Amazingly I met Dr Ackmed a revered herbal medicine man on Mount Sinai who appeared with Kate Humble on episode three of the Frankincense Trail aired on BBC2 the other week. In the picture he is giving me a 300 year old pestle and mortar as a gift for my work with the tribe’s camels. I gave him and the sheiks gifts of woven horse hair braided with beads. Wow, Iris, Betty and Dancer kindly allowed me to use their own hair for the occasion. Dr Ackmed commented that he thought Allah had sent Wow to me. He sure did!
Climate change has reduced the rainfall in the Sinai desert to such an extent over the last 7 years that orchard gardens in the mountains are dying through lack of water and wells are drying up fast. As the water table had dropped dramatically many Bedouin are keen to look at new ways to sustain themselves and their animals. A small working group from Leeds Metropolitan University is involved with the Nawamis community project to build a Bedouin School, and a community well. Also my students and I will be returning to Sinai to continue our healing work in 2010.