Coptic orphans
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Coptic Orphans (CO) is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 with the goal of the long-term development of the physical and intellectual well being of children in Egypt. Every year it help hundreds of needy children and their families financially, intellectually and socially.
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[edit] History
Coptic Orphans was founded in 1989, when Mrs. Nermien Riad, founder and executive director, was in Cairo during a two-year tour of duty with the U.S. government. During her stay, she was invited to visit an orphanage in Egypt. The children's living conditions and abject poverty overcame her and she became determined to make a personal impact to improve their conditions.
Upon returning to the United States, she began collecting and sending funds to Egypt on a limited scale to the orphanage, and began to lay the foundations for an organization with a Mission and Philosophy solely devoted to the purpose of helping children.
As opposed to a short-term relief organization, Coptic Orphans focuses on the long-term needs of the children - spiritual, physical, economic, and social - through programs that provide both tangible and intangible benefits.
Coptic Orphans has since grown to include other needy children throughout Egypt.
[edit] Mission
Coptic Orphans exists to improve the lives of orphans and other vulnerable children in Egypt by providing basic needs, education, and mentoring so that they may realize their potential to become productive members of society. Coptic Orphans also exists to raise awareness about poverty in Egypt and promote cultural understanding.
[edit] Programs
[edit] Not Alone
Since its inception, Coptic Orphans has assisted over 10,500 children through the Not Alone program, bringing educational, nutritional, and social support to children who would otherwise have limited to none of these options. Through this program, child advocates and reps are made available to families in order to both, create awareness of, and to take advantage of their rights, such as those that relate to pensions, literacy classes, and other community activities available to them in the area. Children who enter the Not Alone program remain in the program until they graduate from high school or university, for which they are also given different forms of assistance.
[edit] Emergency Housing
Coptic Orphans provides housing in those families in need through their Not Alone program. Housing can be very expensive, yet for some of these families there is an urgent and immediate need, be it because the house is ready to collapse, the children are in danger or they are living in inhumane conditions. Coptic Orphans relies on donations to support families with adequate housing.
[edit] The Valuable Girl Project
The Valuable Girl Project is a program with the goal of empowerment of girls and young women through the creation and provision of role models. It uses an educational mentoring model, through which young women in secondary school become role models for girls in primary school by a one-on-one mentoring relationship. The program focuses on high poverty areas of Egypt , where girls of all ages face a high risk of dropping out of school due to poverty and bias against girls. This program supports all girls in need of it, regardless of religion.
[edit] The Rosetta Program
The Rosetta program is a Coptic Orphans child literacy program that finds children enrolled in school who are illiterate , teaches them to read, and then finally enters them into the Child Assistance program.
[edit] Serve To Learn
The Serve to Learn program allows volunteers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia to serve in high-poverty areas of Egypt, such as Beni-suef, Matay, King Mariut, Qus/Nekada and other by volunteering to teach English summer courses to children.
[edit] Grant Making
Coptic Orphans launched its first grantmaking initiative in 2006. The purpose of the program is to support Egypt-based community development associations as well as NGOs active in one of these three main sectors: health education and awareness, orphanage support, and education and literacy to underserved populations -- including refugees, children with disabilities, and orphans. Coptic Orphans will play a major role in supporting community development endeavors that seek funding.
