SOUTH SINAI - He scanned my face with a hawk-like stare, waiting for an answer to his question: "What brings you here among us?" Hajj Sabah, the oldest of the Bedouin men present, was right to question what I was doing there with them. "I don't like to see conflict between brothers," I said. That is why I decided to write an article that might shed some new light on the reasons for this conflict and encourage brainstorming to find constructive solutions to the problems and issues that face the Bedouin people today. The white-robed men seated in a circle with me and my husband are all Bedouins from the Mezena tribe of South Sinai. Several of the men work in tourism as desert guides, safari leaders, or hosts to a variety of Bedouin activities such as camel rides and Bedouin dinners, while others are fishermen who fish, where permitted, to earn their daily sustenance. As I sipped the sweet tea flavoured with a hint of sage, I looked at their faces, as rugged as the mountains surrounding the courtyard where we sat. The desert and its terrain had imprinted its history on their faces. Ayed, our host, knew my husband from years past when he worked at Naama Bay, and he had graciously and generously accepted us into his humble white-brick home on the outskirts of Sharm El-Sheikh. "We have major problems," Ayed stated, opening the conversation. One after another, the men spoke about their concerns and problems. I listened closely to each complaint, from the lack of free and easily accessible medical care, the intermittent electricity service, the impure water not suitable for human consumption, the red tape and paperwork required to allow them to move within the area, to the type of tourists who come to South Sinai. Their businesses and opportunities are dwindling and their lifestyles are changing. "A Bedouin is someone who by nature wants calmness, tranquility, and serenity and does not like any type of agitation," Ayed said. "Moving from one place to another in the desert is essential, to find the perfect spot for cattle to graze and also to contemplate inner peace," elaborated Eid, a desert guide. "We go to the desert and spend ten or 15 days at a time every month. Most of the time it is for business, as when we take a group of tourists who are seeking the serenity of the desert." A few days earlier I had met with Hajj Mubarak, an older generation Bedouin who lives a modernised lifestyle and dresses like an American cowboy. We sat in the coffee shop of his diving center in Sharks Bay. "What does a Bedouin need?" I asked Mubarak as we discussed the current situation of the Bedouin and their clashes with the Government. "Freedom!" he said with a smile. "You cannot control a Bedouin's movement, or tie him down in one place and tell him not to move. I live on a boat now, to enjoy the freedom of the sea and stay away of all those problems, but there is still so much red tape, permits, and paperwork needed to sail from one place to another," Mubarak said. Their problems are similar to those of other Egyptians, but the Bedouin, as people, are different. Originally they are a nomadic tribal people who wandered freely through the lands that are now divided into different nation-states. The origin of the Mezena tribe is from Saudi Arabia, with many of them settling in Egypt since the fourteenth century. During the era of colonisation in the Middle East, national borders were drawn and the Bedouin found themselves bound in one country without the same freedom to move across the desert that they once had. The Bedoiun want to live freely, but they live now within the borders of a country, Egypt. It is not feasible to have a 'country within a country' in which it is not known whose laws will be applied and enforced, those of the Government or those of the tribe. On our way to meet with Ayed and his fellow tribesmen, I saw the houses built by the Government for the Bedouin to settle in and adopt as their new homes. The Bedouins instead sold them and moved further into the desert, to be embraced by the mountains and to build their own houses. Bedouin cherish their freedom like the birds do, and when a bird is taken from its natural habitat and caged, it becomes sad and either dies early or adopts aggressive behaviours. The situation reminded me of Dr. Lee Buddress, one of my business professors at Michigan State University back in the 1980s, who taught us a very basic requirement of doing business in another country. "Learn about the people you are dealing with, know their culture, what offends them, what gives them pride, what gives them greatness, what makes them laugh, what their eating habits are, how they perceive time, what agitates them, and so on. When you discover these things, when you know and understand them, then you will gain their co-operation and their trust," he said. Did we try to understand the Bedouin as people? Did we force our ideals upon them rather than listen to how they want to preserve their culture and traditions? Did we help them be productive members of the society while at the same time preserving their identity, or did we try to assimilate them into the Egyptian melting pot? The Prophet Mohamed taught us that we should speak with people according to their own minds. He did not say to change them and let them become like you. This lesson is not to be taken lightly, as it encourages us to know the other person from all aspects, as the words of Dr. Buddress said. If the Bedouin were better understood, there would not be the clashes with the government that we are seeing now. Houses are built for them to settle in, yet they are pushed from one spot of land to another if the land is needed for either a private or a national project. Mosa, an older Bedouin sitting next to my husband, told us how some of his friends hauled sand and dried up parts of the seashore to set up their homes. "Now they have new land since they were asked to leave the spot they had before," he said sarcastically. "I am sure, with all the programmes the Government has set up specifically for you, that they want to help you, but the question is, do you think they understand you?" I asked Ayed. "They think they understand us, but they don't understand us correctly. We have our basic needs as Bedouins and we want to live in peace," he replied. The Bedouin have a precious culture and traditions. They feed their children from their wells of generosity and their wealth of patience, but respect the most fundamental value in their lives.
