We arrived in New Halfa around 3 pm and spent the day in visits. My son Tariq took good notes, so I’m sharing them directly.
Ustaz Rushdi, a high-school teacher in Old Nubia, was eager to share his impressions. These are my notes from meeting him.
Although villagers are given more land here, the smaller amount of land that they were given in Old Halfa was more valuable to them. It was easier to farm, and the yields were higher. Farms were more prosperous in Old Halfa, due to rich/fertile land near the Nile River.
New Halfa only contains of mountains and far ranging desert, in comparison to Old Halfa which had the Nile River flowing through it. The river provided silt and fertile land within its vicinity, which in effect resulted in high-quality fruit trees. They grew oranges, dates, okra and wheat.
The date trees were easy income for them on top of their crops and livestock. They are no longer given that opportunity of easy income. They now have to work much harder to gain higher income; especially with the issue of harder farming land.
The villages were closer together. In New Halfa, a village of 250 houses is separated by 6 or 7 kilometers from the next village, so it is difficult to maintain friendships across villages.
“The friendships, the river, the fruit trees could not be replicated.”
The native language, the Rotana is starting to alter as Arabic words are mixing into it.
The total compensation given to the Nubians for the lives that they lost, including the housing, factories, date palms, was 15 million pounds; far less than the value of what they lost. One of the men explained that he would not have chosen to emigrate to New Halfa if his place of work, a workshop, was not shut down.
Nubians appreciated the fact that everyone that resided in Old Halfa was Nubian. They were isolated from other tribes. They were united and friendly with each other. Disputes would be settled in a quick and fair manner. In New Halfa, several tribes of Sudanese are settled, some are shepherds, some are farmers. There are sometimes misunderstandings; arguments escalate very quickly. They need to find better ways to resolve conflicts.
Most of the older villagers desired that their children were born in Old Halfa instead of New Halfa; One of the men explained that he still dreamt of Old Halfa despite the fact that it has been decades since he has been there.
The Elderly villagers seemed to appreciate Old Halfa far more than New Halfa; the family that we are staying with contains younger people. They are more satisfied with their current life than they were with Old Halfa’s lifestyle.
After the flood 