CAWU, as an organisation, first visited the city of Maghagha, near Qufādah in early 2010. Relations had been established by CAWU Vice-President Cornelis Hulsman several years previously with the local Coptic Orthodox priest Abūna (Father) Yu’annis. As a result, AWR Researcher and a friend of CAWU, Jayson Casper visited him in his "village not far from Maghagha." On his personal blog, Jayson chronicles the fascinating first and second days of his family's visit.
During his time there, Jayson interviewed Abūna Yu’annis on the incident in Nag Hamadi and his wife Julie narrated the Casper family's adventures at the Holy Family sites near the village. In addition, she wrote a detailed narrative of the whole trip With the help of Abūna Yu’annis, further research was done into the difficulties of church building in Upper Egypt. Since then, other trips have been taken to the village to provide a more detailed perspective of Egypt's socio-economic make-up and the political interactions of the center and periphery.
Below are some of the articles written with Qufādah as a source of information and inspiration.
Casper, Jayson. 'A Home with No Husbands: A Glimpse at Internal Egyptian Migration', The Atlantic Council (25 Oct. 2012)
Casper, Jayson. 'Hamdī ‘Abd al-Fattāh: How Salafis Supported the Constitution in Upper Egypt', Arab West Report (9 April 2014)
Casper, Jayson. 'Shaykh Hamdī of Maghāghah, A Salafi Candidate with Coptic Support', Arab West Report (22 Jan. 2012)
Vink, Jonathan. 'Coptic tattoos as signs of unity for Egypt', Arab West Report (24 Sept. 2014)
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