My Social Apostolate Ministry is mostly carried out at the Gad-el-Sid Social Center. This is one of two satellite centers run by the "Jesuits' and Brothers' Association for Development" in other parts of Minia City. Our Social Center lies in the area of Gad-el-Sid, in the southern part of the city of Minia (240 km. South of Cairo). This Center is the property of the Jesuit Community and about a 20-minute walk from the Jesuits' Residence. The Jesuit Community Residence itself lies to the south of the older, central portion of the City.
Conditions
in Gad-el-Sid area
The population in Minia has increased considerably during the past 50 to
60 years. While richer families tended to settle to the North,
those with lower incomes scrambled for cheaper, and much smaller, land
plots to the south of the city. Gad-el-Sid is the kind of place
where one finds all the usual social, moral and psychological problems
typical of such areas. It is difficult to determine with certainty
how many people live in this area, but it is upwards of 60,000 persons.
Houses in this part of town are built on plots of an average ground area
of about 40m2, but
there are many houses with even less. They are very badly ventilated
and often very congested, with new families either settling in a room,
or building another storey on top of, their parents' flat if they can afford
it. Some houses have up to five storeys, and none have good foundations.
It is indeed surprising that inspite of an alarming lack of hygenic conditions,
there are no epidemic outbreaks. Nevertheless when people do
get ill, many have to go without adequate medical help, or they resort
to traditional remedies which are quite often insufficient, ineffectual
or outright harmful.
Many bread-earners manage to earn enough to be able to make an unpretentious
but decent living, usually by having a second job, with sometimes even
the women helping in the family budget. It is not uncomon for
the children to do some 'bread-earning' as well. But that does
not mean that jobs are plentiful. El Minia City itself,
the Capital of the Minia Governorate, is probably the city
with the highest unemployment rate in Upper (i.e. Southern) Egypt.
Although there are no reports of actual cases of
people dying of hunger, a good number of families barely make it, and still
others live well below the poverty line. A number of
families have fallen heavily in debt, and this is a cause of great concern
as it has led many people into very serious trouble. If everyone,
somehow, manages to eat, no matter how little, yet when it comes to various
services, many have to do without.
Though probably all the children in the area attend the Government public
schools, the level of education is rather low. Many will never
go beyond the Preparatory level, the majority of them because they remain
literally illiterate. Many parents are too occupied earning
a living, or are simply too ignorant, to look after their children's education
properly. There is the equally serious problem of children
coming from broken families, of which there are quite a number.
Of course, there are no recreational or cultural facilities available in
the area. If such facilities exist to the north of the city,
it is very unlikely that children in Gad-el-Sid will benefit from them.
Gad-el-Sid
Social Center
The Center was started by Br.Selim Elias Chamaoun
s.j. in the early 1970's. The original purpose
of providing catechism classes to local Christian children in the area
soon gave way to a wider involvement in charitable and social development
work offered to all deserving cases irrespective of creed.
With the help of local volunteers, Br. Chamaoun was soon running a large
variety of social, educational and recreational activities.
The place was constantly jammed with different groups, each trying to pursue
its own activity in the confined space available.
In the mid-1990's, as Br. Chamaoun was advancing in age, the Jesuit community
in Minia agreed to transfer the management of the Center into the care
of the "Jesuits' and Brothers' Association for Development".
We constantly try to improve, update and adapt our services for better
quality and greater efficiency in serving the beneficiaries of the Center's
various projects. We are often confronted with the need to
start a new activity or to enlarge an existing one. However,
due to chronic lack of space, we are forced to reduce some services rather
than develop them.
Activities at present offered by the Center include a 'Mother and
Child' program, Kindergarten, Evening Studies,
Scouts,
Summer
Club, a small Lending library, Catechism
and various 'charitable' activities. Except for
purely religious activities like Catechism, all our programs are open to
Christians of all denominations as well as to Moslems . We
have no place for reintroducing Litteracy classes, Women Promotion Training,
and Workrooms. These activities were previously available at
the Center but had tobe abandoned to make way for more urgent ones.
There is not even enough room for a Social Office necessary for co-ordinating
our Social Work. Furniture items are limited to the strict
minimum.
The present
premises are old, hastily and badly built, and rotting with high
ground humidity, which has reached a dangerously high level along
the walls, especially as the floor of the premises now lies below street
level. We have reason to be worried about the safety of the
buildings. This calls for new and more spacious premises.
The Center at present is simply a one-storey arrangement (ground-floor
only) on a ground area of about 160m2!
Two years ago we added a temporary big room on the 'roof', using light
building materials; this has somewhat increased space but so have our security
worries. We have already acquired an adjacent plot of
land, increasing the original ground area by about 60%, on which we hope,
one day, to be able to build a new Center.
Main
Activities at the Center
Government schools do not usually include a kindergarten. As most of the
children in our area will most probably enter directly into First Primary
in the local Government Primary schools, our Kindergarten
service will give them the opportunity of a good start. More
fortunate children, whose parents can afford to send them to private schools,
normally start off their education in kindergartens available at these
schools. Kindergarten is available at the center in the mornings
for 6 days per week.
We offer students between the ages of 8 and 14 yrs. the possibility of
enhancing their scholarly performance by providing them with evening
'study-halls', where supervisors help them do their homework and
revise their lessons. For the most part children in this category
attend over-populated classes in Government schools. Normally
their performance is very poor and a high percentage actually finishes
primary school literally not knowing how to 'draw' their name.
Our efforts have pulled most of the children who attend our study halls
out of certain illiteracy, consequently offering them a competitive chance
for their future. About 110 students at present benefit from
this scheme. This service runs 5 days a week, for 4½ hrs. per
day, in the evenings, and only during school months, and attendance is
very regular.
We recently started a 'Lending Library Service', in order
to improve reading habits and help students widen their General Knowledge.
The response was very positive and we keep adding new books periodically.
The Summer Club attracts about 400 children, but they are
never all present together. This club runs during the 3 Summer
months only, for 6 days a week, and has an average daily attendace of about
100 children. However we also have club activity on Sundays
throughout the year for children attending Catechism. The center
also organizes a number of outings for children of the area.
Scouting
is being earnestly encouraged. Conceived as a "Game", this
activity is known to be a very effective Personality Development Program.
It provides the ideal comprehensive training framework suitable for the
age-groups that mostly come to our Center.
We have over 700 names listed in our 'Social Office' files,
collected over the past 4 yrs., of people young and old who in some way
benefit from the Center's services. About 15% of these are Moslems,
the rest are Christians of all denominations.
Of course they are never all there at the same time. Most of
these are children and adolescents, but there
are also about 70 adults who benefit from services intended
for them.
For more details on
the Social Options at the Center go to: 
You can find out more about the Jesuits' presence in Minia in the following pages:
You may be interested to go back to, or look up, the following pages and links:
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