In Dakahlia Governorate, a truly unbelievable event unfolded when a family located their son, who had been missing for 18 years. He disappeared as a child at the age of 9 and was found as a 27-year-old man, though he had lost his sight and had become a resident of a care facility for the blind in Kafr Al-Sheikh.
The strange story is recounted by the returning son's father during a live broadcast, expressing disbelief at what has happened and feeling as if he is still dreaming. The incident dates back to 2004 when the child, Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel Nabi, walked out of his home in the village of Kafr Al-Jadid in Dakahlia and subsequently vanished. The family searched everywhere for him and filed a missing person report at the Met Salsil Police Station, but all attempts to find him were unsuccessful.
Years passed, with the child missing and the family continuing their search until all options seemed exhausted and every door closed after such a long time. Recently, the father shared, “A few days ago, our neighbor's daughter told me about a post on Facebook by a young man searching for his family, stating his name is Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel Nabi and he has a brother named Yaser. At that moment, my heart raced, and I felt hope return to me after 18 years of despair. I had been following up with the center and asking about the report regularly.”
He added, “The author of the post said this young man is blind and is located in Kafr Al-Sheikh, and he provided a phone number along with a photo of the young man. When I saw the photo, I felt he was my son, but I was afraid my intuition might be wrong. We called the number but it was off, so we traveled to Kafr Al-Sheikh, specifically to the village of Warak in the Sidi Salim district, and we met the young man. It was indeed my son because he had an old scar on his face, and he also remembered the names of his brother and sister. I couldn’t believe my eyes; I hugged him and cried, and he cried too. Unfortunately, the care facility he’s at refused to release him to us and requested a DNA test, which we did, and we are now waiting for the results.”
The father continued, “Even now, I cannot believe it; it feels as if I am dreaming. How is it possible for my son to be gone for 18 years and suddenly return to me like this? He told me he wandered through many governorates searching for us and could only remember the village of Kafr Al-Jadid; he didn’t even know the name of the governorate until he settled in Kafr Al-Sheikh. If it wasn't for the young man who sympathized with his story and wrote the post, we might have never met again.”
With emotion, he said, “I’m afraid to wake up from this dream and find it’s not real, but there were people from our neighborhood with me who saw Mohamed. I’m waiting for the moment he returns home and lives among his five siblings.”
Dr. Wael Abdel Aziz, the Deputy Minister of Social Solidarity in Dakahlia, announced that coordination is ongoing with the Social Solidarity Directorate in Kafr Al-Sheikh to expedite all legal and administrative procedures related to the return of the blind young man Mohamed Ibrahim Hegazy, from Kafr Al-Jadid in the Met Salsil district of Dakahlia, as well as to follow up on completing the DNA test for both the father and son, at the expense of Dakahlia Governorate, to recover the lost son and reunite him with his family.
