Rooftop Micro Farms for Refugee Women in Deheishe

The new project phase in collaboration with the EU took off on the first of February, 2017 with a long list of preparations to be done! Both physically in the Karama office as well as in the administrative and financial management, a lot has been done in the past weeks. Meetings, hiring, field visits, journalist tours, buying, building and designing were all part of the team's tasks. Crucial steps were the selection of the first round of participants, who will be engaged in training sessions, build a garden and become part of the production network.  

A great moment was when Karama held its first meeting with participating women in the new project on the morning of 25^th of March. At the beginning, Mr. Luay Al-haj welcomed the participants, and explained the project which is implemented with the support of the #European_Union. Mr Alhaj also made clear that the implementation will be carried out in multiple stages that will benefit the family and the Palestinian community as a whole by creating green spaces in an area where there is little space. 

More training continued during April, with both the social worker and the agricultural engineers providing sessions for the women. Trainings are given in groups of not more than 15 women - so all can pick up the crucial info - and are organized in local community centers. The staff will go both to Deheishe camp, Aida camp and Azza to meet the women personally. Some of the topics discussed during the first 6 weeks were; basics of the greenhouse, planting tomato and its diseases, planting cucumber and its diseases, control methods for diseases, fertilization methods and others. The social worker discussed topics like communication, building relationships, self-confidence, dealing with stress, dealing with overactive children. This does not only help the participants in the project activities but also in their daily life. And while participants first were hesitant to address such personal topics, they are now eagerly looking forward to their next classes. 

Soon we will start building! The next step will be to construct the first 40 rooftop greenhouses in the camps. Will you continue to build with us? Our activities need your support more than ever, as we continue to fill the gap in the EU budget. (Remember, more than 10% needs to be funded from Karama's resources so we need your continous support!) Thank you so much for being a supporter of our rooftop greenhouses project; our participants will not only grow healthy produce on their roofs - they will grow their skills and their pride :) 

See you next month! 

Links:

• NEW project website