Green and Away has been getting increasingly international over the last 5 years or so. It is not unusual for us to have volunteers from over 10 countries in a season and this has largely been due to using a wonderful organisation called HelpX. This gives us plenty of great volunteers and lots of new friends too.
Treking in the high mountains of Sinai to build a dam
However we are about to spread our tendrils a bit further next week when three members of the team go to Sinai, Egypt to work on a water conservation project with the Bedouin. Rosa, Diana and Helen will fly out to Sharm El Sheik (yes we know this isn’t very green or sustainable but please read on), join up with 5 members of the Beshara School and then travel up to the mountains near St Katherine’s where they will be hosted by and work alongside the Bedouin to build a small dam.
The Jebilya people have been maintaining gardens in the high mountains ever since the monastery of St Katherine’s was built around 600AD, the produce fed their families and the monks. They grow almonds, peaches, pomegranates, grapes, apples, pears, apricots, beans, herbs and much more. The Jebeliya have a justified reputation as master gardeners. Over the last 10 years the meagre rainfall in this desert area has all but stopped, the wells have been running dry and many of the gardens, which have been the bedouins’ cultural home, have been abandoned. The situation has been exacerbated by the massive growth in tourism and the large water-guzzling hotels along the coast from Sharm El Sheik. To service these hotels, ground water is pumped out and piped to hotels where it is used not just for essential things like drinking and cooking, but also to enable green lawns to grow, fountains to flow and huge swimming pools to sit evaporating in the hot dry air. Most tourists visiting Sharm have no idea that they are visiting a desert area or what that means and are quite happy to continue they Northern European relationship with water, which is to take it for granted. The contrast of this lifestyle with that of the Bedouin who make every last drop count is very disturbing.
It is thought that the use of all this ground water around Sharm is lowering the water table over all of South Sinai and the Bedouin are struggling as their wells run dry, their gardens die, and one of their means of survival disappears.
Ziri Dam completed by Concordia College USA
The Makhad Trust has been working with the Bedouin for the last 10 years to help restore their gardens and bring some water back by deepening wells and building small stone dams to hold back the brief intermittent rains allowing the water to permeate the water table locally. The dams are making a huge difference with more Bedouin reclaiming their ancestral gardens and giving a much-needed income from the garden produce.
There are now 12 dams in the high mountains and Rosa, Diana and Helen will be helping to build Gwoona Dam. As a result of this dam about 30 gardens below will benefit and the owners will be able to plant lots of fruit and nut trees. The gardens are inaccessible by road and all supplies have to go by camel so the knock-on effects of this programme are that it allows the Bedouin to go back to a more sustainable lifestyle.
We will be hosted by the Bedouin during the whole trip and the money we spend goes straight into the local economy. This is not just sustainable tourism, but we will be leaving behind a legacy that could help 30 Bedouin families or 200 people, and our carbon footprint will be partially offset by trees that grow as a result.
However we are not just being altruistic, the Bedouin have a lot to teach us about living in
Bedouin camp
harmony with the world and the landscapes are stunningly beautiful. This is truly the journey of a lifetime and to be recommended to everyone.
We will post a report on our return.
Green and Away 