This year, Egypt's Ministry of Social Solidarity organized its annual handicrafts exhibit, Diyarna, which translates to Our Homes, under the slogan "We are all Sinai." About 1,000 women sold handicrafts at the exhibit, which was held Dec. 3-17 in Nasr City, Cairo. The exhibit took place in the wake of the Nov. 24 terrorist attack at al-Rawda mosque in north Sinai, which left 311 dead. According to the ministry, the profits from this year's Diyarna, which exceeded 7.3 million Egyptian pounds ($408,289), were donated to fund development in north Sinai villages. 

The unprecedented attack cost al-Rawda village about a quarter of its male residents. In 2016, just under half of al-Rawda's population of 2,111 was male, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. Hundreds of Sinai women have found themselves enduring extremely difficult living conditions and unsafe situations after losing their husbands in the attack.

“The whole village is either widowed, bereaved or orphaned,” said Eman Attiyya, the CEO of the Sinai People Foundation, a civic and charity association.

Attiyya believes that the massacre has shifted the role of women in the village, and that they must now become breadwinners. At Diyarna, the Sinai People Foundation displayed the products of about 30 north Sinai families, including families from al-Rawda. The products came from individuals aged 18 to 60, and they include embroidered clothing as well as olive oil and thyme, for which north Sinai is renowned.