WCLAC - Workshops across the West Bank

We are now at the end of the first month of our volunteering work at WCLAC with ICS. Our work started on the first day of Ramadan, which was the most challengeable thing. The challenge wasn’t in just spending the day without eating and drinking; it is about waking up early to work with not enough sleep at night. This is because in Ramadan our prayers end late at night and after that we need to wake up for Souhor (the meal before the fast begins). After this we can only sleep for another two hours. 

I was a teacher for one year before volunteering at WCLAC. Working here was a new experience for me and this experience took me to another side of my actual job. At WCLAC I have various projects that improve my skills and abilities, such as translating reports, finding crowdfunding websites and writing an overview report, and holding mini workshops, where I am able to maintain control over things even if my plans change at short notice. I work with a team from different cultures and backgrounds; I know more about women’s issues and how to empower women through the success stories that I hear from women’s organisations. I also know more about my country from the field trips because I’ve been to some places I have never been to before, like Tubas and Tulkarem.  On the way, I discovered so many settlements that I don’t know about and two camps in Nablus I never heard about, Askar and Alfara camps. Askar was very nice looking because it’s a small camp with colorful buildings. 

The field trips to meet the WCLAC youth volunteers have been the most interesting thing during my work at WCLAC. I’ve been on two trips to meet WCLAC’s volunteers in Bethlehem and Tulkarem. I went there thinking that I would meet victims of violence, but they were volunteers about my age of both sexes. They were excited to practice English with the UK volunteers and that allowed me to use my translation skills. We played games with them to practice using English words, which I enjoyed, and had a discussion with them in English.  At the end of both workshops, the volunteers told us how much they enjoyed it even though they were fasting and in Tulkarem they thanked us by singing an Arabic song.

I’m working with two UK volunteers and one Palestinian. The UK volunteers are from a different background and culture, but they are open to know more about the Palestinian culture. We are working in an environment of respect, joy, and achievement. When we work we plan together and help each other; I feel like we are one hand. One day we had Iftar (the meal to break the fast) at Al Marah restaurant in the old city of Ramallah and then the Palestinian sweet kanafeh with the PFU volunteers. This gave me the opportunity to know the PFU volunteers, to be closer to my group and to realize that sharing cultures and habits makes people closer to each other and more open to other cultures.

To end I would like to mention this poem, which describes why I choose to be volunteer:

Why be a volunteer!

It's not for money, it's not for fame,

It's not for any personal gain,

It's just for love of fellow man,

It's just to give a helping hand,

It's just to give a little of oneself,

That's something you can't buy with wealth,

It's not medals worn with pride,

It's for that feeling deep inside

It's your reward down in your heart,

It's feeling that you've been a part

Of helping others far and near.

That's what makes one want to

BE A VOLUNTEER!

WCLAC - Iftar and the Dead Sea

Palestine. When the word is used in the West, either in the media or in conversation, it is usually followed by conflict, destruction and war. If I am honest, I was expecting a place that was not as developed, slightly chaotic and had obvious signs of the Occupation, resulting in a repressive environment. This is what I had prepared myself for. The reality, however, could not be further from what I envisaged. Warm welcomes and happy faces is what greets us daily and although the Occupation presents problems, these issues are far more subtle and pervasive than my original suppositions.

We went to the Dead Sea on our first weekend here. Fully bonding as a group; we had mud fights, and bathed in the salty buoyant water. Waking up the next morning, my project partner and I headed to work at WCLAC. Still picking the salt out of my eyes from my not-so romantic French kiss with the Dead Sea we arrived at our placement. WCLAC is feminist charity that focuses on providing women with legal advice and counseling. Women’s rights here are seen as secondary to the liberation movement meaning that they are not only discriminated against by cultural norms but also by the Occupation. Restricting movement on top of safety concerns means that women can often live a confined life, meaning accessing facilities or securing employment can be extremely difficult.

Understanding the current situation of women in Palestine was vital so we spent the first week reading and proof reading documents and reports. I thoroughly enjoyed researching and understanding the cultural, legal and Occupation norms that women face and endure. We found out that we will be visiting several cities in the West Bank in the coming weeks, which I am really looking forward to, especially as we will have a chance to see areas with such a different religious composition.

