"Abraham" (2001) e-mail quote on September 4, 2011

There are no happier people on this planet than those who decide that they want something, define what they want, get hold of the feeling of it even before its manifestation
and then joyously watch the unfolding as, piece by piece by piece, it begins to unfold.
That's the feeling of your hands in the clay.

EXPLORING

I again encounter the Basata-website and wonder,
how Sherif and Maria feel with regard to hosting new guests every single day since 1986

The History [excerpts]

While Sherif el Ghamrawy was a student at the Faculty of Engineering in Cairo University, he began to think about leaving the big city for a cleaner and more wholesome life. The idea of emigrating was not appealing to him. He wanted to create something unique here in Egypt far away from the crowded and polluted capital.

.... in 1982, he arrived in the Sinai and his journey ended. He had discovered an unspoiled paradise! ....Sherif camped on the white sand beach a little bay nestled between two hills and decided to change his life and set up a business in what was then the Egyptian hinterland. He bought the property with the intention of preserving his parcel of land from the type of damaging development he had seen in Hurgada and Sharm el Sheikh. He was not an expert in the tourism industry but felt that he could do something that would impact great numbers of people.

He suffered through years of bureaucratic red tape and the government’s misunderstanding of his vision. Nothing of this nature existed in Egypt at the time. Sherif wanted to integrate his love of camping with his desire to protect nature. He did not want to ruin the natural beauty of the Sinai but wanted to create a balance between people and the environment through a project that would be as simple as possible. He came up with the concept of Basata, a place that would be conscientious of the natural beauty of the area, would operate in harmony with the environment and where different cultures could meet and mingle.

In 1986, he officially opened Basata for tourists. He started with one hut but toiled and sweated until he had four. He bought water until he was able to bring a desalination machine to the area. The original bathrooms consisted of a tub of water and a bucket. And the main hut housed the communal kitchen area and a living room, less than half the size it is today. Initially, Sherif alone took responsibility for every task involved in operating Basata: building, cleaning and cooking. ....

At the beginning, Sherif was encouraged by family members and friends who came to camp. Somehow, word began to spread and more and more people arrived to experience what Basata, and only Basata, had to offer, to this day, Sherif has never advertised. Basata became a meeting place for people from every corner of the world...

Among the first visitors was a ... German woman who ...decided to stay. Maria and Sherif were married, and she soon became an indispensable part of the place and together they continue to enhance and improve Basata.

Basata has changed a great deal since its humble origins but has somehow managed to grow without compromising its original ideals. There are more huts and guests now have the option of staying in a mud brick chalet with indoor plumbing and electricity. ... the bathrooms are now tiled and have private showers, and there are generators, a desalination machine, an organic greenhouse and a farm. Sherif and Maria, as parents of Sohaila and Faris, hired teachers and constructed a school that they opened up to the local Bedouin children. Nowadays, a cell phone may ring indicating that Basata is not completely disconnected from the advances of modern technology. It is still, in spite of the changes, a special place that draws amazing people. ...

There was a crucial influence of Basata
on my mobile model of a Desert Hosting Business:
the use of bamboo!
It was Sherif , who donated the first three bamboo poles
for the third generation of pyramidal tents,
which I created in Wadi-at-Taula ,
some kilometers further south from Basata,
in July-August 1996.

I felt, they had listened intently and understood deeply.
I then asked Gadi to read the document aloud.
The discussion of some points made me see with great joy,
that our consensus about the Succah's character & message was perfect and total!

Three of Avi's stories may exemplify this:

1) The ordeal of achieving legalization has ended lately.
17,5 hectare are registered at the Israel Land Administration.
This includes the absurdity, that 0.4 ha are "building space".
The mayor of Mitzpe-Ramon, who is informed of this fact,
now brings along real estate agents with all too known aims. Avi shoves them out of the Abraham succah:
"In 10-15 years you will visit with your grandkids
and still discover the same relation and proportion
between human structures and untouched nature.
For they make Desert Hosting Economy possible."

2): Last Sunday the Succah was closed down.
But, as it happens, towards the evening guests arrived.
They pleaded to not be turned away and Avi agreed.
Later he found out, it was the US deputy ambassador
and probably a CIA man, with their wifes.
In one of the succahs the gas-heater stopped.
The guests came down for help and were told,
that the empty gas tank needed to be replaced.
"It was 9 PM and the team-workers had gone to sleep. I fetched the tank and started to carry it to that succah. The guests were perplexed.
'But why YOU? Aren't you the boss?' 'There is no boss here. We all do our share of work.' They were pleased and insisted in helping me carry."

3): Among all the touristic enterprises here,
only the Succah has to pay Arnona [municipal taxes].
The others have too many debts already.
The hotel, which belongs to a man who owns 4 hotels in Eilat, got exempted, and received a large sum of money in addition, since he threatened to close the hotel and fire 70 workers. I asked: "So how much do you pay for taxes, licenses etc?" "6000 NIS per month, among a budget of about 30000. It's like a salary, but since I don't take a salary, I manage. People think, I'm an idealist, they don't understand, that I just love to live here and love to do, what I do."

We signed the agreement, wholeheartedly, I think.

Then Avi offered his thoughtful gesture:

"The Purim festival is not too far away.
It's the only Jewish festival,
that starts with sorrow and ends with joy.
If it suits you and all your kids, and Rachel too,
you'll be not just Succah guests, but MY guests.
Before you'll go to sleep in the Ismael succah,
We'll do, what tradition asks for: drink wine,
until we can't discern between enemy and friend."

Efrat said: "A stone fell from my heart."

Gadi said the same, but only at the end of the day.
During the meeting Gadi's face showed pain, especially later,
when he entered "Nebo" to take back some personal stuff.
I had erected "Nebo" as an open structure,
from which visitors could view the succah,
like Moses on Mount Nebo could view the Land,
but without entering it, unless they were guests.
When Gadi's family moved to Mitzpe-Ramon,
he wanted to live in a succah of his own,
and turned Nebo into a closed geodesic structure.
Like the Tent of Appointment - Nebo was wrong.
1) It's structure and interior were beautiful,
but too hot in summer, too cold in winter.
2) It exceeded the appointed number of 12 sleeping spaces.
3) Visitors again had no place to inform themselves,
unless they entered the "Abraham" succah
and weighed down on the team.

In his "Lekh-Lekha", as Gadi, too, calls his parting from the Succah,

Gadi renounces any right to the Succah, except one:

if ever Avi would leave the Succah,
for reasons of health or any other reason,
Gadi, Efrat and Rachel would decide - together with Avi-
on the Succah's future.

And - of course - no one can inherit the Succah, should Avi die.

He added one of the best photos he ever made in the Succah:
It is full of future:
the pyramidal tent and the sun bursting through the clouds