Stories from the Field

The “Farm to School program brings healthy food from local farms to thousands of poor school-aged children in low-income remote villages. Moreover, the program teaches students about healthy eating habits that can last a lifetime. In addition, the use of local products in school meals and educational activities provides a new direct market for local low-income farmers. It also provides local women with temporary jobs in food preparation,” explained Abdo Raad — the director of Saint Saveur School and Orphanage. The school, located in the city of Joun, south of Lebanon is home to 70 orphans and vulnerable children and hosts 150 school children.

“It is a win-win situation for everyone,” he concluded during the inauguration ceremony of the kitchen supported by the German Embassy in Lebanon, as well as the opening of the third Lebanese-Palestinian youth summer camp which hosts Palestinian youth from camps in Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

“We thank HCI for this important initiative which is vital for the revival of low-income remote areas,” commented H.E.M Brigitta Eberly, the German Ambassador to Lebanon who attended the ceremony.

The German Embassy in Lebanon contributed over $16,000 to equip the kitchen at the premises of the school/orphanage which will help HCI’s Farm to School project expand its scale and scope to reach out to other schools and orphanages in nearby villages, which is expected to benefit more than 700 children during the summer of 2009.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by H.E. Mrs. Bahia Hariri, Minister of Education and Higher Education and H.E. Mr. Mario Aoun, Minister for Social Affairs.

“Cause and Identity” is the theme of this year’s Lebanese-Palestinian youth summer camp which coincides with the celebration of Jerusalem as the 2009 Arab Capital of Culture. The 40 Lebanese and Palestinian youth come from different regions in Lebanon and from Palestinian camps in Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

“Building bridges and trust and creating a platform for dialogue and sharing among Lebanese and Palestinian youth is the main objective of this summer camp,” H.E. Mrs. Hariri, the President of the Hariri Foundation for Human Sustainable Development (HFHSD), explained during a discussion with the participants. HFHSD is sponsoring of the summer camp.

The Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education has been actively working in the past two years on integrating health and wellbeing topics into the Lebanese school curriculum, especially for elementary school students. “HCI’s successful Farm to School project which promotes healthy eating habits for school-aged children is a significant initiative that the Ministry of Education should consider adopting to improve student health,” suggested, Rabih Yazbeck, HCI’s Regional Director, during a conversation with the participants. “We hope that the summer camp’s attendees will benefit from our initiative, and take what they’ve learned back to their families and help bring awareness in their surrounding environment,” Mr. Yazbeck concluded.

The Farm to School Project was launched this March in two regions in Lebanon. To this date, thousands of school-aged children have learned about the path from farm to fork and healthy eating habits.

The program desires to support community-based food systems, strengthen family farms, and provide jobs for vulnerable women and nutrition for poor students hence contributing towards their health and well-being.

The family farm owners will have a chance of securing a steady income, the students will be motivated to get an education, and the unemployed women will have the opportunity of working and generating income. These benefits are not limited to economy and education, but also affect the overall morale of the residents.

On the long-term, the program will introduce waste management programs like composting, and experiential education opportunities such as planting school gardens, cooking demonstrations and farm tours.

What we are witnessing here are the combined efforts of the public and private sectors, and the civil society, local and international. These initiatives transcend all national, religious, and racial differences and have one aim in mind, the well-being of our children and families. At the end, humanity is the bridge that connects us all, and it lies ahead in anticipation of the courageous many who will attempt to cross it.

At a time when Nobel Peace Laureate, Mairead Maguire, and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney are detained for attempting to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza, at a time when toys, food and medical supplies are lingering elusively at the gates of the city, and the imposed blockade continues to exacerbate millions of lives, the residents of Gaza continue to live their daily tragedy in silence, in face of a world that has grown weary and apathetic to their cause.

The malaise following the December war continues to haunt millions of people, who have become desperately poverty-stricken. Devastated homes and neighbourhoods have become typical scenery, scarcity of food common, unemployment the norm, and increased rates of disease an inevitably which even if curable, lacks the necessary medical supplies and treatment.

