Dear Friend,
My staff and I are getting ready to celebrate Coptic Orphans’ 30th Anniversary Galas in September and October later this year, and as I reflect back on the last 30 years, I can’t help but think of two words: heroism and sacrifice.
We have decided to honor the ineffable love of Dr. Nermin Samir, the mother of Maggie Moemen, the 10-year-old child martyred in the gruesome Botroseya Church bombing of December 2016. Nermin has astonished the world by her heroic words of forgiveness towards the people who killed her daughter. In an interview just days after she lost Maggie, Nermin said, “We raise our children so that they could go to heaven.”
Nermin represents the very best of us as she truly embodies Christ’s all-encompassing love and mercy. Her story of how she came to forgive the men who took Maggie from her is one you will never forget. We are very blessed to have Nermin share her testimony with us at our 30th year anniversary galas in Toronto and Washington D.C. and hope you will join us there to honor her and her daughter’s memory.
Along with Nermin, we are also honoring three outstanding students from our Not Alone program in Egypt. These girls quietly suffered the deaths of their fathers; they overcame the stigmas of Egypt’s culture towards women; and they traversed the obstacles of the Egyptian education system to enter some of Egypt’s best colleges. And while their sacrifice isn’t as apparent, their success is our success, their joy is our joy, and their heroism uplifts the entire community.
Since starting Coptic Orphans in 1988, I have come to know thousands of Coptic people throughout the world, and it taught me a truth about our people:
Copts are heroes because of their willingness to sacrifice for the community.
Working at Coptic Orphans I see this every day. In the generosity of our Coptic donors all over the world, in the willingness of our church-based volunteer Reps in Egypt to sacrifice their lives to the service, and in the field staff who work endless hours to make sure that the Reps have the support they need. I also see it in the fatherless children in our program who give back to those who are in even greater need than they are.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I see Coptic heroes and their sacrifices everywhere around me. It is especially inspiring in the heroic sacrifice of our martyrs; and equally herculean in the effort of love and forgiveness that the friends and families of the martyrs, like Nermin, practice every day after their loved ones have been taken from them.
Please join us in celebrating these heroic women at our 30th Anniversary Galas. To find out more about how you can attend an event honoring Nermin Samir or one of the amazing students in our programs, please click here.