Palestine is a mix of religious culture and arriving during a spiritual time of year, Ramadan, we are able to see with our own eyes the strength of the Palestinian people as a whole and the beauty of Islam. Ramadan is a time of year when Muslims observe strict fasting from dawn to sunset. For Muslims, fasting during this period doesn't just mean refraining from food and water; it also means purifying the soul and re-evaluating one's own life in the light of Islamic guidance. After iftar (when Muslims break their fast), cities come alive. Bright lights adorn the streets and on occasion you can see floats parading through them. The buzz is electrifying and it is such a wonderful place to be.

Being invited by the Palestinians to iftar during the first week of Ramadan to have a taste of Palestinian food and life was amazing. The spread was unbelievable! Kabseh, Mlokheyyeh, Bazella, Fasoulya that was followed by Knafeh and Qatayef. Sitting down and breaking their fast with them was lovely and such a unique experience that I will forever cherish. Palestinian warmth and happiness filled the atmosphere. This warmth is also reflected in religious understanding throughout Palestine as Christians support Muslims in their fast by lowering their shutters during the day so that Muslims do not see people eating in restaurants. To see this beautiful consideration of other peoples' religions, thoughts and feelings highlights the recalcitrant reality of the occupation.

Palestine. When using this word I will follow it with the words fun, open and beautiful. I have found Palestine to be developed, calm and a somewhat happy place. I am glad my expectations were not realized. I am glad that I can continue to inform myself through speaking to locals about their, culture, way of life, and also the realities and challenges of life under occupation. In essence, I am glad to be in Palestine.

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.

Tubas

Alongside working in WCLAC's office, we had the chance to visit different women’s centres around the West Bank. 

Meeting the children

Our first Health Ed and English lessons with Tubas Charitable Society was planned on Monday in 2 villages near to Tubas. However, due to the fact that we had to change routes to go to Tubas through Nablus, we were 15 minutes late and we were told by Ikram – the international relations officer at TCS – that it would be too late to catch up with the rest of the group in one of the 2 villages.

The workshop in the other village was cancelled due to the death of two young children who had drowned recently due to improper safety regulations in the area and the whole village was in mourning. This is one example of how the West Bank is lacking in capitals to develop its land and protect its citizens, especially the young and delicate.

Despite the distressingly upsetting news of the events we had to swiftly move on to proceeding with our meeting with the local school head teacher where we have now arranged to start giving English and Health lessons to the pupils and possibly the teachers. The first of this set to proceed on 14 May  for 8^th and 9^th graders. We will also be helping with the opening ceremony next week for the renovated museum/workshop for embroidery, including creating a gallery of before and after photographs, to help promote the accomplishments and the successes made so far by TCS and to reflect this to sponsors.

The TCS have been working on getting funds to renovate some old houses, but the problem wasn’t only in finding sponsors but also arranging agreements from the owners of the house who were displaced by the occupation.

We will also be preparing a plan for creating a website (such as Etsy) to promote and sell the products made by local women and to translate their Facebook newsfeed to create a more profound social media presence. 

The Ottoman architecture in Tubas

After the meetings we got the opportunity to walk around the old city and witnessed the ruins of the Ottoman rule from the architecture. As pleasant as this walk was, it reminded us that you could never really forget about the military presence in the area even while focusing on community development and sustaining growth. Walking back to the main road we could hear the loud thumps from a military training session near by echoing through the mountains surrounding the village. 

Marda Permaculture Farm Visit

On March 30 International Service’s PFU volunteers visited the Marda Permaculture Farm, in the village of Marda in the West Bank territory of Palestine. Though Murad Alkhufash’s family have farmed the region for generations, the Marda Permaculture Farm was only founded in 2006.

Volunteers at the farm

From 2001 until 2006, Murad Alkhufash lived and worked in the USA (Murad is one of the few Palestinians that hold a Chilean passport). Whist in Tennessee he visited ‘The Farm’, a global permaculture hub; there, realised that permaculture could hold the answers to many of Palestinian agriculture’s troubles.

