Egypt Save the Children Egypt reach over 7.5 million with Save with Stories campaign!
The story began in March 2020 when American artists Amy Adams and Jennifer Garner launched a global campaign titled “Save with Stories” to help children and families who were hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, both in the United States and worldwide. Hundreds of artists, celebrities and individuals participated in reading their favorite children's books on social media platforms in order to inspire and support millions of children around the world.
Simultaneously, Save the Children in Egypt was implementing a national mental health campaign named #ProtectAGeneration, to educate mothers, fathers and caregivers about the importance of supporting their children’s emotional and mental well-being as well as their physical safety during the pandemic. Reading stories has a positive impact on children's mental health; reading together also helps children to in addition to develop their language skills and imagination. Understanding that school closures were putting children’s education and emotional well-being at risk, #SAVEWITHSTORIES in Arabic was launched in Egypt on International Children’s Day, November 20th 2020.
The campaign was launched in cooperation with the Hadi Badi initiative, which works to raise awareness of literature and culture among children and adolescents in Arabic, and advocates for creative learning inside and outside the Arab world.
Twenty-five celebrities and leaders participated in the #SAVEWITHSTORIES in Arabic #قصصنا_بالعربي campaign. Stars from Egypt and other Arabic-speaking countries who contributed videos to the campaign included Ola Roshdi, Raya Abi Rached, Ahmed Amin, Abla Fadila, Essaad Younis, Omar Samra, Yosra El Lozy, Tara Emad, Mariam Al Khosht, Aly Kassem, Mona El-Shazly and Khairy Beshara.
Egyptian children were also engaged in the online campaign through an external competition that was launched to encourage parents to submit stories they were reading with their children at home. 22 entries were shared and the winners of the competition received books to motivate them to read more.
Some celebrities also appeared in their videos while reading to their children.
Our audiences on social media showed great interest and interaction with their favorite artists. When we asked through Facebook about their thoughts and feelings about the campaign, this is what they had to say:
Mai
“The campaign was very amusing and I regained interest in reading again.”
Shaimaa
“The choice of stories was very powerful. Not only did my children benefit from the morals of the stories, but we as adults were taught valuable lessons about life too. Thank you!”
Heba
“The campaign is very beautiful. I circulated its videos to my friends who have children, and I want to say that the adults like myself enjoyed it a lot because of the chosen stories, especially that it came as a chance to revive the Arabic language.”
Sally
“A wonderful and purposeful campaign that gained the interest of so many because of the celebrity participation. Good luck to Save the Children.”
Save the Children International Egypt plans to build on our success in sparking conversations about child well-being through #SAVEWITHSTORIES, by continuing celebrity engagement in campaigns on issues that are important to children in Egypt in 2021. Stay tuned!
