Sawssen Toumi

Sawssen Toumi is a dynamic and multi-talented athlete with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tunis (2024). A certified badminton coach and referee, she is passionate about sports and physical well-being.

Sawssen is an active community leader, serving as a Scout Leader and volunteering with various organizations. Her involvement in the Lazord Fellowship has enhanced her skills in volunteering, fieldwork, and networking, allowing her to make a meaningful impact.

She is committed to continuous self-development and embraces every opportunity for personal and professional growth. Driven by a vision to inspire others, Sawssen believes that every journey is an adventure to be lived fully, embracing both the challenges and successes. She believes that maintaining a positive outlook brings positivity into her life and the lives of those around her.

Hatem Mohyeldin

With a mind full of questions and an overwhelming desire for knowledge, Hatem Mohyeldin seeks to shape his own culture and philosophy to serve the society’s goals in which he lives. While studying Arabic literature and literary criticism at Alexandria university, he sought to hone his analytical and philosophical skills; so he joined the Summer School of Philosophy as a student, then a lecturer, and then responsible for the content preparation team. Besides his participation in student activities as the coordinator’s vice of the Safwa team, the student entity representing the Library of Alexandria (BA) within universities.

Adding to his practical experiences as a research assistant, researcher, data researcher, and proofreader in several institutions and projects during the period before joining the Lazord Fellowship. Based on his belief in knowledge and cultural diversity as a tool for the development of society and the harmony of its members, he enhanced his experience during his internship in the Civic Participation Unit at DEDI, and learned the different aspects of project management, and how to enhance the skills of participation, sustainability, and acceptance within the framework of cultural exchange.

During the last quarter of 2021, Hatem coordinated a project of critical readings of Naguib Mahfouz’s works at the 6 Bab-Sharq Center in Alexandria, where the participants seek to analyse and interrogate the novels and discuss the text and its connection to reality, and then criticize it. This project turned to be the first step to “هوامش قارئ “which means “a reader commentaries” in the end of 2022, as he believe in the cultural discussion as a way to understand the society.

Ahmed Tag M.

Tag is a filmmaker, visual artist, and film impact producer. He is passionate about freedom of expression, intercultural dialogue, and art democratization for social change. Tag is motivated by his passion for civic engagement, intercultural dialogue, the arts, and filmmaking. He decided to apply to the Lazord Fellowship because of his strong belief in arts and culture as a method for social change. Ahmed was particularly engaged during college, writing, and translating several published articles on the social and political situation in Egypt and globally. He also volunteered and participated in many civic engagement projects and exchange programs in Egypt and abroad. Ahmed is an art enthusiast who is passionate about photography, videography, creative writing, and storytelling. Since 2017, he has written, filmed, edited, and directed several short films that have been submitted to film festivals, winning awards in Egypt and internationally.

Ahmed Tag Mohamed

Ahmed is motivated by his passion for civic engagement, intercultural dialogue, the arts, and filmmaking. He decided to apply to the Lazord Fellowship because of his strong belief in arts and culture as a method for social change. Ahmed was particularly engaged during college, writing and translating several published articles on the social and political situation in Egypt and globally. He also volunteered and participated in many civic engagement projects and exchange programs in Egypt and abroad. Ahmed is an art enthusiast who is passionate about photography, videography, creative writing, and storytelling. Since 2017, he has written, filmed, edited, and directed several short films that have been submitted to film festivals, winning awards in Egypt and internationally.

Mariam Dahab

Mariam’s story started when her grandfather moved from Nubia to Alexandria more than 6O years ago to search for a better life. Mariam was born and raised in Alexandria. As a Nubian girl, it seemed like she had good luck, better opportunities in education, and roads to explore arts and culture in life. However, she believes that history has a tendency to repeat itself. As memory fades, events from the past can become events of the present. Exploring origins, roots, and history is what has moved her forward in most of her life and educational experiences. After choosing to study fine arts, she specialized in sculpture. Through this, she explored her connection with clay, connecting back to her Nubian roots, as clay used for sculpture in Egypt comes from Aswan.

She decided that her mission and purpose in life was to take advantage of various opportunities and experiences, to go back to Nubia to share what she has learned, and to start a learning community. She believes that if people feel that you trust their knowledge, culture, and work for their needs, rather than for your own plans, they will in turn trust and support you. Mariam is planning to gain more knowledge and skills that will help her achieve her purpose. She wishes to create a space for informal education, peace building, and a learning community where knowledge is shared between women, families and generations, in order to preserve language, culture and history; she hopes to help her community create their own way for sustainable development through their own efforts.

Mariam perceives this fellowship as an opportunity to interact through a network of colleagues, alumni, and mentors from diverse professional backgrounds and cultures coming from all over Egypt. She perceives networking as a very important step to integrate different experiences.