Overview

Twelve photos are really 24 pictures – the one you see (of charred remains) inside the one taken.

The person holding the picture recognizes the injustice of terror upon a place of worship while not wanting to be recognized by the viewer.

This is real terror: Fear of showing your face for the empathy you have toward the terrorized.

Each photo is a testimony to religious hatred carried out with bombs.

Each photo represents injury and death as a result of faith.

Each photo demonstrates that others are aware of it.

Each photo is simply taken and not meant to be a famous work of art but rather to sear an image on the minds of those who are meant to never rest again until justice is served.

All photos viewed together raises the level of consciousness.

La Casa Futura

…Providing independence for young Egyptians in the freedom of the West
Rome, Italy. -– a Voice of the Copts’ project

La Casa Futura will assist young refugees fleeing from Egypt due to religious persecution. La Casa Futura will be an assimilation program within a residence hall housing young men and women (ages 15-20 years old) coming from Italian refugee camps. Language classes, vocational training and assistance with legal status in Italy are to be provided.

Voice of the Copts

Voice of the Copts (VOTC) is a non-profit (501c3) organization based in the USA with an Italian branch office. Its chartered mission is to educate the West and raise the level of awareness about Egypt’s discriminatory and oppressive practices. These practices span the gamut of inferior treatment and limited rights to terror and violence.

The second-class status of Christians includes violence against the church as well as communities and individuals. Coptic Christians of Egypt are the largest Christian minority in the Islamic Middle East. Many Copts have suffered great personal loss and trauma.

LA CASA FUTURA SUMMARY OVERVIEW

…See full document for details currently in the Italian language (translation to English underway)

Many Coptic refugees have fled to Italy for safety and a new life. Neither is found in the temporary refugee camps where they now reside. La Casa Futura will be an opportunity (the only opportunity) for young Egyptian Copts to officially exit the camps and begin on a path for a viable future.

LCF will teach them language and job skills to assimilate. Keeping with our mission statement, VOTC will conduct open house forums within the Casa Futura facility as well as off-campus locations to promote mutual understanding between Egyptian Copts and Italian citizens.

Purpose of Casa Futura – to create better life conditions and offer hope for a future

1. Young immigrants from Egypt are overwhelmed by loss of homeland and family (in some cases orphaned) and now face fear and distrust found in a host population. Our program will assist integration into the Italian culture.
2. Refugee camps are temporary. They even lack food supplies. The La Casa Futura live-in facility will provide young men and women with room and board while offering job training, language learning, and cultural education. This not only solves the problem of short term provision but the larger issue of independence and integration into society allowing Italy to gain from newly skilled craftsmen in sectors now facing a scarcity of labor force.
3. Coptic refugees, bereft of legitimate paths into Italian society, remain idle and isolated. The La Casa Futura program will intervene to lessen this impact. Trauma therapy will be offered by the facility. Our Rome, Italy facility will offer an environment for nurturing growth in ways best suited for adapting to Italian society. In so doing, it will also foster individual responsibility and well-being.
4. Suspicion of strangers. To promote mutual understanding, native Italians will be invited to attend La Casa Futura forums to hear personal testimonies of students who wish to share the stories of their past.

Project requirements
–the following is deemed necessary for the project’s success–

La Casa Futura will entail:

–One location (one building) adequate to accommodate housing, meals and class instruction for 60-100 Coptic youths each session. UPDATE: A solid commitment has been given to Voice of the Copts for a donated building located in the outskirts of Rome.

–Cooperation from various industrial sectors to create internships and instruction

— Instructors and other qualified staff (including social workers, health caregivers, language interpreters)

— Emotional support dogs in conjunction with trauma therapy

— Laboratories and classrooms

— Vehicles for transporting students

Candidate selection for the program and La Casa Futura commitment

Year one of the newly funded Casa Futura project will be for setting up and preparing the facility, implementing programs, hiring personnel and choosing candidates. Enrollment will overlap with this preparation as soon as the building can be occupied. We believe it is urgent to have candidates brought from camps to begin language studies and trauma therapy as early as possible in the start-up process.

Selection process for LCF program sessions

The La Casa Futura social workers will visit refugee camps to interview and evaluate candidates, matching qualifications to the program. Those chosen would comprise the pool of young Egyptians from which the final selection is made for acceptance into each session of the program. At this point, the accepted individuals will either choose or decline entry into a three-week trial period of the program.

Our aim is to achieve an equal number of males and females. The trial period will be used to avoid future problems. Behavior will be observed and matched for consistency with answers on the evaluation surveys to assess permanent admission to the program.

During the course of the program a staff social worker assigned to each student will carry out monthly progress reports in order to ensure continued compliance with house rules and Italian law. Depending on the facts emerging from the student report and analysis by staff, an intervention may be necessary for continuance in the program or removal from the program.
Upon actions leading to expelling a student, the refugee camp of origin must re-admit the student. (An affidavit expressing the relationship between the program and the continued responsibility of the original refugee camp pertaining to each attendee must be kept on file with La Casa Futura).

For refugees included in La Casa Futura, health care will be guaranteed as with Italian citizens. The program will administer periodic physical examinations from visiting health care professionals and heed any recommendations made for needed specialists including mental health care agencies. Much concern will be made for appropriate course level placement within laboratories of study and verification of educational objectives. Consideration will be given to regular sports activities and socialization with fellow students on campus as well as allowing for outside visitors, in particular, family members.

See biography of Dr.Ashraf Ramelah at the following link. http://www.voiceofthecopts.org/index.php/ashraf-ramelah/biography

UPDATE: La Casa Futura project was accepted and approved by the former Italian Interior Ministry for future matching funds once in operation.

Further details and information are available upon request.