Mohamed El Mongy

What was your role and involvement with Pioneers of Change?

I was involved as a member of the network and participated in a couple of local events and one international gathering in South Africa.

What has your journey been since your time with Pioneers of Change?

Since the Pioneers of Change, I pursued my calling of healing the wounds of separation between Nile Basin countries; separation from the Nile/nature, separation from our indigenous ways of knowing and separation from each other as societies and people. Therefore, I co-founded the NILE Journeys; a platform for regenerating the Nile ecosystem, shifting consciousness and narratives about the Nile. The process allowed me to be certified mediator (as a profession), conflict transformation facilitator and got me engaged in agro-ecology and sustainable communities. I obtained my Master Degree in Environment and development from the department of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh and my PhD in Innovation Management from DaVinci Institute in South Africa with the thesis on regenerative scenarios for the Nile Basin. I am waiting to start working on publishing it in a book.

What values, lessons, or experiences from Pioneers of Change have stayed with you?

What I remember was something in the line of "Why wait for engaging in transformation? Now is the moment." This was very impactful for me. The other experience is the connection with nature in the two retreats I was involved in, the one in South Africa and the one in Egypt that I helped with preparing but could not attend.

What advice would you give to today’s young changemakers as they navigate their own paths?

To be authentic, to follow their calling (start first by knowing their calling), not to wait for the perfect plan rather work with emergent design, believing that the answers are there. It is also ok not to have answers that is why we need the collective. Asking questions and being curious, not only to find answers, but to grow towards the question and enjoy the exploratory journey. Unlearn the conventional measures of success being pushed on us since education. Connect to one's land and one's waters (including the earth and water within). Leadership through humbleness and illuminating ways of being/knowing/doing other than yours.