Mother and daughter launch Egypt charity

Mar 10 2008 Submitted by Natalie Collingwood

MYSELF and my mother Bobbie run a non profit organisation called The Luxor Project, the project hopes to become a charity soon, however, the requirements for this are that we raise £5,000.

The aim of the project is to educate village children aged 6-15 in Luxor; we do this through after school classes and by providing educational day trips for them, we offer all of our services free of charge.

Illiteracy rates are very high in Egypt and many children leave school without being able to read or write. In addition to that, books are extremely expensive, parents simply can not afford to buy their children books and most schools do not supply them.

The Luxor Project teaches children how to speak, read and write Arabic and English thus, making it possible for them to better their lives upon leaving school.

Teaching standards in Luxor are exceptionally poor and classes are incredibly overcrowded, some children do not even have a desk and chair to call their own, instead they have to sit on the floor.

No child is given individual attention and many spend their days learning nothing, we offer children a UK based classroom setting with interactive learning, we have no more than 20 children in one class. We have found that this works well and children come to us eager to learn.

The Luxor Project additionally enables children to take part in art workshops and attend sports sessions, things that are not offered to them through their normal schooling.

After a normal school day, most village children go home and play in the dirt streets until the early hours of the morning, they are then too tired to go to school.

These children have no toys or mental stimulation, little parental control is placed upon them.

We offer them a place to come where they can make their lives more meaningful, they do not just learn formal education at The Luxor Project, they also learn social skills and how to look after their well being in a correct manner.

We give them the opportunity to have fun like children in western countries do; this takes place in the form creative learning. The project also holds a parenting class once a month where we teach parents about the importance of sending their children to bed at reasonable hours and the effects of sleep deprivation on their childs health and education.

Parents are furthermore taught how to discipline their children, something that is often not done. Feedback from these classes has been extremely encouraging and the participants are on a steady increase. Our website www.theluxorproject.org.uk will additionally give you more information.

The Luxor Project survives solely on donatations, funds are very low at the minute, people tend to come to Luxor on holiday and dont realise the poverty that lies behind the tourist attractions here, we are in desperate need to find new premises which will allow us to expand, thus, giving more children a better start in life.

We currently have an ever increasing waiting list; with more funds we can help all of these children. If children in Egypt can speak English then they have more of a chance of going to college and ultimately obtaining a good job after leaving their formal education.

We are currently struggling to pay for the every day running of the project, things such as rent costs, amenities, teachers wages all need to be paid for as well as the services we offer to the children, it would have a devastating effect upon the lives of the children if the project had to cease due to lack of funds.

We are the only organisation in Luxor that offers free education to children and we have had an enormous response from people wanting our help, the children at the project are currently thriving and have an ever expanding thirst for knowledge. 98% of the children who come to us have expressed that they want to go to college when they are old enough to do so, education is the only chance they have of escaping the poverty trap that so many Egyptians in Luxor are caught up in.

The parents of these children can also understand now, after being informed by the Project, why it is important for their children to do well educationally.

Natalie can be contacted at natalie@theluxorproject.org.uk, at The Luxor Project, Behind The Sheraton Hotel, Awamia Village, Luxor, Egypt. Tel no 002 0101891193, or at the UK office at The Luxor Project, 16 Evenlode Road, Solihull, B92 8EW, tel no 0121 742 9718.