The Street Is Not My Home

Every child has the right to live in a family; this is taken for granted, but unfortunately for many Egyptian children it is not a reality, as some estimate there are two million children living on the streets of Egypt.

The ‘Safer Environment for Children’ project - implemented by Save the Children International with funding from the Italian-Egyptian Debt for Development Swap Program – changes community attitudes to children living on the streets while providing direct support to children and families to rebuild lives and strengthen the government’s ability to address this important, though often forgotten issue.

The project recently organized a day for children-at-risk (from shelters run by local NGOs in Alexandria and one governmental Care Institution), at which 100 children, 4-17 years old, painted a 12-metre tall billboard (done in graffiti style), with the Arabic slogan ‘El sharia mish beity’ (‘The Street is Not My Home’).

The event was attended by social workers and child-care specialists from the above-mentioned NGOs, as well as members of a number of District Child Protection Committees - key institutions in the Governorate to ensure the protection of children.

The large graffiti sign was displayed for a month at the Jesuit Cultural Center of Alexandria, an attractive recreational and social club for local youth. Later on this year, it will be hosted by the Bibliotheca Alexandria, and then donated to the Alexandria Municipality for permanent public display.