First Field Visit

This week we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to join WCLAC's capacity building unit on a field visit to the city of Tubas in the north east of the West Bank.

Our drive from Ramallah took us through rolling hills and floating checkpoints. In the midst of miles of beautiful scenery and winding roads, the barbed wire topped walls and concrete roadblocks are unashamedly conspicuous. A stark contrast to the Palestinian refugee camps which go largely unnoticed.

Closer to Tubas we began to pass patches of farmland. Throughout the 1990s the city prospered as an agricultural centre, however following the Second Intifada much of the arable land was lost to Israeli settlements and military authorities, and while the remaining land is fertile farmers must contend with a shortage of water for irrigation.

On arrival in Tubas we were welcomed by the Tubas Charitable Society (TCS), an organisation working with women and children in the wider Tubas Governorate. WCLAC work with TCS in order to support their provision of social and legal counselling to women in the local community. We were given a tour of the facilities available at TCS, including a kindergarten and school complete with private school bus, a nursery providing care for younger children and a newly built space that would be made available for the use of local CSOs. We were also shown around the Old City and a shop ran and stocked by women who use the services of TCS. The shop sells a variety of items featuring traditional embroidery and beadwork and allows women the opportunity to gain new vocational skills and some level of financial independence.

Back at the TCS office we were able to finalise and submit the funding proposal we had worked on last week for a new sensory room to be built at the TCS, this would be a great addition to the centre so fingers crossed the funding will be granted!