By Yasser Alhaj | Project Director
Dear supporters of the women in Deheishe!
With this small report we are eager to give you an update on the progress made in the last weeks. Several of you have reached out to us and showed your support – either through donating or asking about the progress. We at Karama really appreciate your help and your efforts to stay in touch – thank you so much! Hopefully this small note – and especially the photos – will keep you connected to our efforts in Deheishe and the work we are trying to do in our society. Do not hesitate to let us know what you think – email, Facebook responses and comments on GlobalGiving will be read by us!
At the end of October we started a new fundraising campaign to create a better protected shield around three rooftop gardens. The plants of these women were more affected by the wind and this experience made Karama realize the gardens could be much for efficient when the cover works as a green house. The previous winter, which normally starts here in December, saw less growth in the gardens than we had hoped. How could we improve this, was the question in our organization. The price of vegetables is often rising in the winter months. Especially this year, as farmers experienced worse weather conditions leading to less harvest, the price of daily used vegetables like tomatoes have again gone up.
The innovative solution we came up with for the women was the creation of an improved greenhouse around the garden! Thicker plastic and a wooden frame makes sure all the heat stays in, while the sun can still reach the garden. With your help we have already been able to fund some of the constructions, though more is needed! In the past weeks we continued to build and take care of our gardens. By now this has led to great growth, as the women were able to keep much higher temperatures inside. The lettuce grew much quicker than normally and also the green beans and cucumbers climbed high in the air. In the new construction, the tubes are lower enabling a more efficient use of the space available. Check out the pictures to see this with your own eyes – the green bean and cucumbers plants eagerly use the robes to climb up and find their way through the whole greenhouse. Now the expected harvest is much larger than we would normally achieve on such a small space!
This year we also experiment with potatoes in the rooftop garden at Karama – so we can hopefully add this stock to the rest of the gardens next season. Starting with some pieces of potatoes on the bottom of a folded woollen sack, we continue to add soil to the sack as the plants are branching out. The sack, that can be unfolded until 1,5 meter high, will allow the potato plants to grow higher will getting roots along this whole height. The roots that will grow in the full height of the sack will deliver much more harvest than grown in a normal tube or field.
Now the first cucumbers could be eaten by the families this week – a great first result of our hard work. The coming weeks will hopefully give more harvest, tomatoes, green beans and peppers are expected later this year. We will keep you updated when the women will be able to make the first meals from their rooftop production – they are looking very much forward to this and we hope you will too!
Donations are still very much needed to fund the changes made. Your help is much appreciated by all of us in Deheishe – we send you a big thank you for your support!
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