By Yasser Alhaj | Project Director
Our lives in Palestine have been greatly impacted by the ongoing violence and recent war on Gaza. This is also seen in our projects over the last period. This GlobalGiving update will inform you about the developments over the last three months.
Dear Karama supporter,
After Karama set up the structures and provided the water, the women have been taking care of their gardens on a daily basis in the past three months. Their plants started to grow and produce. Meetings between the women and visits from agricultural experts continued until the first week of Ramadan (end of June). These moments of exchange were experienced as very positive by the women and made them feel more capable of doing the job. Especially the discussion of diseases was helpful, as they are unfortunately not uncommon. They learned how to add iron, calcium or other nutrition to the soil that help the plants to deal with the poor soil we have here in Palestine. Other diseases have been mostly kept out of the gardens so far and the main concern is the lack of fertile soil and high salinity of water.
Also a survey was developed by the project team to further document how the women are effected by the gardens. This questionnaire measures the food security situation of the women as well as public participation of the partakers and how the women view themselves. Complemented with details about their harvest and a repetition of a similar survey at the end, this will give a detailed insight in the impact of this project and any changes in the lives of the women.
But in July, the appearance of tranquillity was lifted and violence became more open on the people in Gaza. The signing of a Palestinian unity government triggered mass arrests in the West Bank, but it led to a massacre in Gaza. Indiscriminate bombing of the densely populated strip of land caused not only more than 2000 people to die, it also took down infrastructure that makes life almost impossible now. Life is impossible in Gaza, if it wasn't for the high spirit of the people. Shortages of water and electricity lead to many preventable diseases. Many people are still displaced, because their houses are destroyed or so greatly damaged that there is no home to return to anymore. While a great amount of families already depended on food support from external actors before the recent war, currently UNRWA hands out emergency packages to all Gazan families.
The war naturally became the focus of our lives in the West Bank as well and took us through a rollercoaster of emotions. Between the shock, despair and euphoria we have found the hope that one day justice will be done and our rights will be recognized. But as so many families in Gaza had to bury their death, it was difficult in some way to continue in the project for some. One can feel downhearted when all it seems you can do is send bottles of water to your people enduring such hardships a few kilometres away. But we are under the same occupying structures and need to take our steps to shake off this injustice. And taking care of our health, greening our roofs and providing for our families might than exactly be steps that we need to take.
Though the violence continues now in Gaza, we know there will be a day they can rebuild their homes, schools, mosques and roofs again. At the same time in the West Bank we should continue to grow; on our roofs for a healthier life and in our hearts for a more dignified life.
Your support is a great sign for the Palestinian people. Thank you for standing with us.
The picture from Gaza: (Ashraf Amra / APA images)
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By Yasser Alhaj | Karama Director
By Yasser Alhaj | Karama Director
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