Amid heated debate about refugees in Egypt and increased xenophobic calls for the closure of the border to block refugees fleeing armed conflicts, there are some Egyptians are trying to help refugees.

Community-based organizations and initiatives have been offering the largest proportion of the aid provided for Syrian refugees in Egypt, which has been suffering a severe economic crisis since the Arab Spring five years ago. Most of these initiatives have started through social media where Egyptians have frequently raised the question of how to help Syrian refugees.

Amid heated debate about refugees in Egypt and increased xenophobic calls for the closure of the border to block refugees fleeing armed conflicts, there are some Egyptians are trying to help refugees.

Community-based organizations and initiatives have been offering the largest proportion of the aid provided for Syrian refugees in Egypt, which has been suffering a severe economic crisis since the Arab Spring five years ago. Most of these initiatives have started through social media where Egyptians have frequently raised the question of how to help Syrian refugees.

Orthopedist Hisham Azzam was among a group of doctors who three months ago launched an initiative to treat Syrian refugees in their clinics, free of charge, since refugees do not have health insurance in Egypt. “No facility treats Syrians for free,” says Azzam. “They have to pay treatment expenses from their own pocket.”

Despite the agreement between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide hospitals for refugees, the allocated budget is simply not enough.

The initiative has been criticized by some Egyptians who question why it does not help Egyptians. “We treat anyone who comes to us and says s/he does not have money for treatment, irrespective of his or her nationality,” say Dr. Azzam. “Besides, Egyptians, unlike Syrian refugees, can get treatment at the expense of the state and many of them have health insurance.”

Dr. Azzam receives nearly two Syrian cases every week, none of which are serious. “The initiative was launched in the Fifth District, and the clinics are far from where the Syrians live,” he says.

No new doctors have joined the initiative since its launch. “Some think that they will get arrested if they treat Syrians,” says Dr. Azzam. “Others do not need to join any initiative because they already treat anyone in need for free.”

Azzam believes that the only reason that could stop the initiative is a security or political problem. “We are mere doctors who have nothing to do with politics,” he says.

Welcomes outweigh the rejection

Um Abdulla is a Syrian who fled the city of Homs when war erupted in Syria in 2011. She now cooks and sells various Syrian dishes. Every day, Egyptians tell her that Syrian refugees like her are stealing their livelihoods, while others have offered help during the many crises she has had. The most recent crisis was when her husband’s health deteriorated and he needed hospitalization. She went to the nearest mosque and asked for help, and many people helped her move her husband to hospital.

Um Abdulla says the number of people who want to help her and her family is more than that of people who want her to leave. She recalls when the owner of a carpet shop welcomed her and offered to give her a carpet for free when she told him that her house had no carpets at all. “I no longer have anything back in Syria,” she says. “Everything is destroyed. I however have large ambitions in Egypt and I am going to stay here even if the situation in Syria becomes better. I would only go see my mother, but I would come back to Egypt.”

When Um Abdulla decided a year ago to prepare and sell Syrian food to provide for her family, she did not have the proper equipment. Egyptians provided her with everything she needed to start her business. “I live off the goodness of Allah and Egyptians,” she says.

Douaa Samir works in the UN Women’s Regional Office in Egypt. She is responsible for a Japanese government-funded project in five Arab countries, including Egypt. The project aims to economically empower women. Sixty percent of its resources have been allocated for Syrians and 40 percent for Egyptians through vocational workshops on crafts such as crochet, embroidery, cosmetology, sewing and cooking.

Before Douaa started working in this project, she dreamt that she was working on the Syrian-Turkish border during a blizzard. She was wearing a coat, and dragging a huge sack with boxes decorated with satin ribbons. She gave each child a box and told them to open it each morning to find a gift and a piece of her. Douaa’s dream has come true but in a different way, as she now works with female refugees on a daily basis and tries to provide them with a safe working environment. “Those women have suffered marginalisation twice; once because they are women and the second time because they are refugees who had to flee their country due to armed conflicts.”

Douaa says when she started working with Syrian women, they did not think that she was Egyptian because she was very nice and respectful toward them. She used to address each one of them as Mrs. “They told me that they rarely met someone who treated them nicely,” says Douaa. “And if they ever did, it would be out of pity.”

Douaa believes that the negative outlook towards refugees in Egypt is unjustified. “No one is going to steal the livelihood of another person,” she says. “This justification is used even by university professors who reject the presence of refugees. But it is not refugees’ fault that our government has been unable to plan for a long time.”