Maryam Safwat Somhi

DOB: 9 November 1999 - Cairo
Class: Primary 4 (2008-2009)
Sponsors: Benefactors of Hong Kong / Singapore
History: Maryam is a gentle and sweet girl, pious and adoring at Mass. She is the 3rd and youngest child, the only girl in the family. She has two brothers: Waghih (14 yrs) and Philip (15 yrs). The family is Coptic Catholic originally from Darb el-Guenena . Mr. Safwat is 52 yrs. old. He used to live well, but 7 years ago he denounced the company he was working in of cheating. The company took revenge by accusing him of many things, which led to a fierce backlash of religious discriminaiton against Christians, and he was eventually sacked. He appealed to the Court but lost the case. Now he lives on occasional work which is insufficient to sustain his family. Keeping the children in school requires a constant budget that he hasn't. As is the usual case, these children can only attend night-school and payment is made to the individual teachers. Often the family of Maryam had to resort to borrowing or aid from benefactors. The mother used to work as a baby-sitter, but has since no job when the family left (Cairo). The nearby Coptic Orthodox Church used to help them occassionally but when it was discovered that they were Catholics, the Church abandoned them. The apartment in which they live is in a miserable state. For this reason, they cannot welcome anyone into their house.

Will you not answer the cries of the poor and needy?