Gaza has become synonymous with wars, destruction, and poverty. No wonder only a few are aware of the rich history and culture buried beneath decades and centuries of rubble so eloquently detailed in “Life at the Crossroads: A History of Gaza” by Gerald Butt recently re-published in 2009.

It has not been an easy task for HCI to reach out to the residents of Gaza. HCI’s resources and effort this year have been dedicated to this challenging task. The arduous journey however, has been rewarding and possible due to the perseverance of our team and supporting partners both in Gaza and the West Bank. Most recently a developmental initiative has been launched in support of families suffering from the now ubiquitous food-shortage and unemployment.

OFFERING CAPABILITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES

After extensive research and inquiry, and in spirit of HCI’s aim to offer sustainable developmental solutions, poultry keeping presented a feasible and manageable project, one that also plays an important socio-cultural role in Gaza. Poultry keeping makes use of family labour, mainly women, who are major beneficiaries.

The Agricultural Support for Smallholder Farmers and Food-Insecure Households initiative is currently assisting families in setting up small poultry-keeping businesses. Areas and direct beneficiaries have been screened and selected by HCI and its local partners, the Aid and Hope Centre for the Care of Cancer Patients and the Vocational Rehabilitation Workshops Society for Girls NGO. The designate areas comprising most of Gaza, share the same characteristics: elevated poverty, gravely affected by the war, high unemployment rate especially among the women population and finally suitable environmental and physical conditions for backyard production.

Each of the beneficiary families is provided with a flock consisting of approximately 100 birds. These flocks are managed by the individual farm families in order to secure food, income, and provide a form of employment mainly for women. Each farm family is provided with the necessary equipment, livestock and technical assistance required to implement the project. In addition, a local team of semi-volunteers consisting of veterinarians and agricultural engineers has been formed to assist in the distribution of livestock, equipments, technical assistance and follow up to ensure the success and sustainability of the individual businesses.

For many of these families, the poultry business is the sole means of livelihood, contributing to the overall well-being of these food-insecure households.

The small business also presents one of few opportunities for low-income, food-deficient families to save and invest, hence securing them from many unforeseeable risks. In addition to being a major income-generating activity (the sales of birds and eggs), the occasional consumption of either meat or eggs provides a valuable source of protein necessary for a healthy and nutritious diet which is generally lacking.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EXPERTISE: THE TRAINING

Representatives from each family were invited to attend the training workshop for the Agricultural Support for Smallholder Farmers and Food-Insecure Households initiative that took place in Gaza. The training was a prerequisite for running the poultry business.

The purpose of the workshop was to familiarize the prospective business owners with the technical, medical, and managerial skills necessary to run and sustain a poultry-keeping business. The training underlined the importance of development as an alternative to aid. In addition, it was intended to help the trainees, particularly women, acquire the knowledge and expertise needed in setting up small businesses.

IN DEPTH: THE LIVES OF THREE GAZAN FAMILIES

“Living below the poverty line”, is a phrase no longer representative of the reality it once aimed to depict. It is insufficient, impersonal and ambiguous–a statement that generates nothing more than statistical controversy nowadays. Unfortunately the reality itself remains–uncontroversial and unaltered. Hunger and unemployment continue to govern the lives of millions in Gaza.

The story of three families in particular comes to us as a reminder of the true meaning of war and sanctions, of their repercussions, suffered by none other than innocent children and families who alone bear the brunt of conflict, destruction, poverty, hunger, and disease.

HOPE IN DESPAIR: THE MOBAEED FAMILY

Poverty is not merely a state of deprivation. It is a process that compels those implicated to redefine their priorities. In such cases of extreme poverty, nourishment and shelter take precedent while health and general well-being very rarely are considered. Sometimes however, the perpetual stress of survival takes its toll, exacerbated only by negligence and lack of awareness.

