By Nermien Riad | Executive Director
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.
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