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What's new in 2011 ?
Spring
 Sheep and goat bank: Autumn and winter last year brought good rains to South Sinai for the first time in at least 15 years. This has encouraged many Bedu to resume their traditional mobile life, taking flocks to pasture on the newly flourishing vegetation. To help disadvantaged families to benefit from this natural bonanza, we have established a sheep and goat bank. We provide a ewe or nanny goat to a poorer herding family. The animal becomes theirs, but her first lamb or kid comes back to us, enabling us to help another family in future. This wonderfully sustainable scheme has been supported by generous gifts from staff and students of Nottingham University working in South Sinai; Brockenhurst College, Hampshire; and Malborough College, Wiltshire, through Sinai travel specialists Wind Sand & Stars. Currently, 10 families have a sheep or a goat, thanks to their efforts, and already we have three new kids! The smile below tells you how much this scheme is appreciated.
Summer
The Bir al Akhdar well
: Our major grant this summer has achieved several of our aims at once: giving Bedu a greater say in the new Egypt, improving access to water, and renewing a tribal tradition in the process. Using a grant from the Jim Bird Fund in the South Sinai Foundation, we supported the Mzeina community of 'Elw al Ajramiya to restore its old well at Bir al Akhdar.
In discussion with local people, our trustee Faraj and Co-ordinator Mohammed identified the need of many scattered families in this remote area for a closer source of good water (some were travelling over 35 km to Tarfa). To secure permission we took the Head of St Katherine City Council, Ustaz 'Abdallah, out to meet the community and visit the site. This was the first time he had ever been into the desert, and the experience was enlightening. Once people had explained the issues to him, Ustaz 'Abdallah agreed at once that the work could start.
Local leader Hajj 'Eid Subba'a and his son Radwan assessed the problem, and together we put together a costed plan. Local men carried out the work, deepening and cleaning the well, building a storage tank and pools for animals and birds to drink from, fixing the pump and protecting the well from future flooding. The whole community is delighted with the project, which brought them work as well as water. An unlooked-for benefit is that Mzeina have started to meet once again at the tomb of their local holy man, Sheikh Boos - close to the well, it was formerly the site of tribal zuwaras, or meetings. Lack of water at the remote site had led to their abandonment, but with the work barely complete there was evidence of new gatherings at the tomb.
We are delighted with this work, which will serve as a model for community-led projects in future. It reinforces what we already know: Bedu have the ideas, skills and energy to do a great job themselves - but their entrenched poverty means they need a helping hand with resources. That is where we - and you! - can help.
Autumn/Winter
As we moved to the last quarter of the year we were happy to report on another well cleaned at Ma3dae3, and a sand dam built to protect it from future floods. 10 Awlaad Sa3iid households are benefitting from this project.
During Ramadan some 400 families of all tribes benefitted from food parcels kindly provided by Toshiba al Araby. Three Jebeliya families were helped with hospital expenses following an outbreak of food poisoning at 'Eid in which one mother tragically died.
The first kid from our livestock bank was produced and, once weaned, taken to its new owners, a Tiyaha family whose father has become too ill to work. We continued to provide small scale help to individuals in need - animal fodder for a widow; a water tank for a hard-up family; help with hospital costs for a Jebeli family; a donkey provided for a single woman who struggled to carry her water; 70 blankets provided to individuals in hardship; 55 pairs of spectacles distributed; and 26 Bedouin children had their school fees met by the Mo'assessa for the fourth year running.
But as well as helping individuals we have helped improve conditions more widely. We supported an initiative to provide a regular bus route between the coast and St Katherine, and in addition lobbied the Governor successfully to improve the bus service between St Katherine and Cairo. This will make transport easier to access and cheaper for many local people, as well as bringing much-needed trade to St Katherine. We helped with mosquito control for a community plagued by the insects. Access to drinking water in the St Katherine area has been greatly improved by the provision of new water pipes for the well at Kharazein, and by cleaning and extending one of the village's chief wells at el Rasiis. Over 4000 people benefitted from our work in the last quarter of the year alone.
Finally, towards the end of the year we conducted a series of community meetings all over the region, so as to make people aware of the Mo'assessa, and for us to hear the views of bedouin men and women about their priorities for their communities in the new Egypt. In 2012 we hope to start undertaking projects that will address some of the issues they raised.
Pictures by Mohammed Khedr and Hilary Gilbert
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