A series of three videos in Arabic filmed in New Halfa. All are of Nubian elders who are reflecting on their lives since the Hijra.
Ustaz Rushdie, an educator, reflects on his longing for home, and how after fifty years he still dreams of the life he had.
He married in the new country and raised his family. His children have not seen Old Halfa, yet in his dreams they only appear in the old country. Nothing in the new land resembles the old, whether the trees, the agriculture, the houses. Also, old Nubia was isolated from other tribes. Conflicts may arise from use of land between pastoralists and farmers, which in older times were easily resolved because everyone knew each other.
The land that was provided is larger, but requires mechanized farming and is less productive. In old Nubia, the plots were smaller but more productive. He commented on the loss of the language, especially in the towns between the villages.
Abdel Aziz Shelabi talks of being betrayed and fooled by the authorities in 1964, and compensated at a fraction of what was lost in the flood. He talks about the unrealized plans, and that agriculture worked well initially but that the land has grown tired. He complains that the project really is for the benefit of others and not the Nubians.
Hassan Abdel Halim talks about the neglect of the village and its infrastructure, including an unfinished road.
After the flood 
My heart breaks for your family, your relatives, the exodus, they displacement of your people. Thanks for sharing things I would have never heard about in the local news. I’m moved and grieved by all that they have lost. My prayers are with you and with them… Safe travels, friend.
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Thanks for your kind thoughts Yancey. It was amazing to me that the older generation really has had no closure even after 50 years; they seem unsettled even after establishing new lives and raising their families in the new location. It raises many questions for me, for example about the nature of “home” and whether the ideas and culture that define a people can survive a change in the physical setting. We’ll comment on that when visiting the original homeland in Nubia.
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