Nubia, a region located along the Nile between northern Sudan and southern Egypt, is home to one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Africa. Its centuries-old language of Swahili origin was passed down through verbal practice—it is a spoken language, not written—and was used by former Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat, who is Nubian himself, during the 1973 war to communicate orders without the interception of Israel’s Mosad. However, as Nubia’s older generation passes on, the language has become increasingly at risk of dying out. Fearing the loss of his mother tongue, Mo’men Taloush decided to make use of the digital age and built a mobile application that would give Nubia the kiss of life. Nubi launched in February, but the light bulb for the idea went off for Taloush in the beginning of 2016. “Being Nubian and working in the technology sector, I thought why not? Everyone has a smart phone, from kids to the elderly,” said Taloush, who works in the application support department for a programming company. The app offers lessons in both Nubian dialects spoken in Egypt: Kinzy of the Kenouz Tribe, who reside mainly in Aswan and make up most of Egypt’s Nubian…
