Running log of findings, Abu Minqar
History
· First wells in the oasis built in 1962. At that time, there were no settlements (Salim)
- The extended Bedouin family moved to the Bir 4 area 18 years ago
Water Management and NRM
- Abu Minqar is has 15 wells, categorized under 13 ‘Irrigation Command Areas’; 8 wells are artesian – naturally flowing – and 7 are motorized – require motor to bring water to surface. Motorized wells are powered by electrical generator for 10 hours/day. These generators are tended to by government employees who rotate on daily or biweekly schedule (salary 250 EGP/month). Ministry of Irrigation in Farafra has list of each well and schedule of workers tending motors. There are lined and unlined well basins.
- Well digging government projects (i.e. paid for by government in government, permission for private investors to dig outside of Abu Minqar issued by government…Institute of Groundwater Research (IGWR), + (Irrigation and Water Resources)
- Irrigation and drainage in the oasis is organized through government constructed ‘main’ drainage ditches, which are present throughout Abu Minqar agricultural fields. The majority of canals are unlined.
- Water management at all birs is organized through a ‘well manager’ (kobar), who, according to farmers is the one who owns the most number of feddans in the agricultural area around a well and also has age and wisdom. A major question to pursue in the next research phase is how this selection / election takes place and in how far new immigrants are eligible for the position of kobar
- Mr. Said, from the Ministry of Irrigation, is also responsible for well maintenance and water distribution. Either Mr. Said or il kobar preside over water distribution meetings which occur before each new agricultural season. A schedule is devised and kept by the two men (if a kobar exists in that agricultural command area).Each grower is assigned a share of the well’s water, quantified in time and not volume. The general rule is that each feddan a farmer owns is worth one hour of watering per week. This is a governmental policy decreed from the ministries in Farafra.
- Flood irrigation is the only irrigation method employed in the village, and so each farmer lets water flow into his fields, letting water enter and soak the land until the next farmer closes the barrier and transfers the water flow into his own plot. Further ad hoc arrangements are made between individual farmers. Depending on the time of the year, or the crop variety a farmer wishes to cultivate, he will buy extra water from another farmer. In the winter months, extra water exists (must check to see if this is the case in Irrigation Command Areas with motorized wells!) and farmers are free to ‘take’ additional water at their leisure.
- Individual farmers who possess a particular agricultural field do not necessarily have to come from an adjoining village. For instance, those who live in Biir 5 do not always have their farm plots in Bir 5. Thus, the farmers potentially negotiate water issues with a group of people other than those they live nearby. This implies an increased level in interactions between farmers of different cultural groups as villages are more closely tied to cultural communities than agricultural fields are. How exactly the meetings are conducted, and how water distribution is allocated and decided upon, will be of great importance in identifying the form of interactions that occur.
- Women have no ‘official’ role in water management decisions, although they occasionally help out on fields. However, women make decisions on water management and the use of crops and water for cooking and livestock within the household. In how far women are indirectly contributing to water management decisions, for example by requesting certain crops for household needs, will be researched in the upcoming project phase.
- Example of a large Bedouin family in Tala’at Dargham: In the Salwa Hodda family, the mother works on the farm on a daily basis, while Salwa and Hodda usually stay at home. Salwa goes to school and helps in the household after school while Hodda work in the household all day and looks after the young kids. On occasions, Salwa goes to help out in the field, while Hodda says she does not want to and hates field work. The family has livestock in an empty graduate house near their home, which the girls will occasionally tend to as well.
- On the day before a wedding in Umm Abu Minqar in January 2007, Mahmoud from the Salwa Hodda family is amused that the groom worked on the field all day on the day of the Henna party. According to Mahmoud, he saw the groom in Bir 1 and asked him why he was working on his wedding day. The groom allegedly replied: “What can I do? I have water today!” Our driver remarks that this would never happen in Cairo, where the wedding day is a time to celebrate only.
