Dinners With Purpose-Mina Girgis
The NC State Institute for Nonprofits was very excited to host Mina Girgis as the Spring 2017 Dinners With Purpose speaker. Mina Girgis is an ethnomusicologist as well as the producer and CEO of The Nile Project, a nonprofit that seeks to “inspire, inform, and connect Nile citizens to help them collaborate on cultivating the sustainability of their river.” The event took place on March 16 in the Washington Sankofa Room of Witherspoon Student Center on NC State’s main campus. Over 100 students, faculty, staff and community members attended the event. The program began with Elizabeth Benefield, Social Entrepreneurship Program Manager at the Institute for Nonprofits, who gave a brief introduction of Girgis.
Girgis then took the floor and generously shared his personal story of how he found his purpose, with a slideshow to illustrate his words. He explained the importance of music in his life and in The Nile Project and how it has the ability to break cultural barriers and gives way to connect on a human level. The Nile Project focuses on uniting residents from each of the 10 countries with access to the Nile River in order to find a solution for how to use the river in a sustainable and effective manner for everyone. Girgis stressed the importance of everyone working together when devising and implementing a solution to a bigger issue; listening and understanding all perspectives of a problem is the only way to find a fitting solution. The evening ended with a question and answer session where participants were able to gain further knowledge and insight from Girgis.
The Nile Project is in residence at NC State Live from March 15 to 21. The final event, which takes place on Tuesday, March 21, is NileFEST. For more information about this event visit https://live.arts.ncsu.edu/
