Nubian Cultural Center

Context & Background:

Nubians are an Indigenous community from the central Nile Valley. Due to the construction of the Aswan Dam in 1964, 44 Nubian villages were drown by flood and resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of Egyptian Nubians from their lands since. Between colonial displacement and living dispersed throughout the Arabized regions of their native lands across Upper (South) Egypt and Northern Sudan, the Nubian culture faces constant threats of ongoing erasure and loss. Alas, the people are steadfast and fight daily for their right of return and continuation.

When I visited Aswan for the first time in 2016, I was lucky to befriend a local elder who shared my interest in herbs, healing, and cultural preservation. Somewhat of a local historian, he taught me so much and also took me around various islands and communities where we listened to stories together about the traditional herbal and birthing practices through the area. We have been in touch since, deepening our relaitonship throughout my few other visits to Aswan these past 8 years.

In 2021 I went to Aswan with a group of friends from Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon & Egypt for a collaborative project. A local friend took us to visit one of the displaced villages in the area. We were overcome with the haunting familiarity of abandonned land, once beloved and still deeply fought for by her people scattered across the region despite their every effort to return. We could feel the grief in our bodies, the state violence within which this displacement was built, and the righteousness of the Nubian people's unwavering resistance.

The Ask:

One of the entry points for my relationship with this A'amo (uncle) was him and other elders concerns about the younger generations losing Nubian language knowledge. He had a dream of building a local cultural center where language, healing traditions, and other Nubian cultural practices could be passed down to the generations. It has been an honor to support his vision in coming to life, and I am hoping you will join me in ensuring it can come to completion inshallah with more funds as they are needed.

This week I received a call from this elder requesting urgent need for only $1000 in order to complete the building of his Nubian cultural center for his community in Aswan. Some of you may remember our mutual aid efforts for this elder a couple years ago & the stories I shared then (see instagram for more details).

The Ministry of Tourism in Egypt has made it notoriously difficult for Nubians to regain access to their land & create initiatives that protect culture being lost quickly after generations of displacement & increasing pressures to keep up with global capitalism, Arabization & western modernization simultaneously. My friend building this center is specifically doing it with the intention of preserving culture *within* the local community rather than only facing tourists. This effort is a critical part of the resilience & resistance of Indigenous communities refuting erasure of land, wealth & culture.

As we mobilize to support Palestine & redistribute necessary resources to our kin in Gaza facing genocide, we must continue to support other Indigenous communities struggling for Land Back & building their cultures within worlds that insist on erasing them, everywhere. Each of these communities teach us something about the struggles against settler colonialism & how we can survive & resist at every phase of their impact. The links between these Nile communities & Palestine are ever present & we must protect both & invest in the Land Back efforts of the Indigenous nations we live on every day in every way we can by taking political action towards Indigenous sovereignty globally.

$1000 is not much. I am confident we can raise this together quickly before this Elder’s municipality deadline in a couple months inshallah, which would detour his project for several years. I am confident we can do this while continuing to pour into the Gaza Mutual Aid still desperately needed.

Yalla, which 20 friends here can pledge to raise at least $50 to help us meet this goal? Who can you invite to help you meet a $50 goal. Got 10 friends who have 5 dollars? 5 who have $20? Let's do this!