09/07/2021 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) – “Around 10 years ago, my brother and I were manufacturing shoes to sell, but after the people tended to buy ready-to-wear shoes, we changed the business from manufacturing shoes to selling them.”

Reda is an Egyptian Christian who is married with two children and lives with his family and his brother’s family. The whole family lives in one of the villages where Hope House operates. In an effort to combat the generational and cyclical persecution that affects many poorer, Egyptian Christians, International Christian Concern (ICC) launched Hope House. The center focuses on the education of Christian children, who often face discrimination in the public school system. Reda’s daughter Sandy has been a participant in Hope House’s child sponsorship program for over two years now.

Though the focus is on children, ICC seeks to equip whole families. Hope House provides microfinance loans to those who have a proven record to sustain or develop a new business. Reda and his brother qualified for a loan last year and wrapped up their business development this past month.

“I used to go to Cairo and buy shoes, but we needed to rebuild our house again, which cost a lot of our savings. Once we got the loan, we bought a different collection of goods that we did not buy before, including expensive and cheaper shoes. We have a varied collection of goods right now,” said Reda.