In February 2012, ‘Utopia Sinks into Poverty’ headlined many websites addressing the conditions in Mit Shammas village, in Giza governorate. The headline addresses the failure of a village development project, initiated three years earlier, to provide this impoverished village with basic services including clean water, schools and cultural centers.

In February 2012, ‘Utopia Sinks into Poverty’ headlined many websites addressing the conditions in Mit Shammas village, in Giza governorate. The headline addresses the failure of a village development project, initiated three years earlier, to provide this impoverished village with basic services including clean water, schools and cultural centers.

The village only has two schools for girls, so villagers have to send their daughters to schools in nearby villages. However, most villagers fear for their daughters, which has contributed to an increase in the village’s drop out rate. The village Sheikh volunteered to help and opened a primary school to provide dropouts with literacy support, using his experience as an Arabic teacher.

“Several years ago, a report on education in our village revealed that the female dropout rate was 89%,” Sheikh Bayoumi said. “Still, the government did not offer any solution. Therefore, my wife advised me to establish a primary school to teach the girls and help them memorize the Koran.”

In this same small village, a 10-year-old  girl named Hasnaa sits at a desk and does her homework. But she is not just any pupil, she is also a journalist, she says.

Hasnaa decided to become a journalist after being deeply affected by hearing Sheikh Bayoumi reciting poetry. She started writing down her thoughts, which later took on a narrative style and, her sister Suha, seven years older   introduced her younger sister to the world of journalism.

Suha had more luck in learning to read at an early age and increased her skills by reading newspapers and books, but she was more passionate about newspapers and decided to involve her younger sister by encouraging her to read short novels and newspapers.

“Our sheikh taught us that reading is the most important part of learning,” said Hasnaa. “My sister and I read lots of newspapers and we noticed that our village is not mentioned in newspapers except for misfortunes. Therefore, we decided to create our own newspaper to address local issues.”

Despite its simplicity, the magazine includes all the village news including deaths, births, marriages and achievements of villagers. The paper also covers news about agriculture, weather and seasons, and farming methods, in addition to sports and physics. “Mit Shammas is not merely a village. We are a big family; we support each other, care for our lands and solve the problems that the government has failed to address including the fact that we do not have enough schools,” Hasnaa explained.

The Sheikh was interested in the sisters’ project and was amazed with their talent. He helped them develop their skills by reviewing their writings and encouraging them to read the works of great writers such as Naguib Mahfouz, al-Hakim, Marquez and many others.

“I was honored that they asked for my opinion in the first issue of their newspaper. I corrected their grammar and added a religious section,” he said. “I started printing the newspaper at my own expense and asked my students to distribute it to all the residents. Thanks to Hasnaa, our primary school has turned into a publishing house for the village weekly.”

The people of Mit Shamms were enthusiastic about the newspaper and were keen on reading it. The villagers’ approval and praise encouraged the sisters to keep working on their newspaper to produce better issues to help the villagers.

The newspaper even reached the desk of Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education Buthaina Kishk who said: “I have been following up on the newspaper of Mit Shammas and I am impressed with the educational level of the village. I have previously received a number of complaints from the villagers about their need to build additional schools in the village and the ministry is preparing a budget as well as a plan to develop the Giza villages and build more schools.”