Imagine walking down Fustat Street in Old Cairo . On either side of the street are small one-room houses. They are built of sheet metal, cardboard, scrap wood and other materials at hand, and they lean against each other. On either side, you can see alleyways between the houses. Close by, you glimpse buildings that house pottery workshops. This is Kom Ghorab community.
Not long ago, the alleyways of Kom Ghorab were piled high with garbage. The air was filled with thick black smoke from the pottery kilns. Today, things are better for the people of Kom Ghorab. Rubbish has been cleaned up, and the air is cleaner, thanks to the work of Christian workers.
As you walk down the street, suddenly you can see some large colorful murals painted right on the walls! Fourteen-year-old Waleed helped paint a mural showing two boys; one studying, the other working. He explains, “The bright colors and clear blue sky surrounding the boy studying show that he has a great future. The other boy looks sad. He has to work in a factory.” About his future, Waleed says shyly, “I’d like to be an artist.”
Shawkat Abdullah, also 14, tells about one of his experiences with the project. “In the beginning not all the children were interested. One boy, Karim, got really angry when we tried to paint the front of his house. We promised him that if he and his parents didn’t like what we did, we’d paint it over afterwards.” Of course they did like it. “In the end Karim joined in and helped us.”
How did the murals come to be painted? In 1998, a group of children and adults were formed to discuss the problems facing children in Kom Ghorab. Because their parents are poor, children in the community often do not get the care they need to stay healthy or to get well when they get sick. Many children are not able to attend school. Sometimes girls were not treated equally with boys. Many children work in jobs in the kilns or in tanning factories — work that is not safe for them. There are drug dealers and addicts in the community.
The children wanted to express themselves. They wanted to call attention to their problems. They had many ideas, from singing songs of protest to writing down their experiences or making drawings. Then someone had the idea of painting murals on the walls of the buildings in the community. Everyone agreed the murals would make the biggest impact. When people saw the paintings, they would understand more about the problems faced by the children in Kom Ghorab.
Maged Hosni is a project leader for the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services, Christians working together in Egypt. This organization, called CEOSS, works with poor Egyptians. He took the idea for the project to Mr. Kadry Abou Hussein, deputy of the Old Cairo government. Mr. Hussein offered to help Kom Ghorab by finding money to repair the walls and to put up street lighting. He promised to get the rubbish and garbage in the area cleaned up.
A local artist named Hamdi Atteya offered to help and to get other artists to help, too. “We began by giving the children some basic lessons in art history,” says Atteya. “We took them on trips to the Egyptian Museum, the Coptic Museum, among others. As you can imagine, this was exciting for them, and quite an experience for us! There were 20 of them between the ages of 9 and 15. Some of them had never really been out of their district before. We held art classes in the local community center to teach them how to express their ideas on paper. After about six months we were ready to start painting on the walls.”
The designs for the project came from ideas discussed with the children and inspired by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The children agreed they wanted to make paintings showing the rights they thought were the most important. Children have the right to education and to live in a healthy environment. They have the right to have their ideas, hopes and dreams heard by others. They have the right to play. Boys and girls should be treated equally
When the murals were completed three months later, the children wanted others to know about their project. So they planned a celebration. Many people from the community came. Some government officials and journalists were there, too. The children put on a program of singing, playing musical instruments and reciting poetry. Amira, 14 years old, has always enjoyed singing. “Now I know that singing is a way to tell others what we need,” she said.
Volunteer leaders still continue to give art lessons. One summer, children from the art group were invited to show their work in a Children’s Art Show in a well-known gallery in Cairo. Three of Waleed’s paintings were sold. Other young artists were invited to be a part of another children’s art show.
Many good things happened for the community of Kom Ghorab. In the process of preparing the walls for painting, homes were repaired inside and outside. Garbage was cleaned up and lights installed. Parents and children became aware of how dangerous it is for children to work in the pottery kilns and tanning factories. Many girls went to school for the first time. Others went to classes to learn to read and write. Best of all, the children learned that they can make a difference in their community.
Pray for the children of Kom Gorab
- from Children of Biblical Lands, 2005 Mission Study for Children. General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church.
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