Page 32 - aruba-today-20190514

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 14 May 2019
Two communities show Nubians' past, a version of the future

By HAMZA HENDAWI But so far, Wadi Karkar has
NARIMAN EL-MOFTY fallen flat.
Associated Press Fewer than 500 of the
WADI KARKAR, Egypt (AP) homes are occupied, and
— With a mix of nostalgia the streets in many parts
and sorrow, Egypt's Nu- feel deserted.
bians look back at their People have been reluc-
lives in ancestral lands in tant to move in because of
southern Egypt as a peace- lack of jobs or services. The
ful era tied intimately to the mobile signal is sketchy.
Nile River. Recently, a bus service
Since their eviction in the between the colony and
1960s to make way for the Aswan, some 25 kilometers
giant lake behind the As- (15 miles) away, was sus-
wan High Dam, they have pended because it wasn't
lived in desolate towns economically feasible, ac-
further north, often on the cording to residents.
edge of the desert. Many "The problem here is devel-
in the community yearn to opment," said Mohammed
return to lands along the Haroun. The 64-year-old
banks of Lake Nasser. moved here with his wife
Two communities show the in 2014. He was 9 when his
contrasts of the Nubians' This May 9 , 2018, photo shows the temple complex of Philae in Aswan, Egypt. family was moved from
fate — one pointing back Associated Press their village of Daboud in
to the Nubians' past, the 1963 and relocated to Kom
other showing the state's colors, some with domes keeping the crop to eat desert west of Lake Nasser, Ombo, before later moving
fumbling attempts to find a mirroring the traditional Nu- themselves. has been touted by the to Aswan.
substitute to quiet calls for a bian architecture. Residents belong to some government as providing a Haroun said he's happy
return to the old country. In some places, the Nile half dozen clans under a "Return" for Nubians. with Wadi Karkar. It's a
___ stretches majestically for single tribe. It's like one big First opened in 2008, the pleasant place to retire
HEISA ISLAND more than a mile into the family. colony has about 2,000 after 40 years working at a
The village of Heisa, home distance to the surround- There is only one doctor at homes, and more are state-run chemical factory,
to around 2,000 people, of- ing desert shores. Children the island's clinic. He comes planned. There's a police the air is clean, it's quiet,
fers a glimpse into what life are out in the river on small from Mansoura in the Nile station, post office and the electricity and water
was like for Nubians in their boats in the afternoons as Delta, some 1,000 kilome- greenhouses that employ work, he explains. He grows
homeland before the up- young men swim to cool ters (625 miles) to the north. a few dozen people. With peppers, basil and parsley
heavals of the last century. off. Some of the villagers When he's on vacation, the well-ordered symmetrical in his little home garden
It is perched on an island still practice old traditions island's sick have to seek streets, it looks almost ex- and hangs out with other
in the Aswan reservoir, like baptizing newborns in treatment in Aswan. Water actly like the innumerable men his age after the sun-
which was created by the the Nile, grooms washing in supply is rationed. Electric- other planned communi- set prayers.
building of a small dam in its waters before their wed- ity was not introduced to ties that have been built in "But there is no river here!"
1902. While other villages ding or floating dishes of the island until the 1980s. the deserts around Cairo he said with a laugh. The
surrounding it were evacu- food for the river's mythical There is a primary school and elsewhere — except shores of Lake Nasser are
ated from the area, Heisa's guardians. but for middle and high the houses are built in a an 8-kilometer (5-mile) drive
people stayed, moving to Most of Heisa's men are school, the children travel modern concrete-brick- away. He remembered his
higher ground. Most of their government employees, to nearby larger villages on and-stone imitation of the childhood playing in the
farmland was lost under usually going to work in the mainland. traditional mud-brick Nu- Nile and rituals like baptiz-
water. Decades later, the Aswan in their boats, and On a recent evening, sev- bian style. ing children in the river.
Aswan High Dam was built then ferrying tourists around eral villagers drank tea and Authorities boast that it will His six children and 10
upstream, sandwiching the river for extra cash. chatted on a mustabah, eventually number some grandchildren have not fol-
Heisa in between. Dozens of traditional sail- a concrete block built 30,000 people. Some Nu- lowed him to Wadi Karkar.
The air is clean and crisp boats called feluccas are against a house's outer bians qualify to receive They only visit.
on the island. The houses, anchored at small docks wall and used as a bench homes there for free as "The government said this is
built on rocky hills, are spa- around the island. Villag- where men and women compensation for past loss- Return, but it is not Return,"
cious and painted in bright ers grow fruit trees, mostly separately meet to social- es. he said.q
ize.
"The centerpiece of a typi-
cal Nubian home is the
mustabah," said Basheer
Murakeb Mohammed, a
58-year-old government
employee, as he sipped his
glass of sweet tea with milk,
a fixture for Nubians' sunset
sittings.
"We don't feel isolated. We
are here and we are hap-
py to be here," he said.
___
WADI KARKAR: In this Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, photo, Nubian activist Waleed Toka
This May 7 , 2018, photo shows the high dam in Aswan, Egypt. Wadi Karkar, a complex poses for a photograph in Cairo, Egypt.
Associated Press built by the military in the Associated Press