Sunshine Project International as it is today was founded in 1996 by Pearl Smith and Dr. Amr Taha, secretary General of the Egyptian Doctors Association, and officially opened in the Spring of that year. Early in1997 a trust fund was set up in the UK and charitable status registered. However, the history of the Project dates further back.

In 1992 Pearl Smith was on holiday and met some doctors who were attending a conference in Luxor. During discussions Pearl expressed her concern for the condition of some of the street children. As a result of this interest Pearl was invited to visit a local clinic caring particularly for children and mothers. It was in this one dingy room that she became fully aware of the desperate plight of abandoned children in Egypt. The conditions she witnessed two baby boys living in imprinted itself on her heart.

From this moment on the need of these children preyed on her mind. Pearl became a regular visitor to the clinic, flying back and forth from her UK home, and decided a special home needed to be opened for these children. After selling her home and moving to Luxor, Pearl began a campaign to open such a facility.

In 2003 Pearl Smith returned to the UK to receive treatment for Cancer, sadly Pearl lost her battle with the disease and she died in February 2004.

After Pearl’s sudden and untimely death, long term deputy Lorna Ford took the reigns in Luxor. Lorna continues to Manage the Project and care for the children to this day, along with her staff and the Sunshine Foundation members. The Sunshine Foundation was re-formed and registered as charity No 5 in Luxor in 2006.The Project in Luxor continues to flourish and provides home and care to 83 children as of June 2008.

Initially opening with a handful of children in rented accommodation, once Egyptian Charitable status was conferred (becoming the first foreign led project in Egypt to be recognised as a charity) the number of children rocketed. Apart from the abandoned children, Sunshine became a place of respite care too. No provision exists in Luxor for short term care of children under the age of eight. By the beginning of 2002 there were thirty-four residents which increased to 45 by March 2004 and, on average, a new baby arrives every month, swelling the numbers and creating even more brothers and sisters for a terrific group of children.

The Trustees began their work to raise the profile of the charity .In Luxor Pearl Smith and Dr Amr Taha began their campaign with the authorities to have the abandoned children registered into Sunshine care working under the auspices of the local Social affairs departments. This was a huge task the odds being against Pearl as a foreigner and a woman working in an Islamic state.

In 1999 Pearl finally achieved recognition for her work and the Project was awarded charitable status in Egypt. From this moment on Sunshine started to receive new born babies that had been found abandoned in Luxor and surrounding areas. The general procedure from there on was that any child found would first be named by the Egyptian courts and then registered into the care of the Sunshine Project.

As the work was being carried out in Luxor so it was in the UK. A sponsorship scheme was set up to help provide for the day to day care of the children and fundraising events were organised amongst supporters of the Project. The word soon spread around the visiting tourists and Travel companies working in Luxor. Thomsons holiday reps began to visit the project and eventually became the biggest company to sponsor our work and they encouraged their clients to visit the Project and support our work. In 1999 Thomson managers in Luxor arranged for the Times newspaper to fly out to Luxor and an article published in 1999 helped considerably to raise the profile of the Project and the British Founder Pearl Smith. In 2002 two other travel companies Imaginative Traveller and Explore Worlwide followed suit and adopted the project and encouraged support amongst their clients.

In 2006 the British Trust formed the SUNSHINE PROJECT (a charitable Company Ltd by Guarantee) and monies donated and raised here in the UK are granted and transferred to Egypt for the welfare and care of the needy children of Luxor. Sunshine Project works closely with the Sunshine foundation in Luxor to ensure the children receive maximum benefit.

For a current update on the Building project please Click Here.