Community building in the Westbank

“Have you ever been in a country more miserable than ours?”

I am facilitating a meeting with Palestinian women in the Westbank. They are describing their situation to me. Their village is a 2,000 heads big community up in the hills with very few facilities. The Israeli occupation has a big impact on their daily lives. It is impossible to travel outside the Westbank without a special permit. The men who used to work in Israel until a few years ago are now sitting at home idly. There is an unemployment rate of 58% in the area. The women keep their heads up and work hard to keep their big families fed and educated.

I am in the Westbank to do community building for a month. The first few meetings have been about setting the right expectations on both sides. A group of Europeans come to live in a little village for a month: that must mean money! In reality we are a group of students without any money of our own or access to funds. Our intention is to guide the community to work with the available resources. We teach new ways of project planning to support them in realizing their dreams. Our aim is to create groups of empowered men, women and youth inspired to continue improving the village.

“Have you ever been in a country more miserable than this?” The women try to figure out what is worse: the situation in poor Africa as they see it on television or their lack of freedom. I tell them about having to fetch water from a well, not having access to electricity or education, lack of rain and other challenges in Africa. In return we listen to their stories about Israeli soldiers that destroy their crops with jeeps just before harvest time. Olive trees take 20 years before the investment pays off but are cut by soldiers after 10. Israel compensates its lack of water by forbidding Palestinians to pump up water from their wells. Husbands and sons are in jail suspected of affiliation with the Hamas. A brother misses his leg because he was stopped at a checkpoint on his way to the hospital and sent back home. It’s a discussion without conclusion.

The last words have not been said about the situation in Westbank. We will continue working here for two more weeks and I will continue reporting about our experiences.

Selma Steenhuisen