Egypt's newest NGO is called the Friends of the Egyptian Museum Association, reports Nevine El- Aref Last week, at the Supreme Council of Antiquities' (SCA) Gamal Mokhtar Hall, the 11 members of the Friends of the Egyptian Museum Association (FEMA) celebrated the launching of their NGO. The association aims to play a supporting role in the upgrading of the downtown museum's services and facilities. It also plans to raise archaeological and cultural awareness in general by providing links between the general public and the museum. SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass called the NGO "a dream come true". Hawass, who was the FEMA's guest of honour, said the body had been organised in a manner similar to groups attached to most high-level museums in Europe and America. Although the FEMA, Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly, is not a financer of museum projects, it will provide support for the museum's activities and will also function as a control mechanism of sorts. For instance, he said, if the museum's board wanted to send Tutankhamun's gold mask to be exhibited abroad, the FEMA would have the authority to veto the move. The group has already managed to install a permanent air-conditioned tent in the museum's back yard, Hawass said, where a summer school is held. Another project Hawass hopes will be implemented via the FEMA is an exhibition of replicas that would tour different Egyptian cities and villages in a bid to raise people's cultural awareness. Actor Nour El-Cherif told the Weekly that he was "very proud to be the chairman of such an organisation". El-Cherif said he hoped his popularity as an actor would help boost the organisation's efforts to raise cultural Egyptians' awareness of their cultural heritage. "One of the FEMA's goals is to encourage young people to take more interest in their culture and heritage, by organising free visits to the museum." FEMA member Mohamed El-Halwagi, a businessman, said the organisation also hoped to play a role in upgrading the museum's building and staff, as well as the facilities that it provides for visitors. Hawass said three other NGOs -- the Friends of the Islamic, Coptic and Graeco-Roman museums -- were also in the pipeline.
