September 2009

Little Stars now provides more than 100 food parcels each month. There are about 200 children in our sponsored families alone and so we estimate that we are providing food for approximately 400 children on Luxor's west bank. This is a huge task and a great responsibility as many families are dependent on Little Stars.

Each parcels contains at least 5kgs flour, 1kg rice, 1kg sugar, 1kg macaroni, 1 kg dried beans, 1 litre of cooking oil, salt, tea, stock cubes, soap and a small packet of washing powder. The cost of this is between £5 and £6 dependent on prevailing prices. Lentils are added when funds allow. Meat is very expensive in Egypt in relative terms, consequently meat is still only given to our sponsored families at a rate of half kilo per child; adding up to £8 to the cost. Families with more than 4 children receive two food parcels which has the effect of more than doubling their monthly income.

Little Stars moved into new Distribution Centre premises in April 2009. The new premises offer much better and cleaner facilities than the old premises did as there are toilet and kitchen areas as well as an office and three distinctly separate storage areas. This has kept our stocks of food and clothing more secure.

Wheelchairs are kept at the Distribution Centre and are still provided for all who need them. We have also recently taken delivery of 10 sit-upon walking frames at the clinic. These are for distribution and use within homes so that children can use them regularly rather than just on their visits to the clinic. Spectacular results have been achieved with specialist treatment within the clinic and the use of the walking aids.

March 2009

Since September 2008 Little Stars has had complete control over the content of its food parcels and the choice of families to whom they are given. This has enabled us to work in the outlying villages that are not on the Egyptian Food Bank list. It also allows us to help desperate families whose identity paperwork is not in order and who slip through the 'welfare net'. Sponsorship of families has allowed us to add up to 5kgs of meat or poultry to the food parcels (depending on the number of children in the family group). There are more than 200 families on the Little Stars' list but we do not have funds to provide for all of them, however more than 100 large parcels are distributed every month which with the addition of meat cost approximately £10 each. This is very little compared with European prices but is more than the total monthly income of some families.

In April Little Stars will be moving to a new East Bank Distribution Centre. The old centre served its purpose for storage but was without any toilet facilities which was proving a problem in using it as an office. The new centre has all facilities and is a welcome move.

Little Stars is still giving donations to groups which help finance operations which can only take place in Cairo and 1,000 le was given before Christmas to help towards the cost of a heart operation for a young person. Wheelchairs are still distributed and we now have two at the clinic which can be used on a temporary basis for children who have been injured rather than being permanently disabled.

New walking aids are being bought in Cairo so that children can use them in their own homes as well as in the clinic. These aids can then be returned when they are outgrown.

September 2008

As world food prices rise and inflation in Egypt spirals, the need for the provision of food parcels is increasing alarmingly. During the last financial year (June 2007 - May 2008) Little Stars bought more than 1,000 food parcels from the Egyptian Food Bank for distribution in the villages of La Galta and Nage el Arab. In addition to this, monthly food parcels were provided for a Coptic Group and for individuals who had proven need. A large food parcel is given monthly to the Good Samaritan Home every month and this is sponsored by Little Stars UK supporters.

In general, the food bags contain basic items such as rice, lentils, flour, macaroni, beans, salt, cooking oil, sugar, tea and milk powder where needed. Occasionally meat is added. The actual supermarket price of the contents is over 100 le but we are able to buy these items at a lower cost as the items are heavily subsidised by the Egyptian Food Bank. Food is also bought, at the lowest quotation, from Egyptian wholesalers in Luxor and stored in our Distribution Centre where we make up our own bags.

We have also been able to find a good source of wheelchairs in Cairo. The wheelchairs have been made in China but are durable and of good quality. Their cost is lower than transport costs would be to get wheelchairs rom Europe to Egypt. The cost of a wheelchair, including delivery charges and brokerage, is around £40 sterling. This £40 can make an immense difference to a family whose only way of getting a large child from A to B has been over a shoulder in a fireman's lift. Little Stars has now distributed many chairs to individuals and institutions and still have twelve in stock.

Luxor has a series of small local hospitals on both sides of the River Nile and a large International Hospital on the East Bank but there is no widespread National Health Service. In general, hospital fees are very low compared with those in Europe. However, when family funds are severely limited and can be as low as £5 or £6 per month, then even the low cost can prove too much. Also, while medical procedures at the hospital might be free for those children who are registered and in school, it is not free for those who have slipped through the net and all medicines have to be bought regardless of circumstances.

Marianna is a prime example of how things can wrong and children can need help. She was a four year old orphan who fell while playing and broke her arm early in 2007. The bone was set at the International Hospital. However, the cast was placed over an open wound which then became severely infected. She was taken to a general hospital in Cairo for treatment but all they did was reset and re-plaster the arm and send her back to Luxor. Before long pus was seen seeping from the plaster cast and it was obvious that Marianna was a real trouble as the arm had become gangrenous. The only option locally was to amputate the arm. However, luckily, Marianna was sent back to Cairo where a specialist hospital said they could save the arm but that the cost of the treatment and the operation would be in the region of £2,000. (20,000 le). The money was not available.

In March 2008 Little Stars was asked to help a 12 year old boy who had a thyroid problem. The boy, who we will refer to as Ahmed, weighed twelve stones and had seriously deformed legs. In February, Little Stars paid the cost of Ahmed and his family to go to Cairo and stay in a hospital where he could see a specialist. A whole series of tests were done to see if the thyroid problem could be solved and to asses the extent of the damage to his legs. Ahmed and his family stayed in Cairo for two weeks and it was decided that surgery could only be undertaken if Ahmed lost a lot of his excessive weight. It is now up to Ahmed’s family to make sure that he does as the doctors ordered before we proceed further with his treatment.

Little Stars has learned of a group called Society for Surgery which works through a link with Egypt and the UK and we made a donation to them. We are investigating whether we can help more children by supporting this existing group rather than by “going it alone” with individual cases.

Please help us build up the Trust Fund so that we can offer help of all kinds when and where it is desperately needed.