In the last in our series of stories featuring extraordinary mothers we meet Nadeen, who had to go to incredible lengths to keep her two young daughters safe from the violent and unpredictable behaviour of their father.

In the third in our series of stories featuring extraordinary mothers we meet Myriam, who had the courage and determination to protect the children in her care from the harmful and illegal practice of Female Genital Mutilation.

In the second in our series of stories featuring extraordinary mothers we meet Auset. Like many women in rural Egypt, gender discrimination meant Auset was not able to access adequate education as a child. This left her isolated, limited in what she could do and struggling against inequality.

In the weeks leading up to Mothering Sunday, we’ll be sharing stories of incredible mothers in difficult situations who have overcome the odds and built safer, better lives for themselves and their families. Divorce from her husband left Madiha with nothing to support herself and her children – so she built up her own business from scratch.

“Every time I see a child or a woman whom I’ve helped, it encourages me to continue.” Magy, a young Egyptian Christian, tells us about her work as the educational programme coordinator at the Episcocare’s community centre in Alexandria.

The residents of El-Marg El-Sherkia, an informal community in Cairo, had to collect water in buckets everyday, until a project run by BLESS and supported by Embrace helped them get piped water installed - bringing clean, running water to 400 families.

Aisha was desperately worried about her toddler’s health. But she was living over 1,000 miles away from her hometown and she didn’t know where to turn…

Nadia and her young family recently crossed the border into Egypt, but like so many fleeing the violence in Sudan, they had had to leave everything behind and had nothing to survive on.

In this short video, an Egyptian woman explains how her life has changed for the better since learning to read.