Mohamed Salah has been a symbol of pride for the whole of Egypt over the last decades thanks to his incredible footballing achievements. The Liverpool winger is the best footballer to come out of Egypt and a strong contender in the debate for one of the best African footballers of all time.
Salah has already won the Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles and dominated goal contribution charts in the English division. This season itself, he has 10 goals and 10 assists in just 15 appearances so far and is going strong despite his ageing self.
Despite his incredible popularity, the Egyptian sensation remains an admirably humble person. He is actively involved in charitable purposes and even made a sizeable donation to help Palestinian citizens who were victims of the Israeli air strikes in 2023. The reason for his down-to-earth nature is becomes Salah comes from a small village of Nagrig, which near the city of Basyoun.
The Liverpool winger still distinctly remembers his difficult years growing up in the impoverished village and can never forget his interactions with the citizens of the place. In fact, Salah had a rather surprising meeting with an Egyptian citizen who claimed to be hailing from Nagrig earlier this year.
A fan told Salah “I am from Najrij” mo’s hometown.
— Nuna (@NaiiLFC) November 13, 2024
Salah: “you are from my hometown and I don’t know you? What’s your name? Whose family you belong to?”
Fan “From the Juma family”
Salah: “The Jumaa family”
😆
pic.twitter.com/l740ogtWq8
It happened when he decided to interact with fans during Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the USA before the 2024/25 Premier League season began. While most American fans were dying to get his signature or interact with him, one Egyptian fan came up and started to talk in Arabic to Salah, something which caught the winger by surprise.
The supporter told the winger that he is also from Nagrig, something which piqued his attention. Salah asked him ‘you are from my hometown and I don’t know you? What’s your name? Whose family you belong to?’, to which the fan answered that he belongs to the ‘Juma Family’.
The Liverpool star didn’t seem to properly remember who this was, but looked to be happy to meet someone from his village all the way far in the United States. Even though it’s been a long time since he left the village, Salah has never forgotten his roots and tried his best to help the poor citizens of the village.
In 2018, a census report indicated that 65% of the people in the village live in poverty. But Salah has been on a mission to help develop the village in any way possible. In 2017, he donated over £20,000 to the Association of Veteran Players in Egypt, which helped 120 families.
Salah also spent over £350,000 to purchase a 5-acre plot of land in Nagrig to help provide safe, clean drinking water to the people. This was to help develop a sewage plant that would provide clean water and sanitation services to not only Nagrig, but neighboring communities like Shabratu and Gharbia.
The same year, he also donated over £550,000 to the Basyoun hospital (near Nagrig) to help purchase more hospital beds, ventilators and purchased beds, ventilators and updated Eco and Sonar as well as renovating ICU units.
In 2018, the Mohamed Salah Charitable Foundation helped build a girl’s school in Nagrig. He also financed the construction of the Al-Azhar Institute in his village later on. Salah is also doing whatever he can to help the poor families in Nagrig, providing £3,500 per month to the most needful families each month.
Salah knows how hard life can be in a little, poverty-struck village like Nagrig – which is why he can probably connect with people from the region more fondly, as he did with the Liverpool supporter in this chance meeting.
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