The Women Who Revived Grandma’s Tradition!

There are many stories of awe-inspiring women from across Egypt and its frontier governorates, of enthusiastic women fired by the desire to prove themselves, who were not satisfied with the old-fashioned gender roles, but rather faced many hardships to achieve their bright dreams called “out of the box” by modernists.

However, they saw it as a duty toward the people and homeland for God has granted them an idea, so they must work and strive to achieve what they dreamed of.

[caption id="attachment_115037" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Sunset[/caption]

Here are some stories of these wonderful, inspiring Egyptian women, who believed in their dream and sought to achieve it.

The New Valley Governorate, that remote governorate that contains the Dakhla Oasis, the Kharga Oasis—which is its capital—, the Baris Oasis—which has the village of prominent Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy— and the Farafra Oasis, and does not contain any percentage of education.

[caption id="attachment_115009" align="aligncenter" width="686"] Samira Shawky an Egyptian woman[/caption]

However, what makes it more outstanding is that it houses, ambitious lady, Samira Shawky among its women, who loves the best for her country and governorate.

She was dubbed “the oases daughter” was born in the Kharga but were raised and lived in the Dakhla oases. She went to Cairo for her university studies after finishing High school.

Shawky was attracted by the job opportunities she found in Cairo, as she was distinguished, energetic, sincere, and pure as the New Valley citizens.

She achieved success in her field, as she dealt with many major tourism companies and projects in Siwa and El Gouna.

Her success and achievement in the field of medical tourism grew so did her desire to help her people and create employment opportunities for the youth.

Shawky knew very well that her governorate is rich in wells and hot sulphur springs, which can be used as a treatment for bone diseases as well as can be used as a source of beautification since the water contains elements useful for keeping the skin and hair healthy.

She also knows that her governorate is also rich with distinguished monuments such as the Temple of Hibs, El-Nadora temple, and El Bagawat cemetery.

She became most certain with her long experience working with foreigners that her governorate would be a tourist attraction.

Shawky had a noble goal, which is to get people to know her governorate, thus creating projects and investments.

She began her journey on January 1, 2019, accompanied by a diplomatic tour group that included the Ambassador of Croatia and his family as they spend the New Year's Eve celebration in the oases.

Through cruise ship "The five continents" owned by Mrs. Layla Nabhan's Tourist Company that takes upon herself to highlight the beauty of our country to Egyptians and foreigners residing in Egypt, Shawky met Major General Mohamed Soliman Al-Zamlout, governor of the New Valley.

She presented to him her idea of making use of one of the hot springs in hopes of creating a tourist project that promotes tourism to the governorate and creates job opportunities.

The governor with his experience and political skills realized her sincerity and honest desire to serve her governorate.

He also saw the role political leadership plays in empowering women, so, he granted her the right to use “Bir Ganah” area for twenty years in exchange for an acceptable material, if she educates the youth, transfer her experiences to them, and attracts tourists to her governorate.

[caption id="attachment_115040" align="aligncenter" width="960"] A French woman in “Bir Ganah”[/caption]

She put a huge effort into the project that equivalent to how happy she was with the decision, which she considered working on as a beautiful payback to her governorate.

Shawky started preparing for the project almost completely and succeeded in attracting clients she introduced to her governorate, who responded to the governor’s initiative by planting 2 million palm trees, bought lands, planted palm trees, drilled wells, and expanded investment opportunities in the governorate.

Moreover, there are projects to establish dates factories, especially as the date festival will be held on March 26.

She is also preparing to inaugurate her project to promote medical tourism in her governorate, which she created environmentally, featuring a hot springs bath, 6 chalets, and a Bedouin tent for relaxation and having lunch or a Bedouin dinner, to enjoy healthy atmosphere free of moisture and pollution, which is considered a heaven on earth.

All of this was achieved only with the dream, work, and earnest of this authentic woman and with the contemporary thinking of the governor who supports women from the outskirts of Egypt.

Contributed by Yara Sameh