Last March, 37 year-old Nidhal Al-Mobaeed, mother to seven children, stumbled upon representatives from the Aid and Hope Centre for the Care of Cancer patients at the Women Affairs Centre bazzar in Gaza during their awareness campaign for the early detection of breast cancer sponsored by Human Concern International.

That day she was duly briefed about the mammograms test which is among the best early detection methods for breast cancer among women. Few days passed before Nidhal decided to go for her free examination. She and her husband recall that day with much sorrow, the day when Nidhal was informed she is suffering from a malignant form of breast cancer, one that warrants surgery and the complete removal of her breast.

In addition to her serious medical condition which hinders her from working, her husband Saleem suffers from cartilage damages in six of his spinal vertebrates deeming him also unfit to work. As a result, the family was left with very little or no income, equally overwhelmed by the urgency of Nidhal’s medical condition.

As such, the Centre proceeded to make all necessary arrangements in preparation for the surgery and designated doctors to follow up her condition. Coordinators from the Centre were also asked to visit Nidhal frequently to offer moral and psychological support. Upon their last visit, the coordinators informed the family of their selection to the poultry keeping program.

The news brightened up an otherwise bleak reality, one that this family was made to endure as a result of disease, hunger, devastating wars, and extreme poverty. They were relieved to know that all technical and medical assistance pertaining to the poultry keeping business will be entirely taken care of for the first six months to allow for the business to flourish. Their two youngest daughters, 7 and 11 year-old Shrooq and Amal, were certainly delighted at the thought of playing with the birds and caring for them.

According to Saleem, the business will set out to be a source of nutrition for the family. The unconsumed surplus, such as eggs, will be sold to secure a steady flow of income. This in turn will allow the family to purchase lacking necessities, contribute towards Nidhal’s medical treatment, and restore their war-damaged home.

The story of the Mobaeed family might be laden with sorrow and hardships but it also paints a bittersweet picture of hope and resilience amidst poverty, war and disease.

INSPIRED BY LIFE, THE GOOD AND THE BAD: THE AL-SAMEERE FAMILY

It is difficult to imagine how life can possibly be a source of inspiration for those who are besieged by so much misery–when poverty is aggravated by disease, when disease is exacerbated by hunger, and hunger by devastating wars. This is the story of Fayaad Al-Sameere, a man who despite life’s every attempt at breaking him, remains high-spirited, hopeful, and determined, undeterred by poverty, hunger, or disease.

Fayaad lives in his modest home in the outskirts of Gaza, along the border, with his wife, six children and one grandchild. Fayaad was introduced to the members of our team when he came in one day declaring that he is “not here to beg or ask for money”. Fayaad came in that day asking that his elder son, Hussein, be treated for a malignant case of cancer as the family have lost all source of income and were unable to proceed with treatment.

Twenty-year old Hussein was forced to discontinue his education due to his illness where he suffered from untreated tumours in the neck. Fayaad, unable to help his son due to his dire financial situation, turned to the Centre for support, and our team duly obliged.

It is important to note that Fayaad, this vigorous 40-year old man, full of life and hope is himself a victim of cancer. His tumours extend from the neck to his chest, and he has undergone seven different surgeries. Despite his passion and love for life, though, Fayaad has grown weary, especially after he was banned from travelling to complete treatment. The reason is the overwhelmingly high expenses that according to the authorities suffice to treat fifty patients. As such, Fayaad’s treatment came to a sudden halt leaving him with one wish, to live in peace.

Peace however, was not granted to the Al-Sameere family. A plot of agricultural land along the borders of Gaza, once a source of income for the family, is now forbidden territory. Every morning through a pair of binoculars, Fayaad gazes at his land on the horizon. Each day he hopes that they would return to harvest the land and restore the damage caused by the war, whose bulldozers destroyed decade-old Almond trees, a war that left numerous landowners and their families deprived and landless.

Their home was not made an exception. During the December war, the family had to flee their house in the outskirts of Gaza in search of a safer place in the centre of the city. Despite their already overwhelming expenses they had no choice but to pay rent for their safe haven. Incessant bombing did not spare their house, and it too suffered severe physical damages.

