CAIRO: Egypt's first social media-driven humanitarian fundraising project Tweetback managed to raise over LE 1.3 million in funds for Ezbet Khairallah, a sprawling unplanned community. In an event that brought together Egypt's most high-profile Twitter users, Nevine Elibrashy, head of Khair we Baraka, and Mahmoud Salem, author of the Sandmonkey blog and founder of Tweetback, announced that Tweetback raised about 70 percent of its tentative target in 10 days. The initiative aims to raise LE 2 million to support the local NGO Khair we Baraka, which has been active in the area since 2004 to develop services and opportunities for local residents. The NGO will work on three projects; paving a road, fully furbishing and equipping a school, and an economic development project for the area's woodsmiths. Total pledges reached LE 1,349,000 with Mobinil contributing with LE 500,000, Coca Cola LE 250,000, Azza Fahmy Jewelry LE 150,000, Xceed LE 25,000 and LE 424,000 from anonymous donors. Ezbet Khairallah is an unplanned community hosting around 650,000 inhabitants in an area of about 12 square kilometers on a rocky plateau that lies in the southern part of Cairo. It lies between Masr El Qadima to the North, Dar Al Salam to the South, the Nile to the West and El Basateen to the East. “About 50 percent of those residents are Christians and the other half are Muslims. They have no problems with each other; their problems are daily needs problems; problems with education, public roads and jobs,” said Salem. “The January 25 Revolution is a step for a better Egypt in the long run but there are some people who need development now, we can't say they should wait a bit,” said Salem in his opening speech. “When we first worked in Ezbet Khairallah, there were no statistics whatsoever. Not only were basic services such as sewage system and garbage collection missing, but [it was marred with] an inadequate education, poor health and bleak job outlooks. We had to strive to bring the social solidarity concept into the area,” said Elibrashy. Tweetback invites companies, foundations and charitable individuals to pledge donations to select NGOs and development projects in Egypt. In return, around 20 of Egypt's most-followed Twitter users were invited to live-tweet the event using the hashtag #tweetback to create a buzz publicizing the project and announcing the contributions in Arabic and English through their network of nearly 250,000+ followers. “I didn't expect such an outcome, we put LE 2 million as a tentative target but we didn't think we will reach LE 1.5 million in such a short period of time,” said Nour Ayman Nour, an activist and a law student. Tweetback aims at utilizing social media outlets like Twitter to promote positive social change. Celebrities with twitter accounts were also invited to join, including sarcastic comedian Bassem Youssef, who shot to fame through online videos mocking mainstream media, radio and TV host Ahmad El-Esseily and Al Jazeera International correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin. “Once I heard that Tweetback is about charity and development, I wanted to be part of it,” said Salma El Daly, one of Egypt's most followed tweeps known for a mock presidential campaign she started through online videos. “Given the time constraint, I didn't see all these pledges coming but it did happen. I'm getting more and more excited about Tweetback events and I think it'll reach out to other communities beyond Ezbet Khairallah,” said Ethar El-Katatney, journalist and one of the most followed Twitter users.
