Gedida was founded about 200 years ago and its name means “new”. The market is one of the nicest areas of the village; it is shaded by giant eucalyptus and is famous for selling food such as dried dates, apricots, olives and peanuts, but also mats, baskets as well as dresses and other traditional ornaments made by the women of the village. People in the oasis consider Gedida a wealthy village, because it is a market town and often its men go to work in Cairo. The peculiar aspect of this migration is that often two men hold the same job and they work in shifts: while one man is working in Cairo, the other one stays in the village and then they change their roles (Vivian 1990).
