PFU: Settling In

We are entering the third week of our placement in Palestine and already I feel that I have gained a wealth of knowledge. Palestine has exceeded my every expectation, from the accommodation, to the hospitality and the general atmosphere of the West Bank.

Once arriving in Tel Aviv, we along with roughly 150 other travellers, formed several queues leading to the boarder control glass visor. It was here that I experienced my first feeling of anxiousness. What made this worse was seeing several of the UK volunteers be instructed to go into the questioning room. After what felt like hours, I reached the end of the queue. My palms had become sweaty as a result of the agonizing wait but I hid this well. My face portrayed itself differently. I was calm, cheerful and eager to meet and be welcomed by the women inside the box. I was convinced that I would be joining my fellow volunteers in the questioning area. As she signaled for me to walk up, I took a deep inhale and exhale to prepare myself. I scanned the ladies facial expression as she analyzed my passport; she then questioned whether I was here with the rest of the group to which I replied with a yes. On further examination, she asked where I was born and so I stated what was written on my passport. The stern faced women moved on to question me about my father, asking where he was from and what his name was. I found this very unnecessary and irrelevant. However, I couldn’t complain as my questioning ended here.

Travelling from the airport to our accommodation highlighted the varying levels of infrastructure. The roads were so smooth and there were lights everywhere, until at one point it all changed. The roads become bumpier and the lights became dim and infrequent. After the rocky half of our journey, we arrived at our new homes. I was pleased to find that we had a washing machine and Wi-Fi connection, which has made life so much easier.

I was up early the next morning, keen to discover what my new home was like. I stepped out and was taken back by the striking view. Clear skies and stunning sand colored houses. Soon all the other UK volunteers joined to explore this foreign place. We walked into town taking pictures of everything that came into sight. It was surprisingly peaceful, defying everything I had learnt from the media back in the UK. People were kind, friendly and showering us with welcomes.

That following week, we were to start our much-anticipated placements. We began with an induction day where we met with the in-country volunteers and leaders from across all projects. We were also lucky enough to meet the British consulate. The project I had been assigned to was the Palestinian Farmers Union (PFU). By the end of the day, we were all pretty tired, so much had happened in such a small space of time, we had flown into Tel Aviv, endured the unwelcoming and intense questioning, explored our new home, met all the volunteers and also met the British consulate.

However, we had just begun and there was still so much to be seen. The day after the induction we started our placements. We discovered that PFU has been around since 1993 and their main focus was to stand up for farmers in Gaza and the West Bank whose livelihoods have been hindered as a result of the occupation.  On a trip to a small village in the West Bank, we learnt that agricultural land was often confiscated and that the Israeli authorities controlled water recourses. 

So far, our work with PFU has consisted of writing funding proposals that will allow the union to implement practices on the preservation of water efficiency. In addition to this, we have also taken on media monitoring whereby we post about current events within the agriculture sector of Palestine to raise awareness of the struggles that farmers face. We have a long way to go with PFU but there is always something new to be done in the office, which maintains our spirit and enthusiasm.