Having come to terms with her painful past, Sayyeda has started a new life. She's only 15, but, as a former street child, she has suffered greatly. Her story would make a compelling film. “Dreaming of Tomorrow”, an exhibition in which she's taking part, has taken many people by surprise. "I have no family. I lived with some people, who kicked me out when I reached the age of 11," the dark-skinned Sayyeda told The Egyptian Gazette. "I used to sleep on the pavements. Young men often harassed me, but, with the help of kind people, I would run way." While living on the streets, she had to beg in order to eat. Sometimes, she sold tissues and flowers to motorists stuck in traffic jams. One day, Sayyeda was snatched from her ugly, anonymous world and her life did a complete U-turn, when she met with a volunteer from the Banati Foundation, who offered her a brighter future. "He told me 'Don't worry, I'm here to help you'," she recalled, as he proceeded to tell her about the foundation. She then got into his car and he drove her to her new world, Haram City, 6th October Governorate, the premises of the Foundation. Banati (‘My Girls' in Arabic) is an Egyptian non-governmental organisation established in July 2010, to serve street children. "It's a nice place with kind people. There, I've learnt how to read and now take photos with a digital camera," she said proudly, pointing to six large photos, being displayed in the photographic fundraising exhibition, being held at the Cairo Opera House. "I've also learnt that I am an important person. I really feel that now. I have good friends. I feel that people love me." The Banati Foundation is holding its second photographic exhibition, in which Sayyeda and six other girls are participating. Teaching the girls photographic skills is part of the Sawasiya Project for Innovative Learning, an initiative of the Foundation, supported by the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development. At their first photographic exhibition, held last year, participants demonstrated serious talent that was widely recognised: one of the girls, Amal, has been shortlisted for the National Geographic Egypt Photography Competition and she might win a trip to the US. "The children are provided with basic education, proper hygiene, and medical and psychological care," said Rania Fahmy, the executive director of the Banati Foundation. "The rehabilitation programme is twofold: first are the workshops, that finetune their mental and creative thinking. "They do the Abjad literacy and Montessori programmes, hands-on, fun scientific experiments, creative thinking exercises and mural painting. They also design and produce puppet plays," she told this newspaper. The Montessori method is an educational approach for children based on the research and experiences of Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori (1870��"1952). It arose in the process of her experimental observation of young children given freedom in an environment, leading her to believe by 1907 that she had discovered the child's true, normal nature. Based on her observations, she created an environment prepared with materials designed for their self-directed learning activity. "We have 11 out of a total of 60 girls in school and we are working on enrolling all of our school-age girls next year. The vocational training provided in Haram City includes working on a waste recycling project, in a laundry or in a restaurant. The girls go to these places for training." According to Rania, the Foundation invites pupils from some private, international and State schools to the foundation to let the girls "merge" with these other children, in order to help open their minds. "When I started teaching them how to take a photo, they had no idea about the camera itself. But, only six weeks later, they knew everything about photography and editing the photos on the computer," says Mohamed Salah, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Engineering, American University in Cairo, for whom photography is a hobby. In his free time, Mohamed does voluntary work with the Foundation. He has come up with photographic courses for the girls. He's taken them to all sorts of places in Cairo and further afield -��" the Citadel and the Hussein district in Islamic Cairo, the Pyramids in Giza, and Wadi Hitan and Wadi Rayan in Fayoum Governorate, 150km southwest of the Egyptian capital. "I want to let them know about the history of these places, as well as how to photograph them to the best possible advantage," Mohamed explains. "They've taken over 350 photos. There are only 70 of them in this exhibition; we'll be displaying the rest in future exhibitions." In Sayyeda's photos, the simple person is the hero. One of her snaps is of a man in his forties working in a humble café in the Hussein district. He's smiling, but Sayyeda somehow manages to express his hidden grief. "He is a poor, modest man. He never had the chance to complete his education, which is why he works in this café," said Sayyeda, sympathetically. "He was so happy when I asked him if I could take his photo. Look how kind he is," she added compassionately. Another photo depicts a smiling old woman, sitting on the pavement, wearing a long black headscarf. "She is begging," Sayyeda explained. "I didn't have any money to give her. All I could give her let her to smile."
