About Habiba Community
Habiba Community is committed to transforming the lives of local Bedouin communities by promoting sustainable agriculture and permaculture. We do this by empowering the Bedouins we employ to experiment with organic farming, helping them not only grow their own produce but to conduct their own research into how best to make use of the resources around us. Our goal at the farm is to help the local Bedouins learn and create their own farms, thus creating employment, food security, and a sense of commitment to the future of our shared environment. Habiba aspires to set a successful example to be followed by locals across the Sinai Peninsula.
Habiba Community is based in Nuweiba, South Sinai with the Sinai Mountains on one side and sandy beaches with turquoise waters on the other. The farm is based on a plot of what was an empty desert and has transformed it into a production hub of locally grown organic vegetables, as well as a center for research in sustainable desert agriculture. We are a center for research and regularly collaborate and conduct knowledge transfer with the Desert Research Center as well as agricultural research institutes around the world. For this reason, Habiba welcomes volunteers, students conducting research, and experts.
Habiba also aims to promote the importance of conservation. We teach the local communities the benefits of organic farming practices, showing that it not only benefits the individuals who consume the product, but also the environment as a whole.
Regenerative Farming
After years of conventional agriculture in the area, farmers are now understanding how important switching to organic agriculture is. So they are at least not using chemicals to produce their crops anymore. Besides the organic agriculture and permaculture approach, the Habiba Regenerative Farm aims now at moving a step further than organic farming to not just produce organically but also to try to regenerate the soil, the biodiversity, and the entire surrounding ecosystem.
In this way, we are experimenting, testing, and applying different, new techniques to combine innovation with traditional knowledge and revive the biology and microbiology in the soil that will support the growth of our vegetables and hence our health.
At the Regenerataive Farm, you are going to be involved with the ongoing tests and the new ones that regard soil building, making natural fertilizers, composting techniques, mulching, eco-design principles, agroforestry, and learning about soil and water analysis at our Lab!
Training
You will spend a few days with our farmers and other volunteers and students to learn the basic concepts of desert farming, water management techniques, and waste management in order to be able to do your activities independently after one week.
The surroundings of Nuweiba
You will leave close to the sea but still in a desert environment. The mountains of the Sinai Desert are very close and the farm is now what then was just a desertic plot. Nevertheless, we are very close (20 minutes walking) to the town with all the services needed, markets, restaurants, bakeries, souvenir shops, pharmacies, post offices, and banks. Habiba is well known in the surroundings and all our neighbors are very friendly and will invite you for a cup of tea every day.
What should I bring?
Sun protection, including lightweight clothing to cover your head, neck, and shoulders, mosquito repellant, sturdy shoes, work gloves, beach gear, and a sense of adventure. Most of the above are available in shops around Dahab and Nuweiba, but it is preferable to buy your quality shoes and cargo gear before arriving. Winter gets chilly, even in Sinai, especially in January and February, so bring warm clothes for the evenings.