Intentionality
- Abu Minqar has experienced several waves of in-migration and will be a destination for further in-migration in the future. Many residents have intentionally chosen Abu Minqar as a place to build an existence for their families. The intentionality that is represented in the presence of most residents has a positive effect on the way community members act and interact: First, there seems to be a strong will to ‘make life work’ in the oasis and to coexist harmoniously with fellow oasis dwellers. Second, many residents show a very proactive attitude where it comes to shaping the future of the oasis, which is a reflection of their agency in choosing this ‘new home’ in the first place.
- The reasons for moving to Abu Minqar differ by gender. Some women followed their husbands to the oasis, knowing about the intention to live in Abu Minqar at the time of marriage. Other couples decided to move to Abu Minqar because of limited work options at their place of origin and because of the prospect to own a plot of agricultural land in the oasis. There are also male migrants who come to the oasis after negotiating a marriage arrangement with a woman from Abu Minqar; as well as women from outside the oasis, for example Mansoura and Dakhla, marrying into families from the oasis (this sometimes happens along ethnic lines, for example Abu Minqar Bedouins marrying a Bedouin bride from Dakhla).
- The group of residents that has shown the least ‘intentionality’ to live in Abu Minqar are teachers who are placed to work in the oasis by the government and share accommodation at the local school for one to two years. These teachers have voiced their frustration with life in Abu Minqar and because of their status as ‘temporary’ residents form an interesting group within the community.
Ethnic and cultural diversity · Abu Minqar is an oasis that contains a mix of residents from all corners of
Egypt. Residents make ethnic and cultural distinctions between ‘Bedouin’, ‘Arab’, ‘Bahrawy’, ‘Saidi’, etc. However, these identity markers are far from straightforward and are interpreted in vastly different ways among community groups and members. There seems to be a stigma attached to some of these markers. How ethnic / cultural identities, affiliations and interactions affect water and NR management will be one focus of stage 2 of the research.
Distinction between “Arab” and “Bedou” blurry——————-
- Owner of our house, Bedou from Bir 5: There is absolutely no difference between ‘Arab’ and ‘Bedou’
- Hodda: Arabs are people of Arabic origin, all Egyptians, Moroccans, Tunisians, people from the
Arabian peninsula, etc. Bedou have a different cultural history and used to lead a nomadic life in the desert
- Salim: Arab and Bedou differ. There are differences even among different types of Bedou: Bedou from
Libya, Bedou from Saudi-Arabia. They differ in language, custom (dances and music), clothes (Bedou from Saudi Arabia have black scarves and hide most of their face and their hands under them, now, however, it is ok to wear smaller, blue scarves and are allowed to wear pants instead of galabeya)
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- The ethnic and cultural mix in Abu Minqar leads to a mix of very diverse knowledges, including knowledge on NRM and water management. These knowledges range from Bedouin knowledge and the ‘traditional’ knowledge of those residents who have lived in Abu Minqar for 25 years or more, to the knowledge of university graduates who have recently moved to Abu Minqar as part of the government resettlement program. While at first glance newcomers seem to ‘blend in’ with existing practices, we seek to identify the exchange of and negotiation between different types of knowledge, especially in regards to NR and water management.
- The situation of women and their possibilities to participate in community life vary among different ethnic groups. Bedouin women, for example, are more tied to the household than Saidi or Bahrawy women. Most wear the niqab when outside the house and participate less in community interactions than male member of Bedouin families. While in Talaat Dargham, women can frequently be seen outside the house, wearing hijabs or loose headscarves, this is not the case in Bedouin areas.
- Some areas of Abu Minqar are more ethnically diverse than others. Those areas that seem to be most ‘homogenous’, at least in ethnic/cultural terms, are those that are predominantly Bedouin/Arab. The most ‘ethnically diverse’ area is the new governmentvillage of
Talaat Dargham.
- There seem to be especially close ties and connections between residents from the same ethnic background or place of origin. For example, in the governmentvillage of
Talaat Dargham, women have voiced that the presence of other women and families from their home town was of enormous help, especially after their arrival in Abu Minqar. There is an informal ‘support group’ of women from Mansoura in Talaat Dargham who will exchange bread they bake once or twice a week, and help each other out with child supervision and odds and ends. Bedouin communities from Talaat Dargham, in turn, bond particularly strongly with Bedouins from other villages within the oasis. Community members seem better informed about news from members of the same ethnic group or place of origin, even if those do not reside in the same village within the oasis.
