Women in Sharkeya are able, despite their circumstances, to achieve great things in life and lead the youth to a better future. Engineer Sahar started her life dreaming of becoming an engineer when she was 5. She was born and raised in Sharkeya and was an excellent student in Mathematics and Physics. When she finished high school, she applied to the Faculty of Engineering at Monofia University, which is hundreds of miles away from her hometown. After one year, she moved to the Faculty of Engineering at Zagazig University and was forced to enter the Mechanics department.
“It is not common for any woman to study Mechanical Engineering in my community. People would look at me weirdly and wonder how a girl could work in this field”, Sahar explained. “This has motivated me even more to become a top student and earn a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.” After my bachelor’s, I tried to look for a job, but no job was close to her townhome. Then Sahar got married in the 10th of Ramadan City and raised two girls. Life was hard, but she never gave up on her dream for 12 years.
Things changed, and she started a job as a theoretical teacher at the 10th of Ramadan Training Center. Sahar wanted more. She worked hard until she succeeded with lots of patience, love and self-education. Now, she is responsible for the training in two workshops, Advanced Milling Operations and CNC, at the VTC in the 10th of Ramadan Training Center. “All my students are boys, and I am the only woman in the workshop of Mechanical Engineering. It is very challenging but fun. During my work, I always felt the lack of knowledge and needed to know more daily to offer my students the most updated knowledge.”
Once Sahar knew that MEPEP, through an EU fund, was offering a CNC TOT, she enrolled immediately. In the rush of work and home, Sahar always felt the need to allocate more time and effort to understand more about CNC machines. “The TOT of MEPEP, AICS, and the EU at the Don Bosco Institute was life-changing for me. The Instructor helped me understand all the codes of the CNC machine, and I gained a huge amount of new technical knowledge.” For ten days, Sahar would wake up at 6 o`clock in the morning, use five buses to reach the training, work for 5 hours with no break and return home. “The place is very attractive; the knowledge is very tempting for anyone who wants to learn and get educated.”
Today, Sahar teaches all the knowledge that she learned during the TOT. “I already have students aged 17 and 18 who have started a project with a CNC machine, opened a small workshop and started their own production.” Now, any reason for illegal immigration has vanished. These students wanted to immigrate to Europe, seeking job opportunities and starting new families. If this opportunity is in their country, they would never leave. “They are going nowhere,” she stated.
Sahar`s story is not the only one. It is one of many stories where MEPEP, with the support of the EU, has played a role in people’s academic, technical and personal lives. It is one of many stories of success, patience and hope. Hope for a future without illegal immigration and educated Egyptian youth.
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