Dressed with the colors of the Egyptian flag –red veil, white shirt, black skirt–, Hanan stands in front of a copious audience and declaims her own poem on the new Egypt and the cooperation between Coptic and Muslim Egyptians.

 

She is 18 years old, and still a couple of years away from university. But what does that mean, if we take into consideration that at the age of 12 she was not able to read a single aleph, the simplest letter of the Arabic alphabet?

 

 

Hanan was prevented from going to school until the responsible of AUEED parallel schools managed to convince her father. She was 12 at the time. She joined AUEED’s sped-up courses and did such an outstanding performance that her father was won for the cause: he refused several early-marriage proposals for her daughter and does not want to hear about further arrangements until Hanan’s dream has been fulfilled.

 

Unfortunately, the story of Hanan is far from being the norm in Upper Egypt, where poverty, fear and long-lasting cultural prejudices keep girls away from schools and education. Few girls join public schools, and even fewer remain there when difficulties show up. And if there is one certitude in Upper Egypt –one of the poorest regions in the Middle East–, it is that difficulties will show up. 

 

 

 

 

For that reason, AUEED started promoting schools and dispensaries as far back as 1940, when the Republic of Egypt was not yet an idea, and no public schooling was offered, even to boys. At the moment, AUEED has diversified its social activities, but education remains the core of all its programs.

 

The organization manages 57 schools in some 50 villages of Upper Egypt. Some of them are called parallel schools, where girls and boys left out the educational system try to catch up and be admitted in one of the formal or public schools, in order to complete their basic education and eventually continue studying in a college or university. 

 

 

 

FPSC has been working with AUEED for 6 years now, and some 5,000 students, mainly female students, have benefitted from this partnership. 

 

But let us go back to the Nile Hall, in Assiut University where, after the poem of Hanan, the lights go off and the applause becomes deafening. We are celebrating the final event of the Project for the Education of Girls in Upper Egypt, which has been funded by the Spanish Cooperation and has made it possible that more than 1,500 young people get educated. The curtains open again, and the stage is occupied by a group young students. They come from Nekhela, such a tiny village from the Assiut Governorate that you will hardly find its location on a map. Not all the students could come, but the ones who made it to the Assiut University will never forget the experience.

 

 

 

 

 

The lights blind them. They don’t see the people in the audience. However, most of the kids know their parents are not there: the lucky ones had to stay at Nekhela to work; the unfortunate ones who have no job, have no means of transportation either. So they hold the book and dance the sketch they have prepared: an ode to the virtues of reading and learning, which they know to be true. 

 

 

 

The event continues with the show of the girls who participate in the Valuable Girl Program. This initiative brings together 125 young women with 125 young girls. They are, respectively, the big sisters and the small sisters. Big sisters are selected among good students without economical means, and small sisters are young girls with learning difficulties or other behavioral problems that may result in their dropping out from public education. Each big sister takes one small sister in charge, and helps her in her studies and social life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their performance is loose and natural: in the last months, the big sisters have learnt to act and to pretend in front of the small sisters. Because, what better way to convince a small stubborn girl that she should wear shoes, than to perform a role-play story where a bare-foot girl gets injured and has to go to hospital?

 

 

 

Several hundred children take their part in the event. They act, they sing, they dance, they celebrate education and the new Egypt. At the end of the event, some graduates from AUEED’s parallel schools, who have later participated in Vocational Trainings and performed a sustainability study for a commercial initiative, are awarded equipment to help them develop their proposal: a sewing machine, an oven, a hairdryer or threads, stones and a wax gun for the elaboration of women accessories. 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside the auditorium, an exhibition of the products made within the activities of the project is waiting for us. Clothes, purses, handkerchiefs, cushions, mirrors, necklaces and earrings. All done by young women who, from now on, own a new skill to support their families. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Success stories told in the event (In order of appearance)

  

Maryam, from Zarabi Parallel School

 

Her family is composed by 6 girls and 1 boy. When her father died, the only brother had to take care of the family and became the only breadwinner.

 

Due to the difficult situation, the brother decided that Maryam should not go to school, and help instead raising money for the family or, at least, helping in the house work. After many visits to him, the coordinators of AUEED managed to convince him to allow her to go to school. Maryam was 9 years old when she went to school for the first time. 

 

She graduated from the parallel schools and joined a governmental school, where she continues her studies. She takes part in the Graduates Meetings. 

 

Dina, from Kom Gharib, in Sohag 

 

She is now 15 years old, and studies 3rd preparatory.

 

She was prevented from her father and Mother to attend school, until the coordinators of the Parallel schools convinced them. She finished the parallel school and has joined a public secondary school. She attends the meetings for the graduates of AUEED’s parallel schools (Graduates Meetings) and has taken a training on how to make Arabic sweets. After that training, she decided to start her own commercial project for Arabic sweets, and will implement it while continuing at the Secondary School.

 

 

Nagya, from Al Qusiya Parallel School

 

Nagya started studying in AUEED’s parallel schools when she was 10. From the beginning she had to combine working with studying.

 

 Nowadays, at the age of 19 Nagya is married, has one child and is studying the first year of nursing in a public institution.

 

However, she continues to attend the Graduates Meetings and participated in a Vocational Training on hairdressing. She is now considering to start her own hairdressing project, while continuing to study to become a nurse. 

 

 

Magda, from Ghanayem

 

Magda was married at the age of 11. She did not attend school before, nor had attended ever, if the responsible of the AUEED parallel school in the village had not convinced her mother in law to allow her to try.

She started in AUEED’s parallel school when she was 12. Now she is 21, has two children and a job as a nurse in a hospital. But she is not satisfied with that job, and her intention is to look for a better opportunity. Thanks to the Graduates Meetings, she has participated in a Vocational Training in sewing, and has decided to start her sewing project.
 

 
Hanan, from Beni Fez Parallel School

 

She is 18 years old, and currently studies 2nd Preparatory.

Her father refused sending her to school, until the coordinators of AUEED’s parallel schools convinced him. By then, Hanan was 11.

Her father has received since several proposals for marriage, but refused all of them, until she has completed her education.

She composed and recited a poetry about Egypt and the cooperation between Coptic and Muslim Egyptians