Egypt Woman’s Ministry 2010 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that more along the ground. So God created him in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them” Gen 1:26 -27

Women and children are often in great danger in the place where they should be safest: within their families

For many, “home” is where they face violence at the hands of somebody close to them – somebody they should be able to trust.

Violence against women is influenced by the Islamic culture and statistics is unreliable due to the inconsistency of reporting Magnitude of the problem: Physical abuse, sexual abuse, rape, psychological and emotional abuse, sexual abuse of children and adolescents

Nabila Nakhla is the sponsor and supporter of the only woman’s ministry in Egypt

Saha head of the ministry: received a calling in 1993 to start a woman’s ministry. She dressed herself in a school uniform. After school she stood at the school gate where she invited the children to a meeting, where she started to minister to them.

In 2003 she got married to Pastor Amin. He joined her in her ministry

The ministry These girls come from very poor families in the under privileged areas of Minya. 40 % of the girls are reached through Saha after school, so their main source of knowledge come from the church through the quarterly meetings held for them.

3000 girls are reached through these meetings. It starts with family visitation from their respective church leaders. They have to be transported by bus, which need to be provided or else they cannot attend They have to be escorted by the church leaders.

The church leaders have monthly meetings where they partake in workshops and work through material on how to deal with the challenges facing the girls. Difficult cases are dealt with on a one on one basis, through counselling and/or visiting psychiatrists.

Some of the girls have been sexually abused and they need to undergo operations to restore their vagina membrane otherwise they will not get married. At special days e.g. beginning of school year, Armed forces days or church celebration specially among the Orthodox church as Saint Mary's feasts they gather at church where they get: something useful for the girls, sanitary towels, face towels, combs or tooth brushes etc.

All the money for this project depends on donations as they are not subsidised by any organization or government. Only one Church in Egypt, Kasr El doubara, support this project as well as Money that Nabila the sponsor of the Ministry collect from friends & families.

Girls at the conference Prayer requests: “I feel worthless” “I feel inferior” “They hit me and chased me away from home = physical abuse” “I have been raped” “I am in a relationship and don’t know if this is the right husband for me” “I am engaged but don’t want to get married” “A family member is sexually molesting me” “We are very poor” “My mother is sick and she is the only provider, I am scared something happens to her” “We are scared because we live in a Muslim community” “I have been raped by a person serving the Lord at church after I have asked for food”

Ministry Teaching programmes – Literacy – Basic sewing skills – Personal hygiene – Self defence – Encouraging workshops Self esteem Counselling

How can we help them? Prayer Financial support Teaching material (they will translate) Encouraging messages Annual woman’s conference

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