News / Thoughts

Egypt: Being forced from home

Nura and her family are one of the few Christian families living in the strict Muslim community of Henia. While the village has tens of mosques, it only has four small churches.

Despite this, Nura and her husband Karim were convinced that Christians have just as much right to live in Henia as Muslims. So when an extremist neighbor entered their shop and asked them to pay him money just because they were Christians, Nura’s husband, Karim, boldly said no.

The village turned against the Christian family and the extremist neighbor started to demand more and more, until the family’s agricultural land was at stake. “No,” Karim had said again. But their neighbor wouldn’t accept no for an answer and gathered an angry crowd to take the Christian family’s property by force.

Nura says: “We’re locked into our house and can’t go anywhere because we fear getting beaten or even kidnapped… All the Christian women and girls in our village are so scared to go out of their homes now.”

Open Doors workers have been visiting Nura and her family, offering support and care where they can. They are hoping to work with one of the local churches to set up a women’s group for the increasingly marginalised Christian women to safely gather together, pray, and support one another.

Where is this happening?

Egypt is number 21 on the 2017 World Watch List. Following the ousting of the political group, the Muslim Brotherhood, from power in 2013, which many Christians were perceived as supporting, radical Islamists have violently targeted believers. Christians also face discrimination from the secular government: though they make up ten per cent of Egypt’s population, they are not considered equal citizens and face restrictive legislation. Converts to Christianity also face rejection and isolation from their communities because of their new faith.

Pray now…

• Pray for protection for Nura and her family. Ask that the tensions with the local community will be solved and they will be able to live peacefully in Henia.
• Pray one of the local churches will be willing to host a women’s group that will help local Christian women better support one another.
• Pray for the local community to see Christians as friends, not enemies, and pray for peace and understanding between communities across Egypt