- Bedouin Mohammad Zidane marries 3rd wife who is 13 years old, interestingly from non-Bedouin background. Women in Tala’at Dargham say it was a money based decision and the mother was unhappy about the wedding. The wife moved into a Tala’at Dargham house two houses down from her parents’ house (Dec 06)
- Ahmad from Salwa Hoda family says he does not have to marry a Bedouin girl, but it could be anyone, even a foreigner (Dec 06)
Infrastructure
- A single electrical generator provides electricity to various communities of Abu Minqar. Electricity is still limited to supply at night time, 6 hours/day every evening, with the exception of Friday, which enjoys 2 extra hours during the prayer. A new electrical generator system is in process of being established, which will provide up to 14 hours/day to entire community. In July 2007, another generator expected which will provide 24 hours/day. Areas of Abu Minqar used to have different levels of electricity services – bir 4, for example has only just been hooked up to the electricity network as the new generator started its service.
- A water station provides filtered domestic water to Talaat Dargham and Abu Minqar for 2 hours/day. Water is pumped from a well specifically for domestic use. Well 4, 5, 6, 7 (and Um Abu Minqar during off-hours) take domestic water from underground wells, engaging in their own filtering system (typically with ziir’s).This may effect the gender division of labour and the requirement for the work of children, which will be researched during the coming months.
- An underground sewage system only exists in Talaat Dargham. A sewage reservoir is located beside police guardhouse. Problems exist in the sewage system. Villages other than Talaat Dargham have septic tanks (wc?) which are serviced by truck for 4 EGP/session.
- There are 3 schools in Abu Minqar, one in bir 5 that caters for students from bir 5, 6 and 7, one in bir 1, which is attended by students from Bir 1 and Talaat Dargham, and one in bir 4. None of the schools offer education beyond junior high school level. The nearest school that offers senior secondary education is located in Dakhla. At primary level, school classes are balanced in terms of gender, but at high school level, where education seizes to be government-funded, classes have a majority of male students. Some young female residents have complained about the difficult access to secondary and tertiary education, especially for women.
School Info
| School |
No of students |
No of teachers |
Classes |
|
|
Bir 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bir 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bir 4
|
42
|
8
|
|
|
|
Fasl wahid
|
|
|
|
|
School at bir 1:
School at bir 4: 42 students, 8 teachers (Selim’s family)
School at bir 5:
At school at Bir 1 there are no fees up to grade X, books cost 60 L.E. per student per year (Umm Mohammad)
school is not good (umm Mohamed)
- The overflow station near the ‘lake’ has been abandoned 10 years ago, because it was not working properly and too expensive to repair. 20 mio L.E.
- Umm Ibrahim complains that it is far for her daughter to walk to primary school from Tala’at Dargham to Umm Abu Minqar. She says it takes at least 15 minutes and children need to walk along the road. She feels the government should provide a school in Tala’at Dargham. In Mansoura every major street has a primary school for children, so children usually do not walk more than a few minutes (Dec 07
Social Interaction
In early January 2007, we had a bit of a serious incident involving Um Ibrahim and Adel. The night before last, we (Adel, Mohamed, myself and other DDC people) were in our house watching a movie. Um Ibrahim comes in and is being very loud so we have to stop watching the movie. Adel seems annoyed and he leaves the house without saying where he is going. Um Ibrahim stays for another 10 minutes or so and then leaves with Rania back to her home. Immediately afterwards we hear Um Ibrahim and Rania screaming so we go outside to see what is happening – Um Ibrahim is running towards our house with Rania in her arms, without her veil on, crying and talking rapidly in Arabic. We bring her inside, give her water and tell her to calm down. She then proceeds to tell us that she went into her home and when she entered her room there was somebody (also, an important point, Um Ibrahim’s husband was in Monsoura) inside. The individual grabbed her face, pulled her veil off her head and over her eyes and then jumped out of the window. She said, ‘it was Adel. It was Adel. He had the look of Adel.’ The little girl Rania started chanting, ‘yes, he had the look of Adel. He was wearing white and had a red scarf. He had the look of Adel.’ The way she was repeatedly chanting this phrase seemed a little bit strange to me. Anyway, we tell her to stay in our place so that we can go and look in her home to see if anyone has returned. No one was there. I return to Um Ibrahim because she was alone. Tawheid (a DDC engineer) and Mohamed slowly walked back to our house, and on the way, they see Adel walking towards them, coming in the direction of the forn and the backside of Talaat Dargham. Mohamed asks where he was (I think in a direct manner) and Adel says, ‘I was seeing a friend.’ Mohamed tells him briefly what Um Ibrahim had said and then Adel enters the house and there is a big altercation between the two of them. She starts accusing him of being inside her house and Adel keeps denying it, saying, ‘of course I wasn’t, why would I do that? I have no reason to do that.’ She replies, ‘It was you. You were the only one who knew I was out of my house and you left the Bet Abbiyad. Etc.’ To be honest, they both were acting strangely during this discussion so I cannot say whether one was more believable than the other. We say, ‘okay, we will go ask Adel’s friend and see if he has an alibi to verify that Adel could not have done it.’ Then Um Ibrahim starts crying and says, ‘Why does this happen to me?! My husband won’t let me see my kids. My sister is sick. My husband isn’t nice to me, and now this, I cannot take this!’ She starts being really aggresive towards Adel and we tell her to calm down and that we are going to Adel’s friends house. They each, Adel and Um Ibrahim, want us to act discreetly because their reputations are at stake and tell us to ask in a way where we don’t have to reveal the whole situation. Tawheid and Mohamed go to the man’s house and he basically says yes, Adel was here for a little while and then he left. Um Ibrahim says, ’see, he had time to come to my house’ and Adel says, ’see, I would not have had time. This is crazy, etc.’ It’s a long story, but basically Adel says that it was not him, and that if somebody was in her house, there are many many people that wear a red scarf. He swears that it was not him. Um Ibrahim keeps saying bad things about Adel and about how many problems she has. Adel was very upset because he knows that what she is saying will ruin his reputation. Ultimately, we took him home that night, told him that if he said he didn’t do it, we would believe him and that we’d try to resolve this. Um Ibrahim slept at our house because she was afraid, and the next day she was in and out of our place, offering us bread, a fish dinner, and all types of presents. We decided to leave right away because we were too much in the middle of the incident and weren’t helping. We also didn’t want Adel to think we were taking her side only.
Hopes / Future
- Most residents of Abu Minqar do not seem to see a shortage of water as a problem. Describing the aim of the project is thus sometimes a contentious issue. Only one resident has referred to the finite nature of the Nubian aquifer as a potential future issue.
- The residents we have had conversations with expressed that continuous in-migration was not a problem, as long as there was enough water. There seems to be the general perception that ‘where there is water there will be more people’. How this perception will change as there is increased pressure on water with continuous in-migration is an interesting question.
- The biggest infrastructural ‘shortcoming’ residents see in the oasis is the limitation of electricity and water supplies. The absence of electricity, ‘clean flats’ and shops is what migrant women have named as the things miss when thinking of their home towns.
- Residents have mentioned the need to find an authority figure to attract community and to build upon the community’s potential, performance and knowledge; and, to find alternative solutions to the problems of the community through these means; to create a link between community in Abu Minqar and government in Kharga [capitol of Wadi al Gadid] and Cairo in order to provide infrastructural support (drinking water, electricity, sewer drainage, etc.); and to find financial, culture, psychological support for the NGOs in the Abu Minqar community.
- In interviews, farmers have voiced also the following concerns:
Regional Problems of Abu Minqar
[translation of verbatim quotes, recorded during the community meeting on Thursday 8 June, 2006]:
- “Agriculture has been extended past planned land through irrigation. Whereas other communities in Farafra were given rights to dig additional wells to service this new land in 2002, Abu Minqar has been denied such rights.
- The farmers of additional land are not given local rights over the land insofar as the government and the workers have not agreed upon a contract expressing ownership. The farmers desire ownership and thus legal rights over the land on which they labor.
- The farmers request to have earth channels covered by cement walls to reduce the amount of water absorbed by the soil and lost through leakage.
