Valuable Girl: Empower 100,000 Girls in Egypt

By God’s grace and your support for our work, we would like to share with you some joyful news and stories about the Valuable Girl Project (VGP) in Egypt. In June 2018, the Muslim and Christian Big Sisters and Little sisters came together to celebrate Ramadan by organizing an Iftar dinner in the Governorate of Minya. The girls came together to share laughter, fun stories, and warm feelings with their mentors and with the other guests. In a show of inter-communal solidarity, and in honor of Ramadan, the Muslim Holy Month, the girls in the program designed a frame which read: “Ramadan is better with the Valuable Girl Project”. They took many pictures with each other, with their supervisors, and with local religious and community leaders who were in attendance inside the frame.

Besides its communal role in building bridges between Muslims and Christians, the Valuable Girl Project works on a personal level with the girls in the program. We want to share with you some of the remarkable successes of the students. In Manlawy, a town in the governorate of Minya, one of the Little Sisters, Mary*, experienced an amazing change in her attitude towards school, her grades, and even appearance. Before joining VGP, she lived in a poor neighborhood where very few people are educated and her chances of attending college were very low. After joining VGP, and getting the support of her Big Sister, Mary showed noticeable change in her educational performance. She began performing better and became one of the best students in her school during the fifth grade. The teachers and the schoolmasters wondered where this big shift came from, and asked Mary about the reasons for her improvement. Mary told her teachers and the schoolmaster about the mentoring she receives from her VGP Big Sister.

Because the schoolmaster was so amazed by Mary’s change, he wrote a letter of appreciation to VGP staff to acknowledge Mary’s improvement in school. He highlighted the project’s impact on her by saying “she has changed in her looks, manners, and now has outstanding educational performance. Also, she is unique and different from her peers”. The schoolmaster thanked the project for its role and wished the team all the best of luck.

Big and Little sisters in the program often express how their lives change after they join the Valuable Girl Project. One of the Big Sisters said “my self-esteem improved after I took the responsibility of mentoring my Little Sister”. Because of your constant support for VGP, we have reached over 700 girls in disadvantaged areas all around Egypt, and with your support we look forward to reaching many more.



*Names and locations changed to maintain the privacy of our participants.

On March 8, women all over the world celebrated International Women’s Day. As the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated, “This year, International Women’s Day comes on the heels of unprecedented global movement for women’s rights, equality and justice. Sexual harassment, violence and discrimination against women has captured headlines and public discourse, propelled by a rising determination for change. International Women’s Day 2018 is an opportunity to transform this momentum into action, to empower women in all settings, rural and urban, and celebrate the activists who are working relentlessly to claim women’s rights and realize their full potential.”

And programs like the Valuable Girl Project aim to do just that—empower girls and women on several levels, as they face issues of social isolation, economic vulnerability, gender-based violence, and lack of access to health care and education. By supporting the Valuable Girl Project, you are taking an active role in empowering these girls to tackle and overcome these difficult issues they would otherwise face.

This year, on March 8, our Valuable Girls in Qena celebrated International Women’s day with a field trip to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut; a woman who achieved military victories and explorations around the world! Her temple chronicles the greatness and emphasizes the capabilities of women since ancient times. Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple is a symbol of appreciation to the status of women during Pharaohnic times in Egypt.

In Cairo, the “Big sisters” of the Valuable Girl Project also celebrated International Women’s Day, by putting on a special performance for their “Little sisters” at the Community Development Association in Matrya.

Thank you for helping us honor girls and women, not just on International Women's Day, but throughout the year. It is only through God’s grace and your generous support which makes it possible for us to implement the Valuable Girl Project’s Big Sister-Little Sister mentoring initiative throughout many regions in Egypt. You are helping us provide hundreds of young girls with the chance to gain skills, understand their worth, stay in school, avoid early marriage, gain dignity in the classroom and at home, and ultimately become leaders in their local communities!