The following narratives introduce individuals who are detained in refugee camps. They are in desperate need of the La Casa Futura project currently underway by Voice of the Copts. Egyptian youths have been uprooted and displaced for various reasons all related to religious persecution. Names have been changed to protect identities. Narratives are based on true accounts of actual events.
Eva frantically tucked in her headdress to hide her hair and covered more of her face than ever before. She slowed down and walked calmly past her husband toward the door of his home with the excuse of a routine errand. Down the street, her friends drove up in a car, and she jumped in for her getaway. The nightmare was finally over. Many months back at age seventeen, Eva’s future was stolen from her when she was kidnapped. She was forced to accept Islam and coerced into marrying a man she hardly knew.
The girls plotted Eva’s exodus after months of watching Eva’s parents and sisters in tears and turmoil over her disappearance. It began innocently enough when Eva was invited to study in the home of her girlfriend and classmate. The girlfriend’s brother was polite and offered to escort Eva back home in the evenings to keep her safe. One night Eva did not return home. She vanished from her own life. After six months, Eva secretly contacted girlfriends she knew from church to arrange her rescue.
Many girls are lured into this same trap by boys who for payment pursue their prey for kidnap-conversion crimes in a scheme to break up Coptic families. Most girls are not as fortunate as Eva because they are never found again. Hidden inside a Muslim family and shrouded in a burqa (face cover), the kidnapped and converted girl has no further contact with her family.
But ever since Eva returned to her family, she has been considered an apostate (someone who has left Islam). So she and her family are targeted for violence, and Eva’s murder is called for by those complicit in her kidnapping.
Eva has had to emigrate to the West for her own safety as her life will always be in danger as long as she remains in Egypt. So once again she has lost her home and family and now her country as well. Eva is uprooted and displaced.
As a religious refugee, she resides today in a camp outside Egypt. She truly has nowhere to turn except for one place, La Casa Futura. It will be her saving grace and advance her life toward a successful future in a new country.
Won’t you be a part of the La Casa Futura project to help us help Eva and other Egyptian youths restart their lives in the freedom of the West? Any amount — $10, 25, 50, 100 or more – will be used to build and sustain a project that is building the future for so many!
Please donate today!
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Thank you!
La Casa Futura project currently consists of one dormitory building providing help for up to 100 youths per session. Each session provides language learning, job direction, and cultural understanding. LCF is in its initial stage of development as we seek financial backers and matching funds for individual donations.