The occupation of the West Bank impacts Palestinian agriculture in several ways: physical barriers and movement restrictions can prevent farms from employing specialist workers, constraints are placed on exportation of produce and importation of necessary inputs, land is regularly confiscated for nature reserves or military use, and even water access is restricted. These problems have stunted growth of Palestine’s agricultural sector, allowing Israeli farmers to exploit the internal market. Becoming excessively dependent on imported produce has only served to shrink the sector, a big problem for a country whose economic mainstay is agriculture.

Produce from the farm

Permaculture may offer a number of innovative solutions to Palestinian agriculture’s blights. One of its central tenets is to minimize waste by reinvesting all surpluses back into the system, and this can help to address some of the problems caused by resource restrictions.

One example is mulch. Mulch is used to absorb rainwater and decrease evaporation, thereby conserving water. As it decomposes it releases nutrients; decomposition also attracts microorganisms that “till” the soil and release additional nutrients, lessening the need for fertilisers. Furthermore, mulch can be used to starve weeds of light.

Using mulch saves Murad spending on water, fertiliser and pesticides, and it could for other Palestinian farmers too. Consequently, Murad operates his farm as a permaculture demonstration site, teaching farmers, agricultural engineers and students how permaculture can reduce resource consumption. If less money is spent on agricultural inputs then Palestinian farmers can afford to sell their produce for less, allowing them to compete against imported produce in the market; thus, permaculture may be the key to developing Palestine’s agricultural sector and, ultimately, its economy. 

In the field

Time is running away, it’s hard to believe that we’ve been here for a month now and are over a third of the way through our time with WCLAC. Trying to condense all that we’ve been doing is an impossible task when our days can vary so much. One day we might be translating subtitles for educational films and writing the internal political news briefing; the next we might be travelling to different towns, visiting WCLAC’s volunteer groups and discussing with them how to spread word about the centre and continue to effectively champion women’s rights in their local communities.

Delivering our session in Bethlehem

Last week, Jumana and I were sent by WCLAC to Bethlehem, to deliver a presentation to a group of their local volunteers. WCLAC was founded on the belief that, though the occupation is a serious issue that should be abolished, it should not take precedent to women’s needs. They argue that stronger domestic policy and internal advocacy will help legitimise the Palestinian state, and make it stronger when it is fully established and recognised. Therefore, their volunteer groups provide a vital part of their outreach across Palestine.

We chose to present on “Women in Wartime and Under Occupation”, comparing British women’s roles during WWI and WWII with the Palestinian women of today. We argued that across the two countries, women have successfully held positions of responsibility, whilst also looking after their families and struggling under the added difficulties that a state of conflict or occupation brings. This led into a highly thought-provoking discussion of women’s roles and their place in society. This is a highly divisive issue in Palestine as many devout Muslims agree with the traditional standpoint that men and women have distinctly different, but equally valued roles in society; whilst modernisation, increased education and increased opportunities for women has begged many other Palestinians to reconsider what those rules should exist as - if they should exist at all. The session was clearly a great success as it was meant to last for about half an hour, but ended up taking over an hour! They had so much to say and it was fantastic to hear people speaking freely, assured that they were in a safe space in which to talk and debate. In the end, we concluded that women should be proud of being women and should not seek to be men, but at the same time a woman should be aware that she is not inferior to a man: she is free to pursue whatever she wants, whether it be deemed a traditionally ‘male’ or ‘female’ pursuit.

Inside the refugee camp

However, the most interesting part of the day for me was our visit to a refugee camp, next door to the cultural centre in which we did our presentation, and home to some of the volunteers to whom we presented. Established in 1949, it then had 3400 inhabitants and was essentially a large field of tents. We tend to think of refugee camps as temporary establishments, especially when it has been reaffirmed and reaffirmed by the UN that refugees have the ‘Right to Return’ and should not have to suffer the trauma of displacement for any extended amount of time. However, 1949-2015-an unspecified date in the future is hardly a temporary establishment. Now the population is an estimated 15,000 and though the tents may have gone, replaced with buildings slowly erected by the refugees themselves, the living conditions are still appalling. Our guide, a soft-spoken but strong-willed resident, reeled off countless shocking examples of the reality of life as a displaced refugee. 

