Habitat for Humanity Egypt Update

I first of all I want to extend birthday greetings to my Mom. Happy birthday Mom! I love you!

We received the following update from Habitat for Humanity Egypt at the office this week and I thought I would share with you about what is happening on the ground in the midst of the changes that are sweeping throught the country:

Egypt Update: Message from Yousry Makar, National Director of Habitat for Humanity Egypt


During the past weeks, Egypt has gone through some very tough events, which have left a great impact on all Egyptians in all walks of life. We thank God, though, for the way we dealt with the situation, and for the safety of all of HFH Egypt's staff and the staff and volunteers of our implementing partners in the communities. We also managed to evacuate two of our volunteers and the Resource Development and Communications staff member and her husband safely back to their country.
In that regard, I would like to thank all those who joined in praying from the Habitat International family. Please keep praying until things settle and people are safe. In general, house construction has been considerably affected this month and in January by these major events. HFH Egypt has not been able to achieve the forecasted program results for many reasons.

• Many of the daily laborers (who form part of Habitat for Humanity applicants and homeowners) have lost their work.
• Banks have been closed for most of the time since the demonstrations began. This has affected loan distribution and repayment.
• It is still very difficult to travel to Upper Egypt due to the unstable train conditions and schedules up until now.


It is still too soon to have a clear picture of the situation and events happening going forward as we are facing new events/conditions not just every day but even on an hourly basis. This makes it hard for HFH Egypt to develop a long-term plan in the current period. We are keeping a very close eye on the situation in our communities on a daily basis, though.
Very slowly, life is returning to normal. Curfew hours were reduced and are now from 12 midnight until 6 in the morning. I believe a long time is still needed before we will overcome all the economic and social consequences of such major events.
As the gap between the poor and rich is expected to increase, there is no doubt the need for what HFH Egypt provides in partnership with the communities we work in will increase. We appreciate your continued prayers for Egypt.

Blessings!
Yousry

I invite you to join me in praying for Habitat for Humanity Egypt and for all the people of Egypt as they discover what it means to live in true freedom. I also invite you to join me in praying for all people in the Middle East as countries are transformed as oppression gives way to liberation.
Thank you for your prayers and for being a part of my journey!