Roberval Tavares
Ashoka Fellow since 2006   |   Egypt

Seham Ibrahim Mohamed

Seham's comprehensive model is aimed at improving the plight of street children in Egypt. Up to one million street children lead unhealthy and dangerous lives, often resorting to begging or petty…
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This description of Seham Ibrahim Mohamed's work was prepared when Seham Ibrahim Mohamed was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2006.

Introduction

Seham's comprehensive model is aimed at improving the plight of street children in Egypt. Up to one million street children lead unhealthy and dangerous lives, often resorting to begging or petty crime for survival. Seham reaches out to street children, offering them medical care, psychological counseling, and basic life skills. But Seham's true insight is that helping street children means working with their families and communities as well. Seham has linked state police and several citizen sector organizations into a network of support for street children and their families. She also has several initiatives for changing her society's perception of street children, knowing this essential to the possibility of change.

The New Idea

Seham's approach to working with street children reaches beyond the provision of services to this sidelined population, estimated to be as many as 1 million. She seeks to bring the children back into society rather than develop a parallel track. By working with the child's community and, when possible, with their family, Seham and her team focus on healing through inclusion in the community. She assists communities to embrace the welfare of street children as a collective responsibility and begin to understand the circumstances-violence, domestic abuse, poverty-that conspire to cause children to initially leave home. Seham's organization, Tofulty Foundation, helps street children directly by arranging medical care, psychiatric support, and training that encourages them to gain confidence, place trust themselves, and the world around them. The peer-to-peer counseling she arranges gives a sense of belonging and hope.

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