Clean Nile

The Nile Island of Qursaya is habituated by around 1.500 persons. It lies between the two cities Cairo and Gize in the middle of the river Nile. Main occupation of the inhabitants is fishing and farming.  In contrast to the vibrant city life of the surrounding bigger Cairo area the island brings one back to the countryside. I spent 7 days on the island living together with the very committed people of the NGO VeryNile and offering a photographic workshop together with my colleague Jörg Winde. Participants were 12 students from two universities: German University Cairo and University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Dortmund.

VeryNile was launched in 2018 as an initiative that breaks down boundaries through its broad range of problem-solving ideas, a strong will to act, and its ability to bring together interdisciplinary volunteers and industry partners. VeryNile works to develop sustainable methods to clean the Nile, recycle and upcycle solid waste through partnerships with local stakeholders and at a preventative level to reduce the use of single-use plastic and reduce water pollution. Using a variety of methods and approaches, VeryNile removes more than 10 tons of plastic from the Nile every month. A workshop for recycling PET bottles and other plastic materials was set up on the Nile island of Qursaya. To achieve this, the organization works with around 60 local fishermen, 5,000 volunteers and 21 permanent employees.