“The value of people cannot be defined,” this is the philosophy by which Majda Gibran, better known in Egypt as “Mama Maggie”, lives. She devoted over three decades of her life to serving the less fortunate. Her work empowered over 33,000 children in Cairo to achieve their potential and successfully leave Cairo’s slums.
Her story begins with what was meant to be a quick visit to the garbage slums in Cairo. She knew right away she would dedicate the rest of her life to helping those in need, especially children, held back by shortages of basic life necessities.
The harrowing scenes of poverty in the slums forever changed her life. Mama Maggie soon abandoned the comforts of her previous life and quit her job as an American University professor to lend a helping hand to those who needed her the most.
She began sharing meals, gifts and basic necessities to less fortunate families in the garbage slums. Her warmth and sincerity that transcended donations and material support gave residents a sense of hope and dignity.
In 1985, Mama Maggie founded the Stephen’s Children Foundation, with the mission to help save lives, bring hope, and preserve dignity of underprivileged children and young people, empowering them to lead their own people’s development and lift them out of poverty.
The foundation provides education and training to thousands of children living in poverty. Over the last few years, the Stephen’s Children Foundation has extended its humanitarian, social and educational initiatives to thousands of families and children in other poor neighbourhoods.
To date, Mama Maggie has established 92 educational centres to teach over 18,000 children and carried out healthcare campaigns that provides treatment to over 40,000 patients annually. She conducts visits to more than 13,000 children to provide counselling and training services. Her foundation’s three vocational training centres for mothers and children empower families to earn their own income. Her foundation has benefitted over 33,000 children, with the help of approximately 2,000 volunteers, and it is still growing today.
Mama Maggie, a Nobel Prize nominee, never sought fame or reward for her work. She aspires to be remembered as a hope maker who made a difference in the lives of every person that crossed her path.