03/16/2021 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – ICC’s Hope House program primarily seeks to provide education to Egypt’s poorest Christians in an effort to break the cycles of generational poverty and persecution. However, because persecution is pervasive, working its way into every facet of life, Hope House would not be an effective tool if it only sought to answer part of the problem. As persecution weaves its way into the lives of Egyptian Christians, it is especially easy for children to see their status as second-class citizens and internalize that mentality.

One such child is Ibram Gamil, a Hope House attendee and child sponsorship recipient who just celebrated his 9^th birthday on Sunday. Ibram often falls into this mindset where he adopts behaviors of low self-esteem and self-confidence. It can be hard in these situations to express his emotions, whether to his teachers or his family, not wanting to further reduce the status of his Christian family or the community. Fear and persecution push him to think “Is this who I really am? Am I not worthy of these things?”.

Ibram also struggles uniquely as he has an older brother who is severely mentally disabled. His mother relayed to ICC the family about Fadil’s health saying, “he gets nervous and harms us and the people in the streets… he creates problems for us.” Stigmas around mental health, both mental illnesses that some are born with and harmful mentalities that could lead to long-term issues, often prevent such things from being discussed.