egypt
Abis neighborhood is located south of Alexandria. It is one of the most disadvantaged areas in the governorate. Straddling the cities of Alexandria and Beheira, this rural neighborhood is marked by extreme poverty and misery.
In this difficult context, volunteers build valuable relationships with the residents, who often suffer from loneliness and isolation. Unemployment affects many men, while people with disabilities and widowed women often live without any assistance.
However, there is one place able to bring this community together: the Coptic Orthodox parish of Saint Samuel the Confessor. This true local pillar parish hosts people with disabilities, as well as a carpentry workshop. This big and on one level space is ideal for installing a woodworking machine and allowing several parish members to work together in decent conditions.
SOS Chrétiens d’Orient aims to provide a woodworking machine as an essential tool for the carpentry workshop in Abis.
Multi use, this machine will allow work such as mortises, grooves, chamfers, moldings, as well as decorative shapes of furniture and architectural works. It includes the basic functions of carpentry such as cutting, drilling, filing, and engraving and can be used on various non-metal materials such as natural and artificial wood, acrylic, siding, PVC, foam, and many others.
An identical model was offered one year ago to the carpentry workshops of the Virgin Mary and Pope Kyrillos parishes in Al-Zawaida, with notable success. These initiatives have demonstrated their economic and social impact, strengthening our confidence in the potential of this workshop in Abis.
The place is already equipped with an electrical installation suitable for the machine. The funding includes delivery, installation, and training for two carpenters for optimal use of the equipment.
No matter how modest your donation, it’ll help revive the economic activity of many Egyptian families while also allowing the new church of Abis, currently under construction, to be decorated with woodwork.
Previously, I worked in my own workshop, but today, thanks to God, I have been able to transfer my tools and equipment to the church workshop.
SOS Chrétiens d’Orient offered us a woodworking machine that allows us to work precisely with wood and marble. We make church benches, furniture, crosses, coffins, and iconostases.
I hope that one day we will be able to open a sales space to display our works and allow families with modest incomes to buy products at low prices. We have faith that God will send us what is necessary to accomplish this mission.
