A note from Janice Masoud, Under the Nile CEO

Every six months for the past twenty years, my husband and I take a trip. It's a 7,439 mile trip, and takes about 24 hours of airplanes and airports to get there. And it's not exactly a vacation (vacation? what's that?). 

This far away place that we visit twice a year, in the winter and summer, is SEKEM, our manufacturing facility in Egypt-- where the magic happens and where all Under the Nile products are made. We had a great time snapping photos on our last trip this May. I wanted to introduce you to some of the special people that make the beautiful garments and toys that make Under the Nile so unique.

Konstanze

Konstanze runs the manufacturing facility that produces all Under the Nile products. SEKEM is a family business-- she and her husband (SEKEM CEO Helmy Abouleish), have four grown daughters, and two of them work in different departments of the company. Konstanze is originally from Germany, but speaks and writes fluently in Arabic.

Samya

Samya has been managing our toy quality for eight years, ensuring that each toy is top notch. She has a baby boy, who stays at the on site day care about 500 feet from the building she works in. Her and her son have walkie talkie's so that they can communicate throughout the day, and she spends her lunch breaks with him playing at the day care. 

Jing

Jing moved to Egypt from the Philippines and has been working there for eight years now. She manages quality control for all of our Under the Nile clothing from start to finish-- knitting, dying, cutting, printing, she sees it all. Jing is married with two kids. We bonded over our mutual love of the Egyptian dish "mahshy," which is a dish of stuffed peppers. She also enjoys the occasional American fast food in Cairo, her favorite being KFC and Chili's. 

Frau Marienfeld

Frau Marienfield, originally from Germany, has been at SEKEM for nearly twenty years. She's the brilliant master pattern-maker behind all of our toys. Frau Marienfeld lives in the SEKEM community with her husband, and is a life-long learner-- she is very involved in the community and loves to take advantage of all the educational and cultural programs.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know these beautiful people that put so much love into our products. We often send them the photos you share with us on social media, and they get so excited seeing your cute babies with the clothes and toys that they make. Don't forget to keep tagging us on Facebook and Instagram!