Abgeschickt von david am 17 Mai, 2004 um 16:02:51:
Your reporter from Siwa had just been invited by Ali to visit his beautiful garden - really worth seeing. So I asked him some questions:
What does your garden mean to you?
The garden it means for me more than a house. You can get everything. You can go stay in it. You can have a little party with a couple of friends and it has a lot of trees.
What kind of trees do you grow?
We have olive trees and date palms. But we grow some vegetables as well. A little tree of Guava and Luva and Pommegranate grow in the garden as well. For vegetables we grow onions and parsley. I mean what you can use for salad; green pepper, machmach, lemon, …
Where is your garden located?
Next to the "wedding spring". The area is called "Tamusi". It is a very old area on the way to Aghgumi on the right site. Close to the garden there are three beautiful springs next to each other which not everybody knows. So this is a nice quite location.
Did you ever think about selling your garden?
No, it is part of my life and I got it from my parents. Even the land next to my patch I was buying from my brother.
Do you work in the garden yourself?
No, I have somebody working for me because I am always busy. This somebody receives a quarter of the crops of the garden. So the work will be watering, cleaning, growing the vegetables. Two times a week something like this you have to work.
Do you have any future projects?
Yeah, like a garden party or a garden house. What we do in Siwa culture for the people who like to spend one day in the garden cooking Siwan food on bonfire, eating gumal (the heart from the palmtree). This should be open to everybody.
Did you already work on the project?
A little bit, not too much. About two times I have an Egyptian group when there was a sandstorm in the dunes. It is next to the spring where you can swim and play. And I built a shade.
I saw you are doing some pottery in the garden?
The clay for making pottery is in my garden. They make like an oven for cooking and baking bread, portable fireplaces, incense burners. (Actually Ali has the most particular ceramic collection in town).
Any other projects in your life right now?
I want to make a place for "sand bathing" in the sand dunes, like sauna against rheumatism. I keep the shop running in the center. I have another garden next to the sand dunes and I work in the "Kanooz Restaurant" everyday fulltime. I start from the morning in my shop and move to Kanooz in the afternoon where I stay until 24:00h. (Actually Ali is one of the busiest buddies around here). In Egypt one job is not enough.
For the photos copy and paste
www.haberlah.com/forum/ali_photos.zip