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Special-needs school models peace

by
11 November 2010

Gerald Butt, Middle East Correspondent, reports on an example of interfaith harmony in Egypt

CHRISTIAN leaders in Egypt held talks with the Egyptian government earlier this week to discuss how security might be tightened around churches and institutions associated with them.

The move followed the statement last week by the al-Qaeda-backed group Islamic State of Iraq, that it viewed all Christians in the Middle East as legitimate targets. The threat was addressed specifically to Copts in Egypt, where there has been an increase in the number of attacks on Christian targets over the past year.

But there is still at least one place in Egypt where Copts and Muslims work closely and in peaceful har­mony — in the El Saray district of Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast.

The experience of the Fairhaven School for Mentally Challenged Chil­dren, attached to El Saray Protestant Evangelical Church, turns on its head the stereotype perception of Chris­tian-Muslim hostility and mutual isolation. About 95 per cent of the all-Christian staff at the school are Copts, while 80 per cent of the pupils are Muslims.

“We don’t feel the tensions here that exist elsewhere,” the director of the school, Linda Karam, says. “Muslims here know that we provide a vital service. Having a mentally handi­capped child is the heaviest burden to carry.”

Fairhaven — along with El Saray church — is a partner of BibleLands. It was founded in 1990, and provides tuition to pupils with learning difficulties. The school has about 130 pupils, both boys and girls, who range in age from three to the mid-20s. A BibleLands grant enables all of the pupils to receive a daily meal.

The youngest children at Fair­haven remain in the Early Interven­tion department until they are seven, then moving to Slow Learning. At the age of 15 or 16 they enter the Pre-Vocational depart­ment, where work­shops offer training in such skills as carpentry, sewing, weaving, candle-making, and horticulture. Later, they gain part-time experience in fac­tories, where some pupils eventually find jobs.

While the majority of pupils live at home, a boarding house (called House of Hope) accommodates 14 boys and girls from deprived back­grounds or with parents too old to look after them. To respect the tradi­tions of both Muslims and Chris­tians, the school is closed on Fridays and Sundays.

In this way, Fairhaven acknow­ledges the differences between the two faiths. But the golden rule at the school, Ms Karam says, is that religion is not allowed through the front door: “We don’t teach anything to do with religion.”

The fact that a Christian-run school does not try to proselytise baf­fles the families of some of the pupils. “I have been asked many times, ‘What’s in it for you?’” Ms Karam says. “When I say ‘It’s because I love you,’ it doesn’t satisfy them. One woman even asked: ‘Why do you offer this service to Muslims? We wouldn’t do it for you.’”

Pupils and their families, Ms Karam says, experience “a big wave of affection and love from the school”. Help is also given to parents: “We go to their homes to offer assistance and advice. Muslims here feel differently about Christians because there’s a strong bond between us.”

Fairhaven is, in this respect, some­thing of an oasis. Muslims would not normally attend a Christian institu­tion, and can do so in this case only because it offers special-needs tuition. But Ms Karam acknowledges that the bigger picture is not so rosy. Attacks on Coptic churches and other targets continue. “Of course there’s anxiety and fear — among Christians in general, not just Copts. I can’t deny that. But our faith is strong.”

There is particular anxiety as Christmas approaches. On the eve of the Coptic Christmas in January this year, gunmen fired on worshippers as they came out of mass in the town of Naga Hamadi, in Upper Egypt, kill­ing eight Copts and injuring many more (News, 15 January). The in­cident was followed by more anti-Christian violence. “We are all pray­ing that Christmas passes off peace­fully this time,” Ms Karam says.

Human-rights activists in Egypt insist that the government needs to do more both to protect Copts and to eliminate discrimination and in­toler­ance at official levels. In the mean time, the Fairhaven experience proves that when there is a relationship based on need and mutual respect, Muslims and Chris­tians can live in peaceful harmony.

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