Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali has ordered the closure of a girls orphanage in Mansoura, Daqahlia, following an investigative report by Al-Masry Al-Youm of child abuse inside the facility.
Twenty-nine children from the Al-Ezz orphanage were relocated to another girls' orphanage run by the ministry. Psychologists were also assigned to run a behavioral rehabilitation program for the affected girls, as per Wali’s instructions.
Fatma Keshk, chairman of Al-Nor wal Amal, a prominent charity organization that runs the orphanage, vowed to remove the person(s) responsible for the abuses as per the ministry’s directives. She nonetheless denied the occurrence of excessive violations against the girls whom, she said, “enjoy suitable social and health care”.
Esam Borham, the undersecretary for the Social Solidarity Ministry’s department in Mansoura, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that his department verified incidents of mistreatment and behavioral aberrations by some of the children.
Reports of abuse
Teachers at Khaled ibn Al-Walid, a primary school which exposed the violations, said students belonging to the orphanage have recently failed to show up to class. The teachers feared the children may have been punished for exposing the abuses. They added that various forms of abuse have been documented by the school over the past two years as a fail-safe against future mistreatment. The school had even warned the orphanage’s caretakers that they would involve the police in the matter, but no changes were made.
“The girls from the orphanage are well-known at the school. Teachers are always anxious to ask about them because they are always in a bad shape; they are always hungry and wear dirty clothes,” said Abeer al-Nady, a librarian at the primary school. “When we warned the orphanage’s caretakers against beating them…they threatened to keep the girls from coming to school.”
Sherif Mosaad, the school’s social affairs officer, said some students had their hair cut as a punishment. “When we asked the supervisors, they denied it, claiming the girls cut each other’s hair,” Mosaad said. “If that was true, how could they allow such young girls to play with sharp objects?”
Hassan al-Shaboury, a physician, said he spent three years trying to adopt one of the girls, which the orphanage’s director refused to allow. Shaboury brought the case to court and won, obliging the director to respect the verdict.
The girls speak up
The little girls spoke to Al-Masry Al-Youm about their experiences.
“It was Miss Marwa who slapped me, dragged me by my hair, knocked me down and stamped on my face with her foot because of a quarrel I had with my sister,” said Hadeer al-Sayyed, whose face bore bruises and scratches which attracted the attention of her school teachers. “Our school’s principal called them (supervisors) and lectured them…I am afraid I might be punished for talking about this if I go back.”
Weeping, the girl said their supervisors would beat, lock up and deny food to any girl who spoke of mistreatment outside the orphanage. “Two of my friends are now locked up and barred from school,” Hadeer said.
The supervisors also used to take the girls’ birthday presents away from them. “My birthday was on November 15. Friends who were visiting me brought me presents but the supervisors hit me for asking for them. I never saw the gifts because they took them,” said Hadeer.
“They used to beat me with a hose, kick me and swear at me,” Manal Galal, another orphan, told Al-Masry Al-Youm. “My school teacher once gave me money to buy candy and I did not tell the orphanage caretakers because I knew they would take the money from me,” said Manal, who added that when it was discovered she had money, they beat her with a hose and put her in a sac before ordering a janitor to throw her away. “I yelled, so they got me out (of the sac) and took me to the director…who told me not to accept money from anybody.”
Girls at the orphanage are not usually given an allowance because they are grounded most of the time, according to young Manal. In the off chance they were given money, “The supervisor would give us only LE5 per week,” said Manal.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
