Jordan Valley

Our first stop was with Mahdi. We wished to find out what was happening with the solar panels, the cost of which was covered by Daphne. The panels were supposed to reach Ras Al Ahmar, where the Israeli army had destroyed them all. Now they have no electricity and the refrigerator that Daphne and Nurit bought for them and brought them last Friday cannot function. In our presence, Mahdi called the person in charge of installing them and the latter promised again to come tomorrow and do the work. I asked Mahdi to keep calling several times a day. I believe he took it into account…

At Mahdi’s we met Sharon Gamzo who had come there directly from her home. We decided to join her SUV to go to Ras Al Ahmar, hoping the gate would be open. And indeed it was.  How easy it was to use this kind of vehicle over the rough terrain and dirt tracks and reach the distant encampment. On our way we passed other communities and I wondered why we are not in contact with them too…

This visit at Ras Al Ahmar was excellent this time, for us. Rowaida, the friendly mother, was so glad to see us. We sat there over an hour and managed to hold a pleasant conversation, even if in halting Arabic. We heard that a few days ago Ruwaida was stung by a black scorpion, and that some time ago they saw a snake near the encampment. They asked us to bring them a kitten who would help protect them from snakes and scorpions that enter the tent. It’s important to have a young kitten who would grow up there and not run away. Preferably male. Surely he will be welcomed warmly. Ruwaida also said her brother lives in an encampment not far from them, but since they have no phone it’s hard to be in constant contact. Could we find a simple phone for them, not a smartphone, like the old ones, just to be able to call the family. (There’s no internet there anyway).

On our way to the living tent we noticed that the tarpaulin shading the goat and sheep pen is full of holes. We decided to turn to our friend Sh. Of the Rosh Ha-Ayin industrial zone and ask him for a tarpaulin which we will bring on our next visit (probably next week). Another fact we discovered was that there is no furniture whatsoever in the living tent, the army destroyed everything and confiscated what was left in its latest incursion. Next time we will bring them chairs.

In our talk with the mother and the older daughters we heard that they wish to study nursing. This made me very glad. We will have Hanna Safran teach us how to make these daughters’ dream come true. My idea is to ask Machsomwatch members to ask for small donations (50-100 shekels each) from the participants of the coming Org meeting, thus we can raise the initial payment for their studies. This will of course, greatly improve the fate of this friendly family who has been hit so harshly.

We left there feeling that this was the best way of making contacts with the shepherd families. Sitting and talking and trying to understand what the actual difficulties are and how to help them, even if slightly.

We continued to the Jiftlik to meet Aude Ka’abane, whose family suffered a grave accident that killed his baby daughter and seriously wounded his wife Shara. We knew that his wife is already undergoing rehabilitation in Nablus, and that he wishes the Israeli lawyer we suggested to take care of the insurance matters. Since he has already paid a certain sum to the Palestinian lawyer, we have to find out what they agreed upon, so I turned to Yesh Din’s researcher F. for help.

We came back to Mahdi’s tent, where we had left our small vehicle, took leave of Sharon thanks to whom we were table to reach Ras Al Ahmar and leave filled with ideas for improving the state of the family there. We returned to Rosh Ha-Ayin at 16:00.

On Thursday I was in touch with Mahdi since noon, encouraging him to nag the solar panel fellow from Nablus. This helps… At 17:00 Mahdi sent me pictures of installing the panels at Ras Al Ahmar. Yay! In the evening they already had electricity and the refrigerator worked (until the next incursion of the ‘most moral army in the world’…).

A tremendous improvement!