All photography provided by Sinaweya’s team
Sinaweya is a social enterprise with the ultimate goal of cultural and environmental conservation in Sinai.
Our Goals
Through a growing network of collaborators and consultants within the field, our scope of work includes research, documentation, awareness building, volunteer activities and community support through our commercial brand. Expanding on collected research, Sinaweya aims to use creative means to make our conservation work accessible to the public.
We have been documenting bedouin intangible heritage pertaining to the cultivation, conservation and preparation of a biodiversity of plants, specifically that of the Jabaliya Tribe in St Catherine. And through our years of work we are hoping to have a body of research on existing wild and cultivated plants in St. Catherine and the many uses known through generations of bedouin healing traditions. We also hope to build awareness amongst the local community’s youth on the value of safeguarding their traditional knowledge, revive traditional environmental conservation practices and support the local community of producers and makers that conserve aspects of their heritage.
Our presence in Sinai fosters a genuine exchange, where Sinaweya is immersed in learning from the local community and offers support in sustaining traditional practices that are integral to environmental conservation in the face of the inevitable impacts of modernity.
“Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land”
What We want to do
Sinaweya began its first stage of work in the protected area of St. Catherine, South Sinai (2018). Saint Catherine hosts over 50% of Egypt’s flora - some 15+ plant species are endemic to Sinai. The Jabaliya Tribe, which have coexisted with this mountainous region’s special biodiversity have developed a deep knowledge of climate patterns, water conservation, wild and cultivated plant species and much more. Such is evident in their intangible heritage, namely horticulture, natural healing culture, language, art and nutrition.
In our intention to protect the intangible cultural heritage of Saint Catherine and the Jabaliya - we place a special focus on their ethnobotanical traditional knowledge and practices. Where projects have branched out to include permaculture in mountain gardens, archival work organizing collected research on plant identification and uses, and a homegrown brand selling bedouin goods derived from their intangible heritage.