“Far from Finished”

 Not even a dent was made in the pile of confections.  Unabashed, stacked in the middle of the room, the tantalizing refreshments remained virtually neglected, prompting me to wonder if they were stale.  Three visits to the plate later, I could personally vouch for them, so delicious I couldn’t help but ponder if the honorees knew what they were missing.  The graduates for whom they were made appeared oblivious to any accessories present, but out of no sense of ingratitude.  They were simply busy ensuring this culmination ceremony would not be their last.  By the end of the event, I would better understand what was transpiring. 

Securing a coveted spot for the month-long training in compost and home garden management was a milestone, by itself.   22 home gardens later, it was clear the “Palestine Food for Life” program’s success had surpassed even the most inflated hopes.  Thanks to the women’s commitment and their new skills gained through this European Commission sponsored initiative, the village of Al-Mazraqiblya now boasts a constellation of home gardens.  Far beyond a mere horticultural appeal, graduates are now generating many nutritious

staples for family members, from their own backyards. 

The honorees spoke proudly of fatiguing daily help from their children. And, in turn, while many of the children’s diets are benefiting from the produce, so too are their appetites following an afternoon’s hard work in the soil.   Furthermore, if the women hoped to see results from many afternoons’ worth of training, investing their own strenuous labor was unavoidable.  Yet, when asked what surprised them most about the project, they shared how revitalizing they found daily toil on their plots to be.   The hours of work in their nurseries afforded them newfound energy, quite visible in their animated responses.

 It is difficult to overstate the importance of tangible relief the home grown produce has provided each woman’s family.   However, it was pride in their own creations which was most striking.  They wore it across their faces as they recounted their marvel at 3 working gardens visited during an early training session.   Little did they know, it wouldn’t be long before they possessed a similar adoration when gazing at their own turf.  

  Despite an annual 5 month stretch in Al Mazraqibliya when the rain won’t fall, the women arrange for water to be delivered to what would otherwise be a desiccated garden.   Considering the narrow and rocky access roads snaking up to their homes, this is no easy task.   There have been many accounts of tumbling tanks spilling litres 100 meters below the gardens’ dehydrated roots.  Many households have resigned themselves to growing nothing other than the traditional figs, olives, and grapes, unwilling to take on the extra demands of expansion.  Not these women.

 This probably explains why the scene at the Women’s Committee Center did not exhibit a typical graduation exodus.  It has become almost protocol after graduation ceremonies for students to hastily crowd bottlenecked doorways, all too anxious to get out from under their gowns.  While surely some of this customary eagerness can be attributed to the punctuation of many nights filled with studying, the excitement of  “being finished” betrays an even greater sense of relief that their work is, simply, over.   It quickly became obvious this rite represented much more than that to the women.  With full knowledge there would be a MA’AN representative attending, they took advantage of her presence to campaign for additional training, extending the event for almost an hour longer than scheduled.  They will be the first ones to tell you about the successes of their home gardens, but their collective request made it quite evident they are far from complacent. 

 Good projects don’t just teach material to students.  They create a desire in their participants, a will to vie for the project’s reincarnation.  For these women, confidence in their achievement propelled them to call for future trainings in communication skills and small business management.  A flurry of future training requests to the MC, representing the project’s enabling organization MA’AN, revealed an undeniable investment to the new home gardens and their future growth.  If the women’s merits and motivation are given due credit when funders decide whether to approve their request then these graduates will have to make room on their walls for more diplomas.