“At the end of the day, it’s about who we are and where we come from,” Rania Salem, founder of ‘NubiYouth’ community organization, tells Egyptian Streets. “I truly believe that being true to yourself and understanding who you are lies in knowing who your ancestors were, what they went through, and how they thought and lived.” While the Nile is considered to be a very important source of life for many Egyptians, it is also a symbol of identity and pride for many Nubians, which helped fuel an ancient Nubian civilization that can be traced as far back as 2000 BCE — one of the earliest civilizations in ancient Northeastern Africa. “Everything that roams in it [the Nile], we consider angels,” a Nubian villager in Aswan famously said. Today, many Nubians live miles away from their source of life, home and pride, as only 20 percent of Nubians now live in Aswan, according to a UPR report in 2019. Feeling disconnected, disadvantaged and dispersed around the world, attempts to revive Nubian heritage and uplift the community have been on the rise, with applications like the ‘Nubi’ mobile application, which utlizies…
To Dream Together: How ‘NubiYouth’ Supports and Connects Nubians Globally
March 23, 2021
