At home with craftswomen

Where: South Egypt and Jordan

Who: Vacanze Egiziane

Tours designed to help the poorest

Stay in a traditional house, have lunch organized by the Ajlun’s local women, visit a school and associations dedicated to helping children and poor families, enjoy shopping in a community market and discover the local nature and peace of mind. Less than100 kilometers from Luxor, in Quena, Nagha Hammadi Province, tourists seem far away and people - farmers in sugar cane plantations, workers in the alluminium factory, unemployed and poor widowers- live as in the old times. It's them, the elderly women, the animators and promoters of the Artisans Fair, and it's them who tought young women the antique crafts traditions.

So, nowadays, at the Handicraft exibition you can see and buy utensils, carpets, scarves, lemmon preserves, reinvigorating teas, dry cereals, cheeses.

The volunteers of the Gamaya Mogtamaa Association, in collaboration with Unicef, are nurses vaccinating and checking kids health, visiting isolated homes and making up real Meeting Welcoming Points in the most rudimentary villages.

In Jordan, on the other hand, women of the Ayun cooperative are selling their land typical products and cook a great lunch. In the Ayun forset, the Soap Factory is the evenly home of olive oil parfumes and essences and beauty creams. And, on the way for Wadi Rum 15 girls make up creative plastic ricycled objects.

The South Egypt Tour and the Jordan Tour, are just two of the many culture and nature freindly travels, made up by a Cairo Tour Operator, specialised in Middle East with local guides. In Egypt hey encouraged women to do what they knew better: needle working, weaving palm leaves, pottery moulding, baking bread on the stones. The results are precious exibits, traditions preserved, some earning.

In Jordan the tour operator promoted Baidha and Al Ammarien Associations, supporting beduin villages -usually not reached by tourists- and women farmers -working in olive trees forests- with friendly tours. Now, here you can visit the soap factory, the artcrafts exibit, and if you are lucky you can even help to make the natural beauty essences for brides, before the wedding ceremony

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