Bedouin Crafts

North Sinai / Al Arish - Bir El Abd - Shiekh Zowayed

"Souq Alkhamis Association was created in 1999, in Al-Arish, Sinai, Egypt. They specialize in Bedouin clothes and accessories, The designs of their unique handmade products are derived from traditional motifs and elaborate beaded patterns. The patterns and techniques used are similar to those that young Bedouin women sew on their wedding dresses and festive clothes. The initiative enables 40 Bedouin women from isolated villages in North Sinai to showcase their history, tradition, craft, culture, and skills to the rest of the country. They are working passionately in this profession even though it was not that common in Bedouin cultures that women leave their home to work outside their closed and marginalized communities, but they did it anyways. Through their collaboration with Fair Trade Egypt in 2003, providing them with an income-generating activity by selling their embroidered products in competitive markets, they now can have their identity. With taking sustainable development initiatives, we jumped into a transformative path of offering support in training, literacy lessons, and skills improvement. And now we long for more successes. "