Makhad Nawamis Project needs donations

Makhad Charity The Nawamis Project

Description

The Muzeina Bedouin villagers of Nawamis are unable to maintain their traditional way of life in the desert as there is little work and no local school for their children. They have asked the Makhad Trust for help with the setting up of a small school, and in drawing up a plan which will ensure its survival.
The school will form the hub of the village, and will provide an education for 40-80 children from the surrounding area. It will become the first indigenous Bedouin school based on the traditional social structure of the tented community. Teaching will include core subjects but will draw on expertise from the community in order to make the tuition more relevant to the children. The many deaf children belonging to the Muzeina who currently have no school will also be educated here.
Beside the school we are constructing the largest ever woven Bedouin tent, which will become the familiar social centre of the community. It will provide a unique venue for local functions such as camel festivals, and will also be used by tourists, both as individuals and in groups. Revenue from the tent will support the school and revive the Muzeina economy.
The project will require additional buildings to house staff living quarters, toilets, a kitchen, a dining room, washing rooms, extra teaching space and a well powered by solar pump.

Purpose

To help to set up an indigenous Bedouin school with a self supporting structure
To form a hub for the community based on a traditional social structure
To revitalise the Muzeina community

Beneficiaries

Children from nearby villages and neighbouring wadis will be able to attend their own school
The local villagers both men and women will benefit from an increased economy
Visitors to the area will be able to meet the villagers and learn more about the culture in an attractive and welcoming environment.

Project Work

Practical project work will involve the construction of the tent, support buildings and additional school buildings. The Trust will also establish a camel centre to increase community revenue and will set up the organisational structure required for the management of the project by the community.

Partners

Faraj Sabah Hodair, elder of the Mouseina tribe.
The Nawamis community.

Current Status
Weaving of the tent is in progress and is expected to be opened in December 2009.  The current phase of the support buildings construction work is nearly completed.  The next phase will include the completion of the well and the construction of the camel station.  Inauguration of the whole complex will be by a Camel Festival in 2010.

Donate here to help in Sinai by credit/debit card or Paypal.

http://www.justgiving.com/Charity/Donate.aspx?cid=185792

Makhad Community Drinking Wells Project donate here

Makhad Community Drinking Wells Project

Description

In the St Katherines area of South Sinai and the village of St Katherines itself many of the small communities have a problem with clean drinking water.  The water that comes in by truck contains mineral salts which make the children ill and can only be used for washing.   This means that the Bedouin women have to walk long distances to wells that have good water and where the owners allow them to take what they need.  Sometimes the wells have sides that are unsafe or are so far away that the water has to be collected expensively by vehicle.
The owners of the wells ask for no charge and sometimes as many as 100 women will arrive each day to take one man’s water.  In the summer there is not enough water for everyone and some of these well owners have asked the Makhad Trust for help in deepening and repairing their wells.  They would also like to make it easier and safer for the women to get their water.

Purpose

The purpose of the project is to repair and deepen some of the wells so that there is sufficient drinking water for those who live nearby.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries will be the villagers in the St Katherines general area.

Project Work

The Makhad Trust project work will be to assist each well owner to deepen his well and, where possible, to repair the sides and create easier and safer access for the women via a water storage tank and taps.

Status

The work on two drinking wells is currently underway, with ten more on the waiting list for sponsorship and help.  The next on the list for sponsorship is the Abu Gifa Community well.

Donate here to build wells in Sinai by credit/debit card or Paypal.

http://www.justgiving.com/Charity/Donate.aspx?cid=185792

Makhad Bedouin Projects

Bedouin garden restoration 

See below how you can donate to these projects.

(Project 15: Mountain area of St Katherine's, South Sinai)

Description


Many of the centuries-old mountain gardens have become derelict as the Bedouin moved into the towns. There is a general desire from the people to restore their gardens, but they cannot do so without assistance in repairing the wells, which are no longer deep enough or have become damaged and so there is not enough water.

Rainfall, which is scarce and vital for the survival of the gardens, has decreased over the last seven years as a result of climate change. Preserving it carefully is crucial. With the aid of groups from the UK small dams are constructed in side wadis. These hold back the rainwater and benefit dozens of gardens lying below the dams. This is urgent and vital work.
Many garden owners have come forward requesting assistance. These gardens will be assessed to see if they are suitable for sponsorship and entry into the scheme.
Six dams have been constructed already and a trial of six environmentally friendly pumps is under way.
Gardens which have received sponsorship and have as a result been given help include

Sala Mousa Sala,

Amria Faraj Mousa,

Ishmail Ibrahim Salem,

Oda Mohamed Oda,

Hussein Mousa Sala

Salem Faraj Farhan

The links are to descriptions of these gardens.

The assistance this project offers has been received with great enthusiasm by both garden owners and sponsors from the UK. Thanks to these sponsors, the garden owners who have previously been unable to save their trees can now water them again and can tend their gardens with renewed vigour. Sponsors are able to visit the garden and meet the owner and receive regular reports which give them up-to-date information about both the family and their garden.

Purpose

To encourage the Jebelia Bedouin to increase garden production.

To encourage sustainable development around the gardens.

To increase throughput for Mahmoud Mansur’s herb and fruit drying centre.

To encourage eco-tourism.

Beneficiaries
The extended family of each garden owner and Bedouin employed in the herb and fruit drying centres.

Project Work
The project is usually in three phases. Firstly, assistance is given to selected garden owners in repairing their wells. Secondly, using working groups, help is given to garden owners in repairing or building a small dam, which allows flood water to penetrate to the water table. Thirdly, green energy may be introduced in the form of an environmentally friendly pump.
Partners
Garden owners, Mahmoud Mansur (a local entrepreneur) and Sheikhsinai Bedouin Company.

Status
The scheme is expected to be completed in 2011.

 Donate here by credit/debit card or Paypal

http://www.justgiving.com/Charity/Donate.aspx?cid=185792

The Makhad Trust

The Makhad Trust began with planting a seed.

Danny Shmulevitch, the founder, was walking along an ancient pilgrim route that runs through the Sinai Desert. He saw, sitting by the side of the path, a small girl wearing traditional Bedouin dress, who was hoping to sell cans of cola to passing tourists. She was, clearly, not happy.

Politely refusing the offered can, he asked instead for a glass of tea, invoking the ancient tradition of hospitality to strangers. She took him to the family house, in a garden in the nearby desert oasis of Ein-Khudra (Green Spring), which was one of the stopping places of the Israelites in their journey through the Sinai wilderness.

Gardens have been cultivated there by Bedouin families for over two thousand years, but four out of the five gardens had become derelict.
In return for the hospitality, Danny made the little girl's father a promise. He planted an acacia seedling in their garden and asked them to look after it carefully. When he came back, he said, if it was still growing he would bring help for Ein-Khudra.

The family believed in this promise: the acacia tree (as it now is) was watered and nurtured and when Danny returned in May 1988 he brought a group of students and staff from Ruskin Mill College, an educational centre for young people in Gloucestershire, England, to help restore Ein Khudra.

They built a shelter, a water cistern and a compost toilet and planted a small tree nursery. These were the needs identified by the Bedouin family as the first steps towards regenerating the oasis gardens. Working together, the Bedouin, students and staff created the first ‘makhad’—a meeting place in which to share hospitality.
Link