Dardashah
A monthly article written by
Dr. Jailan Abbas (Ph.D.)
Tawasol - A Living Experience for positive change in Contemporary Egypt
Living in Egypt, or in any other country away from home, is a great human, social, and learning experience. Our challenge as educators is to prepare our students to help overcome the many challenges that human beings face, wherever they are. This is the objective of the units on contemporary Egypt in the Egyptian Culture class.
What are the challenges of Contemporary Egypt? Can we overcome them? Who is responsible to make the change and the difference?
Those were the introductory questions for the fourth grade unit on Contemporary Egypt? The fourth graders listed many challenges. They mentioned pollution, traffic, littering and most of all quality education and dropping out of schools in a very early age.
The main question was “are we doing anything about it in Egypt?” “Who is responsible to make the change? Is it only the government? How do Egyptians help with such challenges?”
To be able to answer the questions we went, with the fourth grade students, to visit “Tawasol” association. Tawasol is an NGO “non governmental organization” that works in “Establ Antar”, one of Cairo’s many needy areas.
A young AUC graduate started the project a year ago. She had visited the area through one of the development projects and wanted to make a difference.
 
This is what the girl who started the organization wrote about her project:
“Establ Antar is an area with very high rates of poverty and a multitude of social, health, housing and other problems. Tawasol NGO, was established to support the development of the Establ Antar community, and aims to address these issues in a meaningful, integrated and sensitive manner. This means tackling the roots of problems, not just their symptoms. It also means that work is carried out with the full participation of the local community in terms of both setting priorities and doing the work itself, and being committed to building institutions and bringing about changes that will last.
Our flagship project, Khatawat School (which means ‘Steps’), embodies our belief in addressing the roots of issues, and responding to community priorities and needs. Quality education is the best means out of poverty, but Establ Antar lacked a good local school. In any case, many parents couldn’t afford to send their children to school, and preferred them to work and earn money. Khatawat addressed these issues in a well-designed and effective manner. Student fees and expenses are funded and sponsored by keen businessmen, and students are given the opportunity to learn a skill, carpet weaving, for which they are paid a weekly allowance, if they wish to do so. The school provides facilities for good nutrition and hygiene, as well as art classes, a library and a computer lab. Moreover, it functions as a community center in the evenings and provides literacy and other adult classes. Some members of the local community are also part of the school staff.”
The trip was an eye opener to share with our students a live evidence of positive engagement in our societies’ challenges.
Fourth graders went on three visits. Each time we started by our children and the Tawasol children getting to know each other. Arabic speaking children as well as Arabic speaking moms led the different activities. Children rotated among four stations. In one station, they made art projects. In the second station, they played games, and in the third, they baked together a snack to eat at the end of the trip. In the fourth station, the Tawasol children showed our children how to weave carpets.
The children paired up very well and the language barrier was completely irrelevant. They all played, painted, listened to stories, ate and laughed together.
Here are few of the comments the fourth graders said about the trip:
“I learned that one person could make a difference in many people’s lives.”
Zach - 4M
“The children in Tawasol have amazing personalities even when they have a much smaller school. Their school is full of good learning, hygiene and fun. I personally think that the lady who started it has passed a great challenge of keeping children who are in need of money and learning. This is a great idea that should spread all over Egypt.”
Aly - 4F
“I felt lucky after that visit to Tawasol School. The kids have to learn and work in weaving carpets. They earn about 120 LE per carpet. I made two new friends. They were 7 and 11 years old. That trip opened my eye to a new experience.”
Sarah - 4M
“After visiting Tawasol School, I learned that going to CAC is a privilege. Sometimes kids grumble about going to school, but seeing those kids made me see school as an honor. The kids were happy and fun to be with. When I handed my partner the maraca we colored together and she smiled from ear to ear. I taught them how to make pizza and they taught me how to weave. I learned lots of things at that school. Enough for a lifetime.”
Joelle - 4F
“We went to Tawasol school. They learned from us and we learned from them. We introduced ourselves to each other and paired up in partners. They taught me how to say thank you and welcome in Arabic. They also taught me “Enta betelab kora”? It means do you play soccer? Then, we baked cinnamon bread and we drew a mural about Egypt together. At the end, we ate the bread together. It tasted like it was out of this world! I learned so much in this trip. Those kids work so hard and they are so little, but they are happy with everything in their school.”
Landon - 4M
Those were few of the many reflections of the fourth graders on this trip. As a follow up on this experience, fourth graders started a research on some other challenges of Egypt. They are working in partners to prepare presentations about the different challenges and suggest suitable solutions.
Jailan Abbas (Ph.D.)
Egyptian Culture
Ext. 5220
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