The Gods Love Nubia

Aswan, the edge of Egypt's kingdom and the beginning of Nubia, is a a laid-back, lazy town with a handful of residents, a few beautiful antiquities, and about a million tourists. You may know Aswan as the town north of the big dam - famous because the construction of the dam, which provides electricity for all of Egypt, required specialists from around the world to move 22 temples and statues to prevent flooding. I was there for business, and had two totally different experiences - working and sightseeing. So rather than my normal structure, I'm dividing this post into 2 components.

Before I start, I wanted to point out that I've added a map of Egypt on the right-hand column, which might help people understand where I am...

Another sidenote: I am currently in Upper Egypt, so named because it's the beginning of the Nile (in Egypt), since the Nile flows north. As you'll note on the map, Aswan and Luxor are actually in southern Egypt. Anyway, on to the post...

1. Sightseeing

The Unfinished Obelisk was our first stop. Aswan is known for its quarries, particularly for beautiful granite. In one quarry, they found a half-carved obelisk, which if it had been completed would be the largest obelisk in the world. It's gigantic, and very revealing of the methods the ancient Egyptians used in carving obelisks.

The Temple of Isis on Philae Island (aka Philae temple), is a huge temple, constructed during Greek rule, dedicated to the Goddess Isis. It's in spectacular condition and it's beautiful. The walls of the temple are covered in carvings - illustrating the stories of Isis, hieroglyphics, etc. It was really spectacular, and you should really look at my pictures to get a better idea of what it looks like. We went there twice - once during the day with a tour guide (more on this later), and another time at night to see the sound-and-light show. The sound-and-light show was beautiful, seeing the temple completely lit up at night, though the "sound" part (an audio show with the voice of the Nile, Isis, etc) was extremely corny.

One of the most interesting parts of this temple is how it got there. When they built the dam, the island the temple was on flooded, and they had to move the temple to a whole new island. They selected an island that was a similar shape, and block by block moved the ENTIRE temple to the new place. It was an amazing process...

Nubian Museum: We got a private tour of the museum from the manager of the museum, who happens to be a world-renowned artist. The museum is very new and spectacular - it's very well designed and has fantastic pieces of work. I haven't yet been to the Egyptian museum, but I got the impression that it's similar to the Egyptian museum, though slightly smaller and focused on Nubian history and culture.

Sidenote: the manager of the museum, Ragab Said Mohamed, was responsible for the architectural design, the interior design, and the overall artistic management of the museum. In addition, he owns a gallery which was designed in the shape of a Nubian house which is on a mountain outside of town. We went there our last night to see the sunset over the Nile, which was spectacular. It was also cool to see a traditional design for a Nubian house, and to see his paintings which are beautiful. Look at my pictures for an interesting fact about the pictures :)

Elephantine Island is an island which primarily is a home for a traditional Nubian community that has ruins of communities that lived there in the past. The island has been inhabited for over 3000 years. There's not too much else to say about it. By the way, if you're wondering about Nubians, click here for more information.

Kitchner's Island is an island that was given to the British builder of the original Aswan dam (built in the 1800s) which is now a botantical garden. It's pretty, but I don't have much else to say about it.

2. Trafficking Research

You may have noticed that I've been saying "we" throughout this post. That's because I was joined in Aswan (and now in Luxor) by Jasmine, an Egyptian-Swedish woman who works at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Cairo. She and I were met in Aswan when we arrived by a wonderful man who out of pure kindness and devotion to the cause set up meetings for us throughout Aswan and made sure we were taken care of throughout (his sister cooked us dinner one night, he ensured we were properly fed the rest of the time, and arranged several excursions, including the Nubian museum and the Philae temple sound-and-light show).

This was my first opportunity to really lead the meetings the way I wanted to, and the experience I gained in the first meetings way exceeded everything I'd learned (in terms of professional development) up to that point. I've conducted these sorts of interviews in the states before, so I was a little overconfident. It's very different here. Aside from the language barriers - which were formidable - I had to spend the first half of the meeting trying to assuage their suspicions of me, as an American, walking into their town and asking sensitive questions. I learned a lot about how to act, what things to say, and how to ask questions around the issue to get the answers I needed.

One overarching theme of all the meetings I had was the high level of support that Aswan offers to disadvantaged communities. The community is extremely multicultural: I already mentioned the Nubian population, but it should be said that Aswan is also diverse religiously, which a huge population of Christians. Despite (or perhaps because of?) these differences, the community seemed to be very close-knit and understanding of and sympathetic to people of different ethnic and religious groups. I've never really experienced anything like it, and it takes a lot to take away my cynicism!

I don't have pictures yet to post, but I will hopefully get them up by Sunday night.

I'm currently in Luxor, and will post on my time here soon.