Becoming a teenage mother places great strain on a young girl in any culture, and may be difficult to cope with. It is estimated that around two million street children, many of them girls, are living in the anonymity of the sprawling city of Cairo. Many have fled to the streets to escape domestic violence. However, this only makes the situation worse, as they are vulnerable to brutal attacks during the day and especially at night. There is no state-run shelter where pregnant girls can give birth and receive even basic care!
Movie Travel Report Cairo 2008
Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff first went to see the situation for herself in 2004. Since then, through her UNICEF Foundation, she has been committed specifically to helping girls and teenage mothers in the Egyptian capital. The 2nd Schafhof Festival and other activities raised a total of € 542,000 in donations. This was used to set up a centre for girls and mothers in need, a centre that is run by the Hope Village Society, a private organisation. Undertaken in close co-operation with UNICEF, this became a showcase project in Egypt. With systematic support from the Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff UNICEF Foundation, 30 girls and young mothers can now be given permanent protection and a helping hand. In 2008 Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff travelled to Egypt once again to see what developments had been made. The Hope Village Society had purchased a house and in 2008 the shelter moved to a district near the city centre, to be more accessible. Social workers are there round the clock to look after mothers who are still children themselves, and their babies.
Seeing the world through different eyes
Anyone who has witnessed how tough the life of street children is, will see his or her own world through different eyes. This was what some sixth formers from Frankfurt experienced as a follow-up to the Schafhof Festival 2004. In September a number of students from the Goethe Gymnasium flew to Cairo to find out about the situation of street children first-hand. Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff paid privately for the students’ travel costs and accommodation. The trip was arranged in co-operation with the City of Frankfurt as part of the UNICEF Partnership Year 2004.