It is clear why Fayaad’s family were most suitable for the poultry keeping project. They have suffered the malaise of war, poverty, hunger and disease all together, and though they do receive aid on a quarterly basis, it is insufficient.

Upon our team’s visit to Fayaad’s home, they noticed that a small piece of land adjacent to the house was already cleared out in anticipation of the flock of birds. In Fayaad’s words, the business represents a lifeline for the family and an opportunity to once again lead a self-sufficient and dignified life.

This source of income will go towards Hussein’s treatment, food, clothes, an oven and other necessary missing furniture. In addition he aspires to expand the business in the near future to include cattle which would generate more income for the family.

Fayaad’s steadfastness and optimistic outlook, is not merely admirable but inspirational. When everything else seems to fall apart, his love and passion for life remains undisputed.

A DOOR-LESS HOME: THE QUEEDER FAMILY

As the title suggests this is the story of a family too poor to even afford a door to conceal their modest home. There lives Mariam Queeder 70-years of age, a widow and mother to three children and seven step children most of them suffering from mental disorders, a condition that has become all too common in Gaza. Mariam’s daily strife for food and income is heart-wrenching, mainly relying on the kindness of a few charitable individuals.

Maysoon, the youngest and only child with a high school diploma, bears the brunt of this everyday battle. The responsibilities are cumbersome and the pressure of being the only high school graduate means that she is possibly the only family member with a slightly better chance of employment. Her siblings see in her a leader, indeed she is the family’s sole caretaker.

Unfortunately, her daily struggle to secure some form of sustenance for her siblings is undermined by the lack of income, and she like the rest of her family and indeed the majority of people in Gaza, is left without any form of employment. In her words, sleep is impossible when the mind is constantly buzzing with images of her hungry mother and siblings. One thing is for sure, hunger in Gaza is a pandemic spreading wilder than forest fire.

Maysoon was elated to hear the news about the poultry keeping business yet similarly perplexed, debating where to keep the birds and instantly worrying about feeding them. She was reassured that all technical and medical assistance will be at their disposal in addition to the chicken feed which will be provided for six consecutive months at the beginning of the project.

The poultry business instilled a sense of rejuvenated hope for the Queeder family, who now have the opportunity to be self-sufficient and finally generate the much needed income that will safeguard them from hunger and disease and ensure their overall-wellbeing.

This source of income will contribute towards the family’s medical expenses, food, and clothing and allow them to purchase basic commodities they were previously deprived from.

ONE STEP AT A TIME

Behind images of war and poverty rests a reality unfathomable only by immediate experience. Even flamboyant words and images become superfluous at times, desensitizing many, if not most outside observers. With the end of each article and news briefing, most will return to the comfort of their mundane life, perhaps with a momentary sigh of relief, perhaps in an ephemeral state of despair. Eventually the majority of us tend to forget almost instantaneously.

Human Concern International’s firm belief that no innocent child, woman, or man should be the forgotten victims of such extreme poverty and devastation motivates us to pursue the most challenging yet most rewarding of tasks. HCI’s involvement in Gaza might not reach out to the whole of Gaza, but it aims to offer sustainable developmental solutions to as many families in need as is possible. We aspire to continue and expand our initiatives in hope that the good that is reaped will multiply and tip over the injustice of this status-quo.

In May 2009, the HCI team launched two projects in Sudan that will provide credit capital and the necessary training and coaching to two new communities in two settlements in the south and the north of the capital Khartoum as well as a project which will promote entrepreneurial spirit among impoverished Sudanese orphans, and giving them the proper training in setting up and managing their own small businesses. Human Concern International has always made an effort to work with poor communities in Sudan; with 2 million Sudanese at risk of death, in addition to those who have been injured, displaced and have lost all of their support and care networks due to the continues civil unrest, poverty and lack of proper infrastructure, one should feel concerned. The living conditions in these settlements are extremely unsafe; while visiting the community leaders, we witnessed the cruel effect of poverty on people; in these two settlements people had built their houses from scrap metal, water was insufficient and unclean, sanitation services were nonexistent and the scarcity of food was visible on the children, someone even pointed out those dying from malnutrition.

