Partnership Overview

Father A has established a house for the poor in a poorer part of Assiut city. Every day except Sunday a group of about 15 women come to the centre to cook 350 meals which are then delivered to the poor.

Matthew House is a faith-based organisation, and they rely on donations from individuals. They do not advertise; everyone knows Father A. Matthew 25:44–45 is his motivation, that is why it is called Matthew House. “Lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you? Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.”

Another BHW partner, N, has been helping him with some of the funds we send them for a poverty reduction programme in Upper Egypt (EGY05).  

History of Partnership

Father A is a long-term friend of N and S. S and he studied pharmacy together and sometime later, he left his own pharmacy business to become a priest. Father A is a wonderful man; he does not have to do this. He is a pharmacist and gave up a very successful business to follow his heart and his God to the poorest people. He comes from a wealthy family and his wife is a practicing doctor; yet he stays with the poor. His heart and willingness to sacrifice for his God tells them a lot about him.

For several years BHW has supported ministries in Upper Egypt through N and S. Some of those funds have been used to assist Matthew House in this work. 

N suggested to BHW's Egypt Partnership Facilitators that they should visit Matthew House when they were in Assuit in September 2022. They went and were very impressed by the vibrant community that he is developing in the name of Christ.  

Beneficiaries

The 350 people that receive meals six days a week. Most of these people are shut ins, elderly or unwell who cannot get out of their houses. Some of his team cook the food, others deliver it. 

As well, poor people from the countryside come into Assuit for medical or hospital care and often have nowhere to stay. They can stay in the home for a week and meals are provided for them as well. Assuit is the main town in Upper Egypt for Christian believers. The Christians are largely poor and live in the thousands of surrounding villages or in the poor parts of the city.  

What We Like About The Partnership

This is established and led by a man who has a heart to share both food and good news with people. 

He has built a strong volunteer team to help prepare and deliver meals. 

This project will assist with developing relationships with the Coptic Church. This is a very important issue for N, our main partner in Egypt. 

N and S are very connected to him and strongly recommended him to us. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Father A is a lovely man with a huge smile and warm embrace! He is a very good friend of N and S (EGY01) and in fact trained with S as a pharmacist before being drawn to the priesthood, particularly to help poor people. You can tell there is something good in this man, it kind of oozes out of him. The way he relates to everyone around him is very impressive. It is obvious the women who come to prepare the food are very loyal and love his leadership. There was a palpable joy in the place as they worked. 

He is an overt evangelical and loves explaining to people about having a relationship with Christ. 

The vision of the programme is to feed the poor and expose them to the love of Christ. 

The strategy is to consistently provide for the needs of the poor. 

Annual Budget

It costs approximately EGP60,000/month to run the food ministry, about US$3,000/month or US$100/day. At this stage, BHW has committed to provide US$4,400/year to assist this ministry, for an initial 2-year commitment.