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CARE projects in the northern parts of the West Bank, with funding from the European Union’s Directorate General for Humanitarian Assistance, are improving the living conditions of the most poor and vulnerable. Such projects are making a difference in the lives of women in particular. In the remote village of Sayda, where the dusty roads turn suddenly left and right, up and down, the CARE car maneuvered carefully until the home of Khayriyeh on top of a hill. Khayriyeh had received sheep, feed, and training, as part of the Emergency Assistance for Impoverished Households to Improve Food Security in Villages Affected by the Wall. Khayriyeh spoke with appreciation and she said: “your help means a lot to me. My husband is unemployed, and the sheep are giving us milk, cheese, and yogurt, so now I can feed my grandchildren.” The family of Khayriyeh consists of 20 people including children and grandchildren, and the sheep have become the prime source of family income. Khayriyeh and her family own a small piece of land in a rugged terrain, and thus they have a few almond and olive trees of which the income is not very high and does not meet the family’s basic needs. Khayriyeh is selling almonds at one shekel per kilo. One could see the joy in the eyes of Khayriyeh and the energy in her character when she started talking about her new sheep. “I keep them clean,” she said, “and I give them fresh water and I feed them twice a day.” Prior to receiving the sheep, Khayriyeh had attended training by CARE to improve her food security and economic living conditions and to help her maintain the sheep. In the same village of Sayda, Hala had received beehives with funding from ECHO. She is very happy because she finds the project easy to manage, and the income is good. Hala’s husband used to be a taxi driver, but with the roads closed he is barely making any money. Hala’s five children are all going to school. Hala had tried to sell clothes, but debts were accumulating because the people were buying from her and they wanted to pay later because they have no money too, while she had to go to Jenin to buy clothes and the travel conditions were difficult. So her project failed. Hala is saying that the beehive project succeed and increased her family income, and she is selling the honey jars whenever she needs money. Hala had attended training offered by ECHO and CARE on how to manage the beehives. Hala said: “I’ve never seen beehives before until I took this course. Also I learnt how to calculate profit and loss.” Now Hala is sending the honey for sale in Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Hebron. When Hala fell ill and she needed some money to go see a doctor, she went and sold some honey and came back with $160 for her treatment. “This project saved my life,” she said. “I thank God for this. I know that the European Union paid for the beehives and the training.” Hala’s children enjoy eating the honey, and she knows from the training she attended that honey is good for them. Also the income is helping cover some of the school costs. In another village, Al-Nazla Al-Sharqiya, lives Dahsha, a woman of seventy who has no relatives. For the last forty years or so, Dahsha has been living by herself in a small room made of aluminum, wood, and cloth. Dahsha had no running water, so she had to walk to the neighbors to ask them for water whenever she needed some. As she was growing older, it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to walk and carry the water back. So sometime she would sit in her little home, thirsty, until she could gather enough strength to walk to the neighbors. The staff of CARE discovered Dahsha by coincidence when they were visiting the area to conduct a questionnaire for the water project funded by ECHO, the European Union’s Directorate General for Humanitarian Assistance. CARE staff decided to do everything possible to help Dahsha, and when they asked her about her situation and how she managed, Dahsha said that the neighbors do not mind giving her water, but she is too old and ill and she cannot carry the water. Now, she said, she is extremely happy and appreciative because of the help she received from CARE and ECHO. |
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