.

I first visited the school last summer with Dina for a similar shoot. This time I visited the school with Yasmina, the vice president of Tawasol, and I was surprised to see a number of new programs I hadn’t seen during my previous visit such as a literacy program for local women in the neighborhood, a jewelry-making course, a crochet course and a carpentry program. All these programs help give the residents of Estable Antar practical new skills they can use to better provide for themselves and their families. While the central project is a school for children in Estable Antar, it has been expanding into a more comprehensive contributor to development in the neighborhood. It offers continuing education for adults, like some of the programs I mentioned as well as offering a septic truck to remove human waste to maintain higher hygienic standards in the neighborhood. The photographs below show some of the many projects being undertaken by Tawasol.

The services provided by this school and its related projects are making a big difference in the lives of the residents of Tawasol and helping give them the skills to help themselves. I strongly urge any of you who can to contribue to Tawasol and its work. You can get more information on how to help by contacting Yasmina at yabouyoussef@yahoo.com

Thanks for your support and, as always, your comments are appreciated.

The school offers training in carpet weaving to the students

These are images of students at work in their jewelry making course and some of the final products they produce which are offered for sale in support of the program.

This is the women’s literacy class held at the school.

A class of students at the school.

This shot was taken from the classroom of the surrounding area of the neighborhood.

This is a worker clearing the waste and pumping it into the septic truck.

This is the home of one of the students.

This is a class of women learning to weave small items to sell.

These are students from the school at work in a carpentry class.

These are students learning to crochet at the school.

Students at the school are also taught good hygienic practices, like this girl washing her hands before lunch, to help prevent the spread of diseases such a potential swine flu epidemic.

Meet the faculty at Tawasol.

Your contributions, large or small, will help Tawasol maintain and expand its programs in promoting development through educational empowerment in Egypt. I encourage anyone who can afford to to give generously by contacting Yasmina at yabouyoussef@yahoo.com

Thanks,

Tim

This is Tawasol’s own description of itself and its work:

Tawasol is a non-profit organization established and registered in September 2008. Their main priority is to develop and improve the quality of life for the inhabitants of Istabl Antar, a slum community built on the extension of the Muqqattam plateau. The area is characterized with very high rates of poverty and a multitude of health, housing, and social problems among many other dilemmas facing the inhabitants today.

The project in Istabl Antar is important, effective and special for several reasons. First of all, it was born out of a deep conviction that community development only comes through sustainable efforts that involve members of the community at all levels. The project’s founding members had previously been involved for many years in charity work in a number of different districts in Cairo. The month of Ramadan, in particular, was a time when large numbers of donations were gathered to assist the poor by providing them with food and other assistance. Eventually, the realization grew that it would be much more worthwhile to direct these donations towards supporting fundamental improvements with long-term impacts on people’s lives.

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 Istabl 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 in order to survive the harsh conditions they live in. Khatawat addressed these issues in a well-designed and effective manner. Student fees and expenses are funded by donations, and the children are given an opportunity to be well educated and to learn a skill, from carpet-weaving, carpentry to embroidery, for which they are paid a weekly allowance. The school provides facilities for good nutrition and hygiene, as well as art classes, a library and a computer lab.

The school is registered under the Ministry of Education and has more than 130 students with a budget of seven thousands Egyptian pounds per each child as a tuition fees which is collected from the people who believe in making a difference.

Oh and while this may look like a crazy party that went late into the night, don’t be fooled. It ended very early… I, for one, got home at 7 in the morning

So basically Martin found my website online one day and emailed me back in November saying that he and his fiancée, Kristen, wanted to do something different and get married over by the Pyramids on Valentine’s day. They’re from California in the states. I said sure no problem. I called my friend Ibrahim from First Video to come with a small camera and Martin and I agreed that a tour guide would be useful for managing all the security and vendors at the Pyramids. So we hired Ramon from Noga Tours to come with a van and driver for the day. We decided to make an early start and so all of us met at their hotel at 6:30 in the morning. I expected the ceremony and shoot at the pyramids would take a few hours. We’d enter the park when it opened at 8 and be out and home no later than noon. I was way off.

When we  first arrived at the pyramids the police were really nice and let us into the parking early. Then when we tried to get tickets to enter the park the head of the tourism police didn’t want to let Martin and Kristen in with their wedding outfits.  He said we needed permission from the Ministry of Antiquities (of course we did). Believe it or not we got in touch with the relevant official from the ministry and he said sure, go ahead. Then the officer decided he needed written permission from the ministry… at 8 in the morning. After a couple of hours at the gate it became clear we weren’t getting into the Pyramids park with those wedding outfits. So Ramon came up with an alternative. We would ride horses along the fence of the outskirts of the Pyramids park and conduct the ceremony in the desert with the Pyramids in the background. I haven’t ridden a horse since that one time in summer camp over ten years ago. This time I got to ride a horse with two cameras hanging off me while I was taking pictures. I went from a non-horse rider to a photographer/jockey chasing a carriage holding Martin and Kristen. All while not falling off!

Ben, the priest who was to conduct the ceremony for Martin and Kristen got on his horse, which decided it didn’t want to move. It turned out that Ibrahim was the most masterful rider among us. It was one of the strangest shoots I had ever done, but I have to admit it was a lot of fun. It helped that Martin and Kristen were very patient as we tried to weave through the bureaucracy and desert to make this happen. Ramon got us a guy to take us out into the middle of the desert on horseback. Ben was a great sport and Ibrahim worked hard to the end of the day with me getting great shots of the two of them. It was an amazing display of teamwork and I think a great success, all things considered.

Here’s how the day unfolded in photos.

This is Ibrahim, our video guy.

This is Ben, the priest.

I can’t remember/could never actual pronounce this guy’s name, but he led us out into the desert.

I don’t think any other photo more perfectly encapsulate Ben’s personality than this one.

This is Ben being GQ. I was just trying to get my settings right when we took these shots.

This is our tour guide Ramon confusing my reflector for some sort of shade device.

Yeah. That’s a camel… Really.

After the ceremony Martin and Kristen changed and we were allowed to visit the Pyramids WITHOUT Ministerial approval.

“It’s prohibited to sit on the greenery!” Oh well…