Mother's Day in the Middle East is on March 21. It is a huge deal. You can hear the song, "May God preserve my mother, the woman who is my first love, wherever you go."
It is a nostalgic song that I am used to hearing and now brings tears to my eyes since my mother passed away.
It is a day when sons and daughters, wherever they are, will make it a point to get a gift and visit their mother. It is a day of joy and reconciliation when mothers feel appreciated and loved. Schools, churches, mosques, and workplaces all celebrate the day.
Working women in Egypt are under tremendous pressure, specially now with inflation and price increases, they work harder to make ends meet.
In fact 33% of women in Egypt are the sole bread winners.
Not Guilty in partnership with Goodness and Mercy non profit celebrated 65 working women for Mother's Day.
Dr. Laila Risgallah spoke about ten basics for being successful at home and in the Workplace.
After the talk, every woman got a gift of fruits and a serving plate.
Then there was a big dinner for everyone.
The gratitude and appreciation the women felt was contagious.
Those women meet once a week to learn about basic needs like personal cleanliness, keeping their children safe, contraception and many things that no one else talks to them about.
Not Guilty has partnered with Goodness and Mercy to train those working women twice a month on safety in the workplace and keeping their kids safe from abuse and bullying.
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It has come to Not Guilty's attention that r3efugees working in Egypt, whether as house help, in retial stores or in factories are facing a lot of harassment and abuse.
Becasue they are in a foreign land, they feel it is not their right to report. They are afraid to report lest they be deported back to their countries.
One of the biggest churches, St. Joseph's church in Zamalek that ministers to refugees of all ehtnicities and religions, asked Not Guilty to hold a training for 300 refugees. The subjects tackled were harassment, bullying, boundaries as well s fitting into society without losing their identity.
The first session was manily a get to know thier problems session. It was a mind opener to Not Guilty and what they needed to stress during the training.
Many of them have never heard about boundaries and how important they are to implement.
Others felt that they were somehow to blame for the abuse and that is why they never reported.
Still others wre not aware that there are laws in Egypt against abuse and harassment.
By the end of the two-day training, many told us their stories, others had group therapy sessions, and still others were asking for co9unceling sessions.
You can listen to a testimonial her.
Thank you for making this possible.
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Working mothers need to juggle being a wife, a mother and an employee. With Life's challenges many mothers forget how they need to nurture and love their children and teen agers to rear healthy kids.
Not Guilty trained 40 parents over a two part series on parenting during challenging times.
We discussed important subjects like being a role model, spending time with your kids, encouraging them and being able to love them unconditionally.
We also discussed responsibility at different stages of life and discipline and how it looks like.
The attendance was about 45 the first time and 30 the second time.
Not Guilty used lecture, games, role play, movies and group discussions to bring the idea through.
Her4e is part of what we discussed.
Three Important axioms:
Axiom 1: The stronger your relationship with your child, the more likely he will
embrace your values and beliefs.
Axiom 2: The weaker your relationship with your child, the less likely he will
embrace your values and beliefs.
Axiom 3: Tension, Stress and difficulties are normal.
Eight Keys for Building Relationships that Bond:
(1) Unconditional Love
(2) Schedule Time
(3) Focused Attention
(4) Eye Contact
(5) Ungoing Communication
(6) Meaningful touching
(7) Have fun together
4. The Principle of PROCESS
Positive Parenting requires constant REPAIR and ongoing Maintenance using the five (5) powerful words I am sorry, forgive me when necessary.
HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR CHILD’S FULL POTENTIAL
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It is unheard of in Egypt to have women working as car mechanics. But one of the bus companies in Egypt in partnership with Alexandria Bank have decided to train 60 women to become car mecahnics.
The bus company approached Not Guilty to train the engineers, men car mechanics and women mechanics on safety in the work place.
This initiative is a unique initiative but is a feat and victory for Egyptian women.
Not Guilty is in the process of partnering with that bus company to train 475 students among which 60 are girls.
Overall Objective: Improve education and awareness services, especially in youth.
Specific Objectives:
Raise the awareness of youth at schools and other community members on the dangers and the negative impacts on the victims of sexual abuse and the community through organizing and conducting relevant training and awareness raising programs/campaigns to educate the whole community.
A. Awareness raising sessions:
To drag the attention of the whole community members to this serious problem and raise their awareness to the very negative impacts of this phenomenon on the youth and their families as well as urging them to participate actively in resisting it.
B. Training of Trainers:
- Teachers.
C. Specialized and focused training for:
- School teachers
- Engineers
- Social workers
To enhance their ability to raise the awareness of youth and students and protect them from the dangers of sexual abuse.
D- Counselling (on need basis):
A referral system will be established to help the victims of sexual abuse to get enrolled in rehabilitation programs under the supervision of specialized experts.
2- Equip youth with life skills
Life skills training:
- Students and youth (male and female) from the community in the targeted area
- Schools Teachers
- Social and admin workers.
- Parents
Main Project Activities:
Not Guilty will be dedicated to work with the different categories that are mentioned above, there will be various activities for the different groups.
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Not Guilty in partnership with Park Avenue Mall had a two day event. The first day was on protecting children from sexual abuse. The second day was on protecting women in the workplace from sexual abuse.
TV, ambassadors, religious leaders, parliamantarians and leaders of non profits all attended to put their heads together. There is no one person or entity that can put an end to sexual abuse in the work place.
We all need to work together.
AMbassadors, non profits and relisgious leaders all showed interest in propagating Not Guilty's program for safety in the workplace in different areas.
Parliamenarian Dina Abdel Kereem hosted Dr. Laila Risgallah on her TV show 9 o clock to talk about what government can do to support this program.
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