An idea is born and a felucca is built

At the beginning of 2016, I invited my love and we flew to Aswan. We booked into the "Old Cataract" for nine days. The trip was wonderful. Everything that had been dormant inside me burst forth. I had grown up, the emotional, mystical side of the experience became clearer and more obvious to me. The Nile carried us and provided answers to existential questions, the ego dissolved, the heart opened up - in a word: I felt great. 

Journey to new friends

I got to know my friends Galal and Ala'adin on this trip. We were together with them almost every day. The Nile and sailing on it created a magical bond between us. Galal was calm, wise, reserved and caring, while Ala'adin wore his heart on his sleeve.

Some changes in Egypt hurt me: there was the enormous increase in population (almost doubling in 30 years), the decline of Nubian culture, the disappearance of the local architectural style and also the many steel boats that had replaced the traditional dahabiyas and feluccas on the Nile. But we sat in a wooden felucca, the 'Nubian', which belonged to Ala'adin's father. The 'Nubian' no longer exists. It had to be given up after 40 years for reasons of age.

We got talking about the boat: steel was cheap, they said, and there were no more boat builders, wood was more work. I was confused: "How much does a wooden boat cost?" "Between € 6,000.00 and € 8,000.00". I had that kind of money, but what would I do with a felucca? It would just sit around here in Aswan. Sailing here with children and friends, perhaps giving a seminar, bringing open ends together? That all seemed like nonsense to me! 

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"Should I lend you the money?" I asked Ala'adin. "No, as Muslims we don't do money transactions like that, it's forbidden." The thought remained virulent from then on, it kept coming up again and again. Then Ala'adin came up with a new suggestion: "I have an idea. We are three owners. You are the owner, you pay the boat, me I'm the captain, I look for the boat and Galal looks for the business. And all the money we get, we make three parts!" That sounded good, simple solutions are always good! I slept on it for a night and felt calm and relaxed in the morning. My head and stomach agreed: "Let's do it this way. Here's to a cup of tea!".

The journey came to an end and we drove home. I told others the story, doubts arose and were reinforced. "That's nonsense, you can burn the money right away." But the risk was manageable and - a promise is a promise. I transferred the money via Western Union. In installments, € 3000.00 in July, then another € 3000.00 in the fall, and the last installment of € 2000.00 at the beginning of the new year 2017. Naive as I am, I thought that was it.

The construction of a traditional felucca

The boat was supposed to be ready for Easter. The deadline was approaching, but the felucca was not yet afloat. My shipping project was slowly getting out of hand. I decided to use Easter to fly to Aswan on my own. Not with the expectation of making a maiden voyage, I simply wanted to see the progress in person.

I had a rough idea of how things were 'at the shipyard', as Ala'adin had regularly kept me up to date with photos and videos. I was also aware of some of the problems and new findings, but overall everything had remained quite abstract for me. I made the transfer, something happened and it went its way.

Everything goes its way

What an awakening! All the fascination of Egypt was back! I was picked up and put up with Ahmed on the island of Sehel. The "domino gang" sitting in front of the house, smoking water pipes and drinking tea, already knew me from the stories. Everyone had a picture of me in their head. What a welcome! Everyone was beaming. Ahmed and his family, the Quorschis (a clan on Sehel), everyone knew me and the story. But I only realized that over the next few days.

The captains of the other feluccas of Aswan had also heard of me, Abdou the tea seller and the scene at the Corniche; I was known like a sore thumb: The Owner is here, I am now the "Raiz".

Afterwards, I found out what the campaign had set in motion. Here, too, there was initially disbelief: 'It won't work, the money won't come ...' but then everyone knew better and came up with the usual advice: 'Why wood, why not use steel? Ala'adin confessed to me that he had little or no argument at the beginning, after all it was my idea.

Ala'adin in general: he suddenly had a huge project on his hands. I also realized what I had set in motion. My heart opened up, I rejoiced with them and learned that it's good to listen to your gut, that life still has something planned for us. Everything was fine, I gained confidence. I immersed myself in Nubian culture, was invited to dinner, was considered part of the family. What a gift!