NEF 2004 Annual Report - Near East Foundation

esult is “dramatic” positive impact in the lives of the villagers.
On the environmental front, increased urbanization in the West Bank has expanded both the
volume and hazards of waste, put in uncontrolled dumps or improperly burned. Triply
destructive, this jeopardizes the health of nearby residents, contaminates soil and threatens
groundwater resources. To protect health and avert pollution for the 2,200 households in a
five-village area with a population of about 12,200—particularly the mothers, children and
school age youth, the Near East Foundation has made progress in:
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raised environmental awareness with community clean-up campaigns, thousands of
posters and stickers, comprehensive training of a cadre of volunteer leaders as well as
sanitation workers, house visits, among other techniques;
increased frequency and better equipped waste collection, disposal and recycling, from
the provision of basic equipment like brooms and shovels on through successful
community organizing leading to a large, up-to-code dumping site with shared costs
and benefits by the five villages;
smaller related projects like construction of improved school sanitation and the creation
of environmentally-friendly play gardens for children;
and in the grand design of systematic, sustainable community action for a better
environment by people who are confronting the challenge after seven months of multifaceted
stimulus. (For more, see Environmental Action in the West Bank)
Using many of the same approaches and
equally complex in their gradual evolution
were advances in nutrition. The straight
facts and figures are over 77,000 packages
of milk, nearly 20 tons; distributed to 1,665
school students—36 percent of area school
children; from 10 schools in the five village
cluster; from mid-December into early May
—about 125 days on a daily basis.
Also quantifiable was the increase in school
attendance, performance and parent
visitation; and what a director in the
Ministry of Education termed “a new
dynamism” among students and teachers
and their relationship. Further, “Cup of
Milk” has assisted the area economy,
helping dairy farmers, distributors and all
involved in the production cycle with the
increased demand. It also has improved cooperation among non-governmental organizations,
the private and the government sectors. (For more, see 20 Tons of Milk and a Lot More)
Students in grades one through four—and very importantly, their teachers—participated in NEF
training on nutrition and the importance of milk drinking and foods like vegetables and fruits.
All were involved in NEF’s arts programming, “Helping Kids Cope,” which again integrated
nutrition into music and dance classes and theater performances as well as our environmental
work by recycling empty milk packages. During NEF-sponsored play days, children excitedly
reached high to catch their milk packages and could be heard singing the theater groups songs
about nutrition and anemia weeks later. Nearly a thousand children attended performances.
In addition to critically-needed group recreation for these traumatized children, “play