- The farmers desire approval from the local irrigation authority to dig more wells which will service poorly irrigated peripheral lands (where date palms had been cultivated unsuccessfully because of insufficient water supply).
- The farmers request honest and disciplined authorities, who are committed to the people and agricultural development of Abu Minqar. These authorities, whose goal is to maximize agricultural production and solve the community’s problems will serve as a guide to community members.”
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In January 2007, we hear from a small boy who accompanies ur around the fields in Bir1, that a child recently drowned when bathing. When we ask abou the reason, he says an affriet pulled him down into the water by the feet.
Economy and Markets
- The internal marketing system is, as far as we know, unique to Abu Minqar. There does not exist a ‘central’ market where crops from the local agricultural fields are distributed. Private businessmen purchase local produce and sell crops on carts while circulating throughout Abu Minqar. Otherwise, a ‘neighborhood’ market system is in place. Families who have a large supply of milk or eggs or eggplant, etc. spread the word and neighbors stop by and purchase. Apart from this, there are several bakeries, and small shops that sell processed goods obtained from outside Abu Minqar
- Externally, agricultural produce from the oasis is marketed in a more organized way. Wheat produced by farmers in Abu Minqar is picked up by trucks belonging to the government at a price of 2 EGP/kilo. Rice is picked up by trucks belonging to private individuals/businesses. Trucks can load 25 tons of rice, purchasing each rice from farmers for 1 EGP/kilo. The external marketing system will be studied in more detail in the upcoming research phase
- Most productive/cost efficient farming operations, according to the majority of the villagers and testified to by the magnitude of the operation, is forage production (including animal operations). Egyptian Clover and ‘Higaazi’ Clover are grown in large quantities. Sold to private individuals – what are the prices, is government involved, who purchases?
- Residents of Abu Minqar breed livestock for both household requirements of for example milk, meat and eggs, and for commercial purposes. Animals are sold, mostly internally for the following prices: cow – 3,000 EGP; bull 8 – 10,000 EGP; donkey 300 – 600 EGP; camel 600 EGP
- The organization of the household economy in Abu Minqar is organized according to a clear gender division of labour. While men tend to the fields, irrigation, building activities, external marketing and internal marketing by cart, women mind the household, cook, wash, mind the children, look after livestock in the house and are involved in the informal door-to-door marketing of produce. Some women will assist with agricultural work, although there seems to be more prestige attached to those women who ‘do not have to’ work on the fields
· Adel can make more money working two jobs in Abu Minqar than he could in
Cairo (Adel on felucca in November 06)
- Big camel in Tala’at Dargham cost between 5000 and 6000 L.E. (Sadat, Dec 06)
- The Salwa and Hodda family keep sheep and goats in an empty government house. Hodda says the family does not pay money to use the empty house. On confirmation with Umm Ibrahim, she says some families pay money to house owners to use their empty premises, others don’t. Ramadan uses several empty houses in Tala’at Dargham to raise livestock as a ‘cash crop’
- Different sources (Faroukh’s brother, Umm Ibrahim) confirmed that it costs 3000 L.E. year to rent the 5 feddans of a graduate who is not using his house and land. The ‘ist’ is 400 L.E. per year
Culture / Religion
- Umm Ibrahim says women in Abu Minqar never go to Friday prayers at the mosque. She used to love going to Friday prayers in Mansoura but says in the oasis things are just different and women pray at home only. She says the new mosque in Tala’at Dargham will not include a room for women to pray either (Dec 06)
Governance
- There seem to be several levels of governance and decision making in relation to irrigation and water management – higher up the water user organizations at artesian wells / government and pump operators at motorized wells, at a more individual level the water management decisions made on a daily basis at several points along the irrigation system, as farmers channel water from the bir to their fields
- People generally indicate that water governance and decision making runs smoothly
- Umm Ibrahim complains about the corruption in Egyptian government. She says every time the government provides money to improve things in Abu Minqar, the important policy people channel this money into their own pockets rather than providing it for policy or infrastructure change. She also says the government does not have enough information about the community and does not care enough. She says she is glad that God will punish the corrupt government officials eventually (Dec 06)