This difficult image that we witnessed will soon be changing with these projects that were launched in partnership with several local long-time partners in Sudan, including Peace and Development Volunteers (PDV) and African Charity for Child and Mother Care (ACCSOM). One project will assist the rebuilding of Sudanese lives through micro credit, and provide access to finance programs for low-income Sudanese widows. The second project aims to unlock and unleash the economic potential of Sudan’s orphans that HCI has been sponsoring since 2003. Through the micro-credit initiative: 100 widows will receive loans for income generation and small businesses, 2 revolving loan programs will be established and will be operated by local communities, 2 local credit committees will be established at two targeted communities, and 16 people at two local credit committees will receive training in basic credit provision.

The second project’s objective is to assist orphans shift their mindset from being passive receivers of donations to active income generating entrepreneurs. Instead of being drawn into a passive cycle of receiving charity and relying on the kindness of others, 30 orphans will receive the training and materials necessary to embark on their own business ventures. They will also be given the opportunity to test their ideas under real-life circumstances, and take part in the “Business for a Day” program, in which they will operate a business for one day. An investment club, run by the orphans, will be set up. The club will be endowed with a trust fund, which will be invested towards implementing club activities. Thirty orphans, fourteen years of age and older, will take part in the first phase of the program.

The implementation of these two projects will provide the solid ground on which these widows and orphans can build their lives on, where the knowledge and the technical assistance will be provided by the project’s workshops and volunteer trainers and the revolving funds and loans will be in the hand of their own community to make use of, nurture and pass on to other needy members of their community to slowly but effectively reduce poverty levels within these two settlements.

Our field visits were not only to launch new projects, but to also follow up and connect with other local partners in these two settlements, where HCI has long been implementing relief and development projects that offer Sudanese orphans economic security through the child sponsorship program; where devastated, left out and marginalized orphans are given access to food, security and education throughout their sponsorship period. Our local partners took us to a library that HCI helped establish, where many of the sponsored children are able to have access to knowledge and information.

During the same visit, HCI and the Canada-based International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF) launched a new interesting initiative in Sudan, related to International Water & Sanitation (IWS) and targeted in the first phase at building the capacity of Canadian international institutions in this area of technical assistance. To have a better understanding of the situation, HCI will prepare a comprehensive country analytical report in partnership with HCI local partner, Peace and Development Volunteers (PDV). The result of the report should formulate the ground in which HCI and other Canadian based organizations can implement large-scale interventions in Sudan to ensure water sufficiency, and opportunities for related income generating activities. Projects like these are vital and have the potential to fundamentally change many lives, especially in impoverished settlements like these ones. HCI also witnessed the launching of a new civil society-public partnership for the provision of family-based health insurance that our partners are engaged in.

In the last part of our very dynamic and productive field visit, we also got the chance to visit the health clinic that was established with the help of HCI to serve the new settlements in northern Khartoum. The health clinic has outstandingly been operating autonomously, self sufficiently and effectively to serve the population with a professional team of health experts that are semi volunteering to cover the health needs of the area, from treating chronic illnesses to dental care. During our visit at the clinic, we came across a group of young boys in the process of being circumcised; our local partners explained the importance of having such traditional operations take place in a clinic by the hands of medical practitioners, instead of having them done the traditional way in an unsanitary environment that often yields harmful outcomes. Wandering around the clinic, we were content to see the staff operating professionally; taking care of the patients and maintaining the medical equipment to make sure that as many people as possible are able to benefit from it.

It was a busy week in the field in Sudan, but those few days have made us more confident after seeing the efforts of our local partners to sustain themselves and sustain project impacts and use all the available opportunities to help their communities. As the humanitarian situation in Sudan is deteriorating, HCI feels obliged to double the efforts to provide immediate relief to those who are in need, especially those that are most vulnerable; orphans and widows.