to enrol 135
children into schools with the help of your donations. 200LE will pay for a
year’s tuition for one child; 5400LE will pay for the uniform of all 135 kids
and 3375LE will pay for 135 school bags.

Want to
Help Out? Volunteers are always welcome and can participate in allot of the
initiative’s brainstorming, workshops, fundraisings and more. Just fill out
this questionnaire first. Donations can be made in cash or via bank transfers.
For more information contact educate-me@taleeda.org
and check out their Facebook group.

Village of Hope for Development and Rehabilitation of Persons with Intellectual
Disabilities

Village of Hope (Al Amal Village) is a sanctuary for those with intellectual disabilities. Here,
they can come together with others who understand what they are going through,
and work with the centre’s leaders to live a normal life. Children and young
adults learn the basic skills needed to live independently and are taught
things such as baking, working with handicrafts, and in some cases electronics.
Others have learned carpentry, agriculture, and animal husbandry as well. With
the continued success of the Village of Hope, the organization is now looking to
found a clinic to help parents in the early detection of mental disability in
their children, and is always looking for support from those who can offer it.

Want to Help Out? Donations to the village can be made here.

Dar Al Orman
Charity

Dar al
Orman is a registered Egyptian NGO that sponsors a number of diverse projects.
They run six orphanages and are currently working to expand an ‘alternative
family program’ that places children in the homes of welcoming parents. In
addition to their work with orphans, which also includes providing financial
assistance and marriages to orphaned young women, Dar Al Orman runs the cancer
patients’ hospitality home, which houses patients at the National Institute for
Cancer free of charge.

Want to
help out? With
over seven different projects spread all across Egypt, Dar Al Orman is always
in need of volunteers. For
more information about donations, go here.

What Other Charities Are There?

For more
charities and initiatives, check out http://kherna.com/ and  http://www.thecharityhub.org/ for more
ideas on which charities to donate to, as well as a calendar of events and organizations
that need people to help out!