Resettling The Aswan Nubians

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30497, 20 July 1964, Page 2

Resettling The Aswan Nubians

Thousands of Nubian families, whose land and homes are to be submerged by the waters of the Aswan High Dam across the Nile, are being helped to accept resettlement and adjustment to their new lives by the woman in President Gamal Nasser’s Cabinet The woman is Dr. Hekmat Abu Zeid, Minister of Social Affairs for the United Arab Republic, writes Dorothy E. Gates, in the "Christian Science Monitor.” Dr. Abu Zeid’s ministry was founded to work out the rebuilding of the country socially and economically, and sie is concerned with public aid of all kinds. The plight of the dispossessed Nubians became a particularly absorbing interest to her, after she visited the ancient land of Nubia about a year ago. In the rugged mountainous area in Upper Egypt, the

land extends, on both banks of the Nile, from Aswan beyond the High Dam, southward to the other side of the Sudan border. Some 40 villages in the area will soon be submerged. Dr. Abu Zeid met the villagers at the time they were moved and told them what to expect in their new life. She described the new schools for their children and the opportunity for work. She knew it would not be easy for them to leave the land of their forbears; that they needed guidance, and that their fears of the new and unknown had to be allayed. Model Villages The families have been shifted to 33 model villages at Kom Obo, about 30 miles north of Aswan. There are schools, hospitals and a mosque in each village. Some factories are completed and more are being built. These will include plants for sugar processing, preserving vege-

tables, drying and packing dates, and drying and packing salt. Near the villages will be large areas of irrigated arable land. Pattern May Change Previously, most of the men had left their villages and gone north to find work as waiters, servants and guides in the large cities, coming home on visits only once a year. Dr. Abu Zeid hopes that this pattern will now change, with employment available near their homes. In the centre of the village area is the capital of the new settlement. It is called Nasr, a name that means “victory” in Arabic. Results of Dr. Abu Zeid’s work in other fields have been the creation of organisations for nursery homes, for adoptions, maternity care, and for guidance of young people through clubs and welfare centres, and she has helped to set up training programmes to teach families

how to raise their standard of living. Training Centres One of her latest training centres is for the rehabilitation of disabled delinquent children, where they are taught handicrafts and are given raw materials so they can make baskets, chairs, and other products. Dr. Abu Zeid came to government service in 1962 after serving as a professor in education at Ein Shams University in Cairo. She was bom in Cairo and received her B.A. degree in history at Cairo University but soon became more interested in social research. She attended St. Andrews University in Scotland, and then received her Ph.D. at the University of London in 1952. Her native language is Arabic, her adopted ones English and French. Dr. Abu Zeid’s husband, a banker, is proud of her work, and encourages her many plans for helping the needy.