Promoting public health
Oxfam volunteers are helping promote public health in Beit Mirsem and Beit Al-Roush.
Beit Mirsem and Beit Al- Roush
Every evening mother-of five Siham Ammero, aged 38, walks with her donkey along the dusty road to the village cistern where she fills large containers with water. It's too hot to do it during the day and so she waits until the sun has dropped and it's cooler.
Water is in short supply in the village. Villagers used to walk to nearby cisterns to collect water, but since the erection of Israel's 'security fence', or wall, they can't go there anymore. Siham is one of dozens of Oxfam volunteers working to improve public health across the West Bank.
Photo: Alan Gignoux
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Turning the tap on in the West Bank
Clean water is at a premium in the West Bank, where people live under the strain of the continuing occupation.
Regular giving
Oxfam Water-users' group
Siham is a member of Oxfam's Water-users' Group and she, and other women in the village, are working with Oxfam to promote public health and ensure that the water people are drinking is safe.
She knows she can trust the water she collects because she has chlorinated it herself after being trained by Oxfam's public health team, based in nearby Hebron. Here, Siham and Ghada, aged 30, (middle), chlorinate the water with Oxfam public health promoter Samira Al-Jundi.
Photo: Alan Gignoux
Rushed off our feet
Siham collects clean water from a cistern that has been rehabilitated by Oxfam with funding from the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission.
Siham has been a member of Oxfam's water-users' group for three years. When chlorination takes place after the rains have fallen, she and the other members of the group are rushed off their feet.
Ghada, another member of the group is similarly involved; she says she enjoys the work and says her family support her work. She laughs: "When it gets busy my children say that I must do my community work while they do their homework."
Photo: Alan Gignoux
Like a prison
Beit Mirsem, like so many villages across the West Bank, has been badly hit by the Wall, which has been built just metres away from Siham's home.
Here, village council leader Moussa Abu-A'rqoub, shows the path of the Wall. He explains that 400 donums of the village land have been confiscated. He says: "I am a young man and was born in this village. I feel frustrated for people's freedom is gone. It feels like a prison."
Photo: Alan Gignoux
Beit Mirsem
More than 500 people live in Beit Mirsem but there are barely any cars and no electricity.
Photo: Alan Gignoux
Beit Al- Roush
Just down the road is Beit Al- Roush where there is also a thriving Water-users' Group.
Photo: Alan Gignoux
Improving people's health
The Water-users' Group in neighbouring Beit Al- Roush has six members. In this village there is a major problem with poor sanitation which is contaminating the clean water supply. This has been causing severe illness among village members, especially among children.
The Oxfam Water-users' Group has been helping improve the health of village families through public education as well as chlorinating water making it safe to drink. Aida Hraibat (third from left) says: "For me, being a member of a the Group is an interesting experience which created responsibility."
Photo: Alan Gignoux
Crying all day
Ratab has been crying all day. He drank water which had been contaminated with waste and also has amoebic dysentery. Sanitation is poor in the village and there is no sewage system which means that waste cannot be easily piped away.
Photo: Alan Gignoux
Change needed
Little Rahaf also has amoebic dysentery. She does not sleep well and also cries a lot of the time. Here she is with Focus Group member Samaher Nashwi.
She says: "We need to help people change their habits, like washing their hands." Posters have been distributed to families in the village, which has 1,100 inhabitants.
Photo: Alan Gignoux
