Q&A with Dr. Marwa Hafez Founder of “Ana Masraweya”
Journalist: Janna Eldakhakhni
Editor: Mahmoud Mansi
Together with help from her childhood and college friends from Alexandria, Sharkeya, Cairo and Kafr el-Sheikh, they formed this personal initiative that has no religious or political support to help their communities. The initiative started in January 2016. For their first event, they celebrated with the orphans as they are aiming to bring attention year round to their cause. They also helped raise awareness about child kidnapping, breast cancer, and cleaning the cities of Egypt. Marwa hopes that her initiative will inspire more women who have time in their hands to follow their path.
Marwa Hafez: Founder of "Ana Masraweya NGO" Marwa decided to invest her time to help her community.
NGOs Today Magazine: You have launched a very active and interesting project; “Ana Masraweya” foundation, we are curious what is the story behind this successful initiative and what are its main objectives?
Marwa Hafez: Ana Masraweya started towards the end of 2015 when NGOs weren’t as acknowledged. I started Ana Masraweya because I had been volunteering and working with the general public ever since I was attending university. I started the NGO and was the sole founder at the start of 2016. Then, I started gathering 20 of my philanthropic friends to help. I have a deep understanding of the issues women face as I met multiple women who were dealing with problems and was inspired by how they moved past these hurdles. “A lady doesn’t feel for another’s dilemma unless she is dealing with the same thing so she tries finding solutions.” Ana Masraweya’s objectives include the following: a women’s committee that takes care of all the problems women face as well as celebrating Mothers Day and National Women’s Day, a committee specializing in raising awareness towards cancer in women, a campaign to raise awareness in Alexandria for people to donate their plasma and blood, a committee dedicated towards taking care of little girls from the ages of 10-16 and a committee dedicated towards donating and helping orphans get an education with the assistance of the Ministry of Education
NGOs Today Magazine: What strategic and managerial challenges did you face creating the foundation?
Marwa Hafez: When first beginning the NGO, I faced a lot of problems with the documentations, registering the NGO and the government issued background checks. Another issue I faced was when they were trying to differentiate the NGOs that actually wanted to do good deeds with the NGOs that were open for other reasons. Fortunately, after a year, “Ana Masraweya” was given the go-ahead!
NGOs Today Magazine: What are the most common problems and challenges facing the women whom you are working with, and how do you empower them?
Marwa Hafez: The most common drawback that women face is work place discrimination. Although Egyptian women do their jobs and have more experience, the men get all the promotions. Another challenge women face is divorce. The women they help are often physically and mentally abused as well as their ex-husbands leaving them with all the responsibilities and not helping her.
NGOs Today Magazine: What was the most impactful story you witnessed as part of your NGO?
Marwa Hafez: A story that stuck with me the most was about a woman who was divorced with a daughter who had a medical condition in her spinal cord. The mom would carry her daughter on her back on all the public transportations, get her jobs and take her to all her doctor appointments.
NGOs Today Magazine: Are you still in touch with the women you helped give a second chance to?
Marwa Hafez: Yes, we still keep in touch with the women we helped. We still check up on them and give them what they need. If they need anything they contact us and we help. We still keep in touch with women we’ve helped 7 years ago when the foundation first started.
NGOs Today Magazine: One of your goals is to make Alexandria a cleaner place, what are you doing to accomplish your mission?
Marwa Hafez: Another NGO we started was “Iskandariya Agmal” with the help of the Ministry of Tourism in Alexandria. Iskandariya Agmal also organized beach cleanups with the help of the parliament and created an environmental committee that specified in cleaning the streets of Alexandria.
NGOs Today Magazine: You are annually participating in Egypt’s World Youth Forum, can you tell us how this inspires you further in what you do? And in general how WYF is impacting the ecosystem in the region?
Marwa Hafez: I am so proud when I attend the World Youth Forum especially since the President takes his time to listen and educate the youth of the world. The first time I attended was in 2015. However, as time progressed in 2018 I was participating and organizing a workshop to raise awareness about children with special needs and the discrimination they face in society. In 2021, I organized another workshop dedicated towards people’s dreams and the goals they want to accomplish after the Covid-19 pandemic.
NGOs Today Magazine: What advice would you give to people who want to make an impact to the world yet don’t know where to start?
Marwa Hafez: To make an impact you have to have a passion for it as the thing that is done with love, that love is evident in the finished project and will be successful.
NGOs Today Magazine: We would love to thank you for the great achievements you are doing for society. Who can join or volunteer with “Ana Masraweya”, and how can they apply?
Marwa Hafez: For anyone that wants to volunteer in “Ana Masraweya”, there is an application on their Facebook page. Nevertheless, there are two conditions before you get initiated: she has to know two or more of the founders, and the person goes with the group once or twice so that they can all get introduced. When all of that is complete, she joins one of the main groups.
NGOs Today Magazine: Thank You !
