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OPT: Album of IFAD success stories - Rehabilitation and development project, Phase two (RDP II)

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This booklet is a collection of success stories funded by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and carried out by American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) and the Palestinian Agriculture Relief Committees (PARC).

Towards Building a Better Future for the Palestinian Rural Communities

Down a narrow street in the village of Midia on a lovely summer day, Abu-Ghaleb rides his donkey on his way to meet his wife at the family's olive grove aft er a long morning of wheat reaping. His sickle is slung behind his back with its handle tucked inside his trousers. He frequently lowers his head, bidding "hello" to other villagers he encounters on his way. He meets his wife by a huge, ancient olive tree, and together they walk across the grove to one of two newly installed cisterns. Constructed by American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) with funding from the U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), these cisterns supply 20 dunams of water to the village's olive and fi g trees.

Abu-Ghaleb and Um-Ghaleb's land overlooks the Green Line, a big wire fence constructed on the border of Midia. Th e olive grove has been in their family for generations. Now in their seventies, with sun-burned complexions, deep wrinkles and folds, Abu-Ghaleb and Em-Ghaleb have grown to resemble their land.

Abu-Ghaleb draws a bucket-full of water from the cistern with a proud smile, and together, he and his wife water their new olive tree saplings. Th anks to ANERA and IFAD, their whole family of 48 children and grandchildren will have a more bountiful harvest in the coming season.

Um-Ghaleb explains, "Th e olive picking season is exhausting, yet beautiful. All the women of the family come together with their daughters to this grove and we all work together for nine consecutive days and usually sing to ease and shorten the process." She then mischievously smiles and adds, "Th e men of the family run away and make up all sorts of excuses during harvest, because it is no easy work."

Before the construction of the cisterns, Abu-Ghaleb and Em-Ghaleb used to buy water from the village and carry it on the donkey's back to water the trees. "It is very expensive and cumbersome," Em-Ghaleb recounts. "Th ese two cisterns are a blessing. We have around one hundred sheep that graze here. Yesterday, I drew some cistern water for them to drink."

Em-Ghaleb and Abu-Ghaleb send the harvested olives to an olive press in a nearby village. Th e produce is equally distributed between each family and the surplus is usually sold, providing them with a source of extra income.

Disclaimer

American Near East Refugee Aid
To learn more about ANERA, please visit http://www.anera.org/.