Dear friends of the Center of Love for the Disabled and Chronically Ill,

We wish you could have been with us at the Mokattam Garbage Village on Novembr 9! It was a day we will never forget at the Center of Love! 225 people—disabled children of all ages, staff of the Center and the volunteers who have served these kids even before the Center was built, along with all their families—were packed into our new playground adjacent to the Center. A group of youth from Brazil were there to entertain us with clown shows, acrobatic performances, magic tricks and their testimonies. Of course, there was lots of food, mostly made in the kitchen of the Vocational Training floor of the Center by the staff and children. Everyone had a fantastic time and couldn’t believe that this is THEIR playground! In 2 weeks, we plan to invite the Chronically Ill adults (who make up a separate part of this ministry) to join us for another party, though undoubtedly it will be a much quieter one!

This is the end of about a year of work, headed up by a volunteer Renet an architect in Public Spaces from Holland. She has worked tirelessly, along with my co-leader, Mahrous, to plan such a dream. When you consider that it all started in a pigpen and needed 26 truck-loads to empty it of its garbage and manure, you realize how much work it all took! She wanted to create a safe, beautiful and fun place for these kids, many of whom have never been on swings, trampoline or a slide! And she succeeded! The hill with a tunnel running through it and monkey bars on its side was built by a Polish man, Mario. There are even trees, bushes and flowers in the playground, donated by other volunteers, Ramy and Terry from Egypt, which add plants to an otherwise green-less village. The money for it all came from an American friend. I, as most of you know, am Canadian-Egyptian. So you can see that this was an international group of people, whom God brought together for this special purpose!

Whenever I go to the Center of Love, which is usually twice a week, I get this wonderful feeling that God is there and that He is happy. To think that the nicest building in the Garbage Village, with the only playground-garden, belongs to people who are the poorest and most hurting in the whole place, really shows me His heart. That He made this all possible is nothing short of miraculous, and causes people to ask more about this wonderful God that we serve! To Him be the honor, glory and thanks!

And many thanks as well to all of you who care, pray and give for the disabled and ill people at the Mokattam Garbage Village.