Background There are about 1000 people in Wadi Rum, most from the Al-Zelabia fraction of the Huweitat tribe.  They are a traditionally nomadic people who are now in the process of becoming semi-settled in Rum village, mostly so that the children can go to school. They have travelled in this area for hundreds of years, living in tents and keeping goats and camels. They now live partly in tents and partly in houses, have jeeps as well as camels, satellite tv and mobile phones. Many of the men work as guides, taking tourists out into their desert and mountains. Although they have a lot of contact with the "modern" world, the preservation of the important aspects of their traditional way of life and their identity is vitally important to them.