The personal stories of Egyptian refugees – Series No.17 of 22
The following narratives introduce individuals who are detained in refugee camps. They are in desperate need of the La Casa Futura project currently underway by Voice of the Copts. Egyptian youths have been uprooted and displaced for various reasons all related to religious persecution. Names have been changed to protect identities. Narratives are based on true accounts of actual events.
Fady’s father owned a neighborhood pharmacy in a small town in the region south of Cairo. It was a well-established business when a new pharmacy opened on the same street. One day, shortly after it opened, Fady’s neighbors paid his father a visit to his store.
Coming back from the mosque after Friday afternoon prayers, the religious folk brought baseball bats to Fady’s father’s store during business hours. They bashed in the windows, raced into the store, ransacked the interior and seized whole shelves of drugs.
The criminals did not select their target at random but intentionally demolished this minority business as so often jihadists do in order to instill fear, destroy minority economics in favor of the majority and marginalize the “infidels.”
Coupled with a judicial system of institutionalized prejudice, this act of violence closing Fady’s father’s business would allow authorities to withhold the re-issuing of the license needed by Fady’s family to reopen the store. Fady and his family lost their livelihood in the same way so many industrious Copts do from the community.
Fady saw his father’s investment gone. He saw the investments of others like his father devastated time and time again. Now, he would never takeover his father’s role. Instead, he will begin his life in the West where justice is served. Crimes are investigated and criminals prosecuted rather than integrated into a system of minority oppression.
Today, Fady is settled in a temporary camp outside Egypt without his family. He still feels it is worth the risk he took even though a refugee camp offers little hope. His whole life is before him, and he’s glad to be out of danger. He wants no special favors, but only to assimilate and become a part of a culture where minorities are equal and violence is unacceptable.
Please help us to help Fady and others like him start their path on the right footing for success. La Casa Futura is a program for providing the tools to begin again. Fady is willing to learn the native language, and La Casa Futura will teach him. Fady is willing to learn new skills, and La Casa Futura will provide this. Fady is willing to understand and accept the culture of his new country, and La Casa Futura will help him do this.
Please donate today. Any amount -- $5, 10, 20, 50, 100 or more -- will help us to save the lives of young men and women who have nowhere else to turn but La Casa Futura!
Please go to the GoFundMe link below and donate today.
Thank you.
La Casa Futura project currently consists of one dormitory building providing help for up to 100 youths per session. Each session provides language learning, job direction, and cultural understanding. LCF is in its initial stage of development as we seek financial backers and matching funds for individual donations.
Please donate today! Thank you.
