Karmouz Shelter for Girls - Egypt

Six clubs from our D-5890, Baytown, Humble Intercontinental, Pasadena, Space Center, Washington County and West U., partnered with The R.C. of Alexandria Cosmopolitan, Egypt to build and furnish a shelter to accommodate the street girls of Alexandria, and offer them a safe place to live, healthcare and love and known as Karmouz Shelter for Street Girls.

The project was brought to us by Magda Sadek of the Alexandria club when she led the GSE team from Egypt to Houston two years ago.

The building was previously built by the Alexandria club with help from many sponsors. Our Grant has now furnished the building with beds, cupboards, lockers, kitchen equipment and utensils, tables and chairs for the dining room , sofas and armchairs for the living room area and 2 TV screens.

The original project is now complete and came in $5,300 under the original budget of $29,500. We have authorized Magda and her club to retain the $5,300 to be applied for improvements and enhancements as they appear and The Rotary Foundation has approved this plan.

Magda reports " Unfortunately due to the current unrest in Egypt all projects have become paralyzed as interests of all Egyptians turned to politics, a constitution and elections so that the shelter stayed with only six girls and their supervisors. As things are now stabilizing we hope to capture more girls as the facility has a capacity for 38 girls.

The phenomenon of street girls in Egypt has magnified tremendously and now  amounts to nearly 2 million girls. Unlike the opportunities for boys there are almost no shelters for street girls in Alexandria that accommodate young pregnant women. The street girls are vulnerable and suffer violence, sexual abuse, addiction, rape and diseases."

Again per Magda " the attached photo is of Aya, the first girl who joined the shelter, she is 7 years old , very cute and intelligent. She is now going to school and doing very well. We are all very proud of her."