Studying medicine while sleeping on the ground
The Trust has always received applications for help dealing with various level of poverty, from our representatives, on behalf of poor Coptic students in Egypt. But reading applications is one thing and seeing the deprivation in person is a different matter altogether. Therefore we decided to visit some of the students who receive grants from St Kyrel Trust.
On the way to a rural village in the countryside of upper Egypt, our representative in Minya explained to us the poverty conditions that some of the students in the countryside live in. And how these contrasted immensely from those living in the city.
Soon after, we arrived at a village. And a short walk from the bus station we arrived at the house of our student Michael, who was studying medicine. We were greeted by his parents and were asked to come in. It was very striking to see that the house had no furniture at all. They pulled a rug and asked us to be seated until they sent for their son, who was attending a youth meeting at church. We couldn't help but notice a small baking furnace for making bread, located in the main room, and a sheep eating grass was visible through the door of the room next door.
When Michael arrived, we went to his room upstairs through a shaky, unprotected staircase. All the room had was a table which had his books and notes and a chair. He opened up to us that he sleeps on the hard and cold floor, without even a sleeping bag.
In his great dedication to his studies, when we offered to buy him a bed, he delayed in accepting or turning down the offer due to being focused on exams. And in his great humility, when we offered him a new pair of trousers and a pullover, he instead told that he would wish that someone who may need it more than him may receive these clothes. He had said he had a lot of clothes already, pointing at the single pair of trousers, a jalabeya, 2 sweaters and underwear hanging on two nails fixed to the wall.
Dignity has certainly revealed itself in this young man louder than his poverty. The St Kyrel Trust is taking serious steps to bring him to the UK for further medical training once he graduates.
