A not so glitzy way to live off Egypt tourism for Sinai Bedouins
An estimated 30,000 Bedouins in the Sinai peninsula are no longer able to make enough milk, butter and cheese off their animals. A severe drought over the past years has dried out available pasture land and is forcing them to eek out a meager existence out of the waste left by the coastal Egypt tourism industry in Sharm-el-Sheikh.
In the tourist resort of Nuweibaa, some 150km north of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Gulf of Aqaba, a nongovernmental organization called Himaya (protection) is helping needy Bedouins. It collects and sorts garbage, selling some of the solid waste to cover costs and making the organic waste available free of charge to Bedouins it deems need help, allowing them to sell it on. Proceeds from the sale of the solid waste also help Himaya fund regional development projects, such as the renovation of classrooms in primary schools in South Sinai. Another is the creation of green spaces in urban areas.
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