Salah Abdel Halim

I’m sorry to report that one of the older gentlemen that we interviewed in the resettlement community of New Halfa passed away in late December 2017.   We had a brief interview with him, in which he complained about the lack of government attention to the infrastructure in New Halfa.  He noted that the government delivered asphalt but never actually paved the roads.  What is important is that another member of the generation that lived through the Exodus is now gone.

As we learned in our visit to New Halfa, this is a very special generation. Salah Abdel Halim’s generation grew up in old Nubia before the flood and was old enough to know the joys and challenges of life.  The mental image held by this generation is frozen in time.  It is of old Nubia before the exodus, over fifty years ago. They had to confront the reality of losing their homeland that they had known for millennia, board the trains as a community, and rebuild their lives in an entirely different ecosystem and climate.   There are not many experiences like this in history.  Perhaps because the exodus was involuntary, the beauty and simplicity of life in Nubia before the flood cannot leave their hearts. As one of his friends told us, even if he blessed enough to get to heaven, he will still dream of the Nubia he left behind.

The exodus is now part of Nubia’s history and culture.  As people like Salah Abdel Halim move on from this world to the next, it is vital that we take the time to listen and learn from them.  May he rest in peace, among date palms and a river very much like that he left behind.