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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Interview Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Empowering Siwan women
By Amira Ibrahim
A number of social and cultural establishments -- a new community service centre, a traditional handicraft unit and a conference hall -- were built in the Siwa oasis in the Western Desert by the armed forces at a cost of LE4 million. The idea was Mrs Mubarak's brainchild. During a visit to Siwa three years ago, she noted that women need to have easier access to educational and medical services.
Mrs Suzanne Mubarak opening a series of establishments in Siwa Oasis on Saturday
Present at the inauguration ceremony were Defence Minister Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Social Affairs Minister Mervat Tellawi, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, Minister of Rural Development Mahmoud El-Sherif and Minister of State for the Environment Nadia Makram Ebeid.
The hill-top centre, built in Islamic style, has a panoramic view of the entire oasis. It includes sections for training in needlework, sewing and carpeting, a health clinic, literacy classes and a computer-equipped library.
Trainees who successfully pass the training programme are offered jobs at the traditional handicraft unit.
Tantawi was proud of the contribution made by the armed forces to development projects, who were at the same time performing their principal task of protecting the nation's security. "The armed forces are ready to contribute anywhere and everywhere, in remote areas, isolated desert communities and the Southern Valley project, which are difficult for others to reach," Tantawi told reporters following the inauguration ceremony.
"We had to persuade the people of the oasis and tribal chiefs that women should be allowed to work and gain experience outside the house. We were surprised by the enthusiastic response of women and young girls," he added.
He said the armed forces are planning more projects in the oasis, in cooperation with the ministries of culture and rural development.
"By next year, the oasis will witness more and more projects, carried out by the armed forces, in the spheres of agricultural, social, medical and cultural development," Tantawi said.
Siwa is located in the Western Desert, about 300 kilometres south of the Mediterranean city of Marsa Matrouh. Girls are not allowed to go to school and are usually married off at around 13 years of age. Women are not allowed to leave their homes and, when they do, they must cover themselves completely.
"This special nature of the Siwa community underlines the importance of helping women break away from their traditional pattern to contribute to the oasis' social development programme," said Maj. Gen. El-Dessouki Mahmoud El-Banna, commander of the Western Military Zone.
"Since President and Mrs Mubarak's last visit to the oasis, the armed forces have carried out several social and agricultural projects and provided medical services, to improve the people's living conditions," added El-Banna.
These projects include a water station that utilises the hundreds of wells located in the oasis. The station's activities have been expanded to include the production of olive oil -- olives being the oasis' principal product. "Now growers do not have any marketing problems because the entire crop goes to the station," El-Banna said.
A significant achievement of the new community service centre is that it has managed to persuade women to venture out of their homes. Two young Siwan girls told Al-Ahram Weekly that they do not intend to stay at home any more as long as there is a well-organised and supervised institute that provides training and education.
"This is a good opportunity to get a job and a salary, the first time for girls. In this way, we feel that we are not different from girls in other communities," one of the two girls said.
At Tantawi's orders, the centre will be expanded to accommodate 500 girls, instead of its present capacity of 102.
