April 2006: Find out what one of our volunteers is doing now

I became involved in working with young people who are refugees in 2001 when I volunteered at Albanian Youth Action, helping with homework classes. It was really inspiring to meet young people who were so committed to improving their lives, despite the challenges they faced.

Since March 2002 I have been working with refugees and asylum seekers in Cairo. I spent two years working at the American University in Cairo, doing research about the experiences of separated refugee children. I am now involved in a new organisation called the Children’s Co-operative which promotes the rights of vulnerable children and young people through their participation in decisions which effect their lives. The idea of listening to children and involving them in decision-making is very new in Egypt. For example, at most schools, children learn by rote, and are not expected to give their opinion or even ask questions in class!

It is very different being a refugee in Cairo. For a start, not many refugees here speak Albanian. Most are from the Horn of Africa: Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Refugee children here face some of the same problems as refugees in London: lack of access to school, discrimination and sometimes detention. But, in addition, the Egyptian government is reluctant to provide services for refugees.

Egypt has fewer resources than the UK, and Egyptian children also suffer from lack of access to school, health services and so on. An estimated 10,000 Egyptian children live on the streets. We therefore aim to include Egyptian children in our projects and work to promote tolerance between the two groups.

At the moment we are running workshops with a group of Sudanese refugee and Egyptian children to build bridges through respect and understanding of each other. We are also setting up a project with Cairo’s main contemporary art gallery to use film, theatre and art to help young people to explore and discuss cultural and other differences.

My fondest memories of AYA are of eating chicken and chips and playing pool with the guys after class (and beating them, obviously). Hopefully we'll be able to introduce these important elements into our program in Cairo very soon.

Laura Maxwell