Education Helps Women and Children Recognize Their Value

According to Egyptian Law, a child must be at least 16 years old to obtain employment. However, 46 percent of the 1.96 million working children in Egypt are between the ages of 15 and 17. In Egypt, children as young as 5 are employed as child workers, making them extremely vulnerable to exploitation, maltreatment, and the deprivation of their rights.

Nadia, 13, is from the slum community Khairallah in the south of Cairo. She is one of the 17 percent of working children who work for more than 12 hours a day without receiving a break. With her simple but emotional words, she recalls those days.

Læs mere her!

Sommerens PlanNyt

Vores faddermagasin, PlanNyt, er nu landet i postkassen hos vores PlanFaddere.

Her kan man blandt andet læse om Nepals slavepiger, Plans arbejde i Egyptens slum og om danske unge, der gør en forskel.

Læs mere her!

Protecting Street Children in Egypt

The street children phenomenon in Egypt emerged in the 1980s during a time of urban growth and a deteriorating economic situation.


Today, it is difficult to estimate the exact number of street children in Egypt, but experts believe the number is between 1 and 2 million with populations located mainly in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. Street children are considered amongst the poorest and most marginalized groups within their communities, as they do not have access to basic community services. The majority of street children are between the ages of 12 and 16 and 1 in 4 of these children are girls.

Læs mere her!

Challenging traditions around FGM

Safaa is 23 years old and lives in a slum area in Egypt with her husband, two sons and a daughter.

Growing up, Safaa’s family was very poor and, like other girls in her community, she married young.

"Once I got married, I got so busy with my children, and I forgot about myself and my rights. Even if I was very young, I started to behave like my mother and like many other women in my community, replicating behaviours and traditions that were very hard on girls. Even traditions that I had criticised before like female genital mutilation, I considered for my daughter," she says.

However Safaa's attitude changed when her neighbour invited her to a women's awareness support group. 

Læs mere her!

Real Madrid supports vulnerable children in Egypt

The social and cultural awareness programme of Spanish football club Real Madrid has teamed up with Plan to launch a school sporting academy in Egypt. The aim of the academy is to bolster children’s performance in school, reduce drop-out rates and promote children’s rights.

Four schools have been selected to participate in the project, which is expected to benefit more than 1,200 children, aged between 7 and 18.

The Real Madrid Foundation will train youth facilitators to work in the selected schools in Beheira, Assiut and Giza. FAME Academies, an Egyptian company that works to develop the football industry in Egypt, is co-funding the project for the next three years, and will provide the young people involved with sports and training equipment.

Læs mere her!

Tragedy Strikes: Egypt Bus Crash Claims the Lives of 53 Children

Plan worked with 26 of the 53 primary school children killed in a tragic rail crash in Egypt on Saturday, November 17th.

A speeding train ploughed into a school bus carrying the children as it crossed train tracks near Manfalut in Assiut, 230 miles south of Cairo.

The bus was carrying over 60 children on its daily service from rural villages and hamlets to school in Bei Adi.

The accident is now confirmed to have claimed the lives of 53 children aged between six and 13 years old, with 16 other children left in a critical condition in hospital.

Læs mere her

Egypten: ny børneægteskabs lov truer piger

Plan er dybt bekymret over nye forslag fra det egyptiske parlament om at nedsætte den lovlige alder for piger at gifte sig til 14 år - kun 4 år efter en vellykket kampagne øgede aldersgrænsen til 18 år.

Tidlige ægteskaber kan have en ødelæggende indvirkning på pigers liv - de er mere tilbøjelige til at blive tvunget ud af skole, leve i fattigdom, have tidlige graviditeter og derved få helbredsmæssige komplikationer eller dø under fødslen.

Læs mere her

Essams historie

13-årig Essam er en af de drenge, der, indtil for et år siden, boede på gaden. Det hele startede den dag, han mistede sin mor. Faren giftede sig hurtigt med en anden kvinde, og Essam måtte flytte hjem til sin bedstemor og onkel. Men onklen var voldelig og tæskede Essam så voldsomt og så ofte, at Essam til sidst ikke så anden udvej end at flygte. Derfor blev gaderne i Alexandria, Egypten, drengens nye hjem.

Som de fleste gadebørn blev Essam udsat for mange former for misbrug og udnyttelse. Men en dag inviterede socialarbejdere heldigvis Essam hen til en af Plans såkaldte mobile enheder: Busser, som befinder sig i områder med mange gadebørn, og som tilbyder mad, tøj, lægeundersøgelser og leg for at hjælpe børnene og imødekomme deres rettigheder.

Efter tre måneder blev Essam overbevist om, at det bedste ville være at søge husly der. I et år har Essam nu boet i internatet og er vendt tilbage i skole. Han elsker at spille fodbold med de andre drenge og er kommet sig efter det hårde liv på gaden.

"At jeg har boet på gaden, gør mig ikke til en dårligere person. Omstændigheder, som jeg ikke kunne gøre noget ved, tvang mig til det," siger han.