We heard about families living two to a tiny apartment;   whole school year groups crowding around one textbook; losing electricity every other minute; having water running through the streets permanently all year round due to poor plumbing; the lack of sewage facilities;  how the whole camp fails to get a full night’s sleep most nights of the week as soldiers come through with tear gas; children being arrested; and, of course, the fact that every family’s most precious possession is not considered to be their jewellery or their family photos, but rather the key to their house that they had to leave in 1949. It’s awful to think that after all that time, and since the establishment of the UN – who, through UNRWA are meant to provide essential humanitarian aid and support to such marginalised and suffering people - so many can still be living in such squalor. The camp we visited is only one amongst a total of 58 camps in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. To imagine the camp that we saw scaled up across all these other locations presents a beyond shocking picture of the Palestinian refugee situation.

 So, I feel immensely privileged to have had the opportunity to view a side of Palestine that is known about but often forgotten, due to the fact that it is often considered ‘old news’ – the plight of millions of Palestinians cannot and should not be considered old news as it recurs every day, day in, day out. We were touched that they appreciated our visit and that our presentation was thought provoking and, as Jumana put it, able to ‘strengthen Palestine from the inside’ by empowering through education and awareness. It was so successful that we shall be returning in the next few weeks to build our presentation into other areas of women’s issues and rights.

Reflections on the first few weeks

The most startling thing about our first week and a half has been seeing the normality with which people continue their lives despite the daily struggles. Our cohort were all very aware of the exaggerated stereotypes of the dangers of Palestine in the media (especially the common fallacy that West Bank was engulfed by terrorism and violence): At our first team induction in the Sharek Youth Forum building, our Palestinian ‘In-country Volunteers’ (ICVs) clearly found our lack of any glaring false preconceptions about their country quite anticlimactic.

However, no amount of prior reading and understanding could prepare us for the total resilience with which the people of the West Bank continue their lives, while fighting the injustices they face. Following our first conversations each other’s hobbies, studies, interests and social lives, our Palestinian colleagues soon talked frankly about these daily struggles including mistreatment at checkpoints and restrictions on travel. We could offer no conversation in return except understanding and shared indignation. My home country of Scotland, they were told that afternoon, had previously held a democratic independence referendum. Sitting in Ramallah, having passed through Qalandia checkpoint and into the Occupied Territories for the first time, the irony and the dissimilarity between our situations was startling.

Yet, later that week, while exploring the bustling streets – filled with Western brands, shisha bars, and shawarma restaurants – we continually saw a way of life so normal and relatable. The lives of all Palestinians in the West Bank were framed by injustice, but in no way does this impede the vibrancy and friendliness of the region.

Palestinian Olive Trees

It was in this context, that we have begun at our work at the Palestinian Farmers' Union. From its small office in Ramallah, the PFU fights to protect farmers from across the West Bank and Gaza from economic iniquity, protect them from natural crises, and uphold their rights in the face of their unique political situation. Their concerns with issues of land rights, water supplies, and trade restrictions hit at the heart of Palestine’s current plight. After a brief introduction to the offices, we travelled to Bil’in were we saw the effects of occupation first-hand. Our guide showed us hillsides which once contained scores of near-pre-historic olive trees, now dissected by the Wall and the Israeli settlement of Modi'in Illit, barren of trees. In this field, we were told, his cousin had died protesting against these threats to the livelihood of their village.

Bil'In

Our work here would develop over the coming weeks; preparing briefings and proposals to various NGOs and donors, building the PFU’s communications with high-profile individuals and growing the PFU’s social media presence. Yet after just a few days it was already immediately clear to both me and Ben, as it was to our ICV Beesan and all those we were working with, just how crucial this work is in protecting the rights of the people who rely on this land and who for generations have strived to protect it.