HOME - ConnectIn Siwa

Connecting Siwa Oasis or a Better Future.

Connecting Women Empowerment with Child Education while Revitalizing the Local Heritage in Siwa Oasis – Egypt.

Committed since 2015 with improving education in Siwa, now we want to carry our project to the next level.
In our new program “Women for Women”, we envision working towards women empowerment,
while contributing to better education for children, and heritage revival of the unique culture in a sustainable way.

Siwa's first all-women project

"Women for women" = Working women who have experience on the field, support those who desire to work.

Working directly on the ground

We all live and work in Siwa Oasis and are directly involved and following up with every step of the process.

Cultural sensitive approach

Our project is created in cooperation with Siwan women to fulfill the requirements of their customs and culture.

Empowering Women

We aim to establish a program that will empower local women through vocational training, promoting employment. This will give women the opportunity to generate their own sustainable incomes.

Educating Children

We seek to expend our existing educational program, to be able to offer modern and quality education to a larger number of children.

Reviving Local Heritage

Handicrafts are an essential part of Siwan identity. We envision to establish a program in which we revive the five most special handicrafts of the oasis in a sustainable way.

I met Yuridia when she was first setting up her project. In Siwa oasis I helped her to make her place ready, painting, buying things. After a year I came back and contributed to teaching and doing creative activities with youngsters. It was a great expierence to be so involved with locals.

Yuridia and me are both from Colombia, so I thought it would be so interesting to join her project on the other side of the world. For three months she hosted me as a volunteer in which I thought English, especially to girls. It was a fantastic way for me to get to know more about Siwa and I came back many times after.

I am from Greece and always wanted to go to Egypt and especially to an environment like Siwa. I was encouraged by Yuridia's work and wanted to do my contribution. I learned a lot and the feeling of her hosting me, gave me a very safe feeling when traveling alone, as a woman, to such a far away place.

I worked with Yuridia during the first years of her project. I was already living in Siwa and when we met, I wanted to contribute to society by joining forces with her. For almost 3 years we worked side by side, on establishing and giving courses. I was especially dealing with men, as I am Egyptian and the culture makes it easier. I left for Canada, but Siwa and ConnectIn are always close to my heart.

I was involved in Yuridia's project for a couple of years. Traveling on and off from England. I am a professional teacher myself, so my experience helped to develop a more Montessori based approach. Having such close contact with the women and children was an incredible asset.

We are Lyann and Chao from China, and early 2022 we volunteered a month with Yuridia to work on funding. We are professionals on this field and helped to structure the project proposal and reorganize some ideas. We hope she keeps expanding her project because it has so much potential.