Notes From the Field: Gaza Strip

IMG_0891Written by Santiago Alba Corral, CARE Canada’s senior manager of partnership, innovation and policy. He travelled to the Gaza Strip in December 2012.
Visiting the occupied Palestinian territories just before Christmas has always had a veil of mystery to me as it looks like travelling back in time a couple of thousand years.
Visiting the Gaza Strip less than two weeks after the latest conflict is like travelling back in time to 2009.
CARE has been working in the region since 1946, when the first Jewish refugees arrived and required humanitarian support. Today, CARE operates in both the West Bank and Gaza fighting poverty and promoting the dignity of women and men across one of the most fascinating lands on the planet.
IMG_0102Life in this part of the world is never easy to understand. Hamed, one of the thousands of farmers who has benefitted from CARE’s work in this area, tells me, “There’s too much noise to understand each other.”
I had the opportunity of visiting several farmers, women and men, within CARE’s Quick Impact Livelihood Recovery project, a livelihood and food security program operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. CARE Canada has been working with the Canadian International Development Agency for the last four years. During this time, CARE teams have been able to integrate both a humanitarian response and build a sustainable long-term intervention in this region.
IMG_0799As part of this project, CARE works with farmers like Hamed, producing fresh vegetables to distribute among the 75,000 beneficiaries receiving food aid programs. Buying locally provides an opportunity for local markets to start producing and providing goods – thereby reducing the dependency of communities to external food aid.
At the same time, CARE is working with women in other activities such as poultry, veterinarian services to goats and maintaining beehives.
Looking for flowers in Gaza
The bee stings when you’re already crying” is one of those Japanese proverbs that has stuck with me for years.
However, in Gaza, where too many have cried, there are not a lot of bees to sting.
According to the farmers and beekeepers I spoke to, the reason for this is that there are not enough flowers for bees. In the 2009 war most of the olive, lemon and orange trees were destroyed. The international community has turned to tree-planting projects (although sadly, not restoring as many as were wiped out).
CARE has been supporting this land rehabilitation process by working with farmers and community-based organizations in replanting trees, installing irrigation nets and fertilizing the soil.
But it will be at least five years before the trees give enough flowers to restore the bee population of Gaza.
In Palestine, where the traditional use of honey is the main sweetener, there are not enough flowers to feed the bees. And not enough honey enters Gaza due to the ongoing embargo.
“At least the bees can fly over the wall,” one woman says with a sigh.
During the last few months of this project, CARE has conducted the first “Women in Agriculture in Palestine” survey to understand the role of women and men and the gender dynamics in this major economic sector of the West Bank and Gaza. This study, funded by CIDA, will allow CARE to finalize its future strategy.
After all, promoting women’s empowerment in this part of the Middle East is key for peace.
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About CARE Canada

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