“Sometimes the work is tiring, but I feel that our Lord is very much in this place,” says Rita Fawzi, 36. As a general supervisor for boys and girls, Rita oversees all aspects of their housing. “I was not sure that I could deal with developmentally challenged people,” Rita says. “But when I began to work and live among them, I began to love them in a way I couldn’t believe.” Sister Afaf Zarif chats with members of her family — young people of Good Samaritan House — outside their home in Cairo.
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ranciscan Elizabethan Sister Afaf Zarif runs Good Samaritan House, with the help of Sister Awatef Bakheet. Currently, Good Samaritan houses 18 boys and 14 girls. Nine of the residents are in college, seven are in high school, seven attend preparatory school, and eight are in primary school. “I found my ministry in this place and this helps me to live religious life better,” Sister Afaf says. Sister Afaf had collaborated with Father Ragheb, who died in 2010, in establishing the orphanage. When Father Ragheb asked her to
join him in this new mission among vulnerable children, Sister Afaf had been serving as the director of the Franciscan Nuns School in Maghagha in Minya, Upper Egypt, for 18 years. “I immediately agreed, and told him, ‘I am ready.’ I had always wished to serve orphans and continue my ministry with them,” Sister Afaf, 66, recalls. She left her position at the school and has been at Good Samaritan House ever since. The pair announced their plan to open an orphanage in the local churches, and the churches
These are children of the King — Jesus. Giving them a sense of family is part of the mission of this house.
