A lack of representation in Egypt is why Durand Reeves founded Fugee Run – a running club that is creating a safe mental and physical health space for people of color living in Egypt.
“Visibly seeing beautiful Black Africans all over the country but not seeing these same faces represented in the spaces that I was dealing in, was not something I could accept,” Reeves said. “Searching for opportunities to grow my business, while elevating the African communities here, I saw a void in the running space.”
The group started with just 12 people and has since grown to more than 120 runners that meet early on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
In an interview with Travel Noire, Reeves discussed what inspired him to start the running club and his plans to expand:
Travel Noire: What hat inspired you to launch Fugee Run?
Durand Reeves: So I came over to Egypt about a year ago to lay the groundwork out for my business. And within me traveling around Egypt, I’ve noticed there’s been a void of seeing a lot of Black faces on advertising, any type of marketing, or even having groups specifically for that demographic. There’s a huge refugee community and also outside of that, a huge Black-African presence here but it just wasn’t a lot of representation.
I wanted to make space and create a platform that was, marketing specifically to our demographic and have something that they can relate to.
Travel Noire: Why, why did you feel like it was needed in Egypt?
Durand Reeves: There’s a ton of athletic groups here, but when you look at the marketing or look at who is participating in those groups, I didn’t see a lot of Black African presence there.
After doing some research, I found some people don’t have either the finances to be involved in some of those seven programs, they don’t have the time or availability because they’re working, or they just didn’t feel welcome in those spaces.
And it’s not that there’s racism, but we don’t see a lot of faces that look like ours which makes you a little hesitant to sometimes jump in.
Travel Noire: What’s next for you all?
Durand Reeves: We actually just got some interest from a group in Alexandria, Egypt.
There are about 20 people up there that started their own running group and wanted to grow it up there. The movement has organically started growing.
I always knew there’s potential but I didn’t have that expectation. Now that I know there is a need and as long as everything is consistent with the branding that we’re looking in place, whereas you know community focused and you know giving people this outlet, then I’m all for expanding all over Africa.