February 18, 2001

Sunday in Zababdeh, and like many of the families, we attended our separate churches today (don't read too much into that) - Marthame to the Latin church, Elizabeth to the Anglican.

A detail from the delicate greenery now springing to life.

Olive waste dumped in the fields.

And, being Sunday, it afforded us another wonderful opportunity to walk through the beautiful scenery of Zababdeh. As we walked by the now-lush fields, we noticed black and burned-looking patches. This is land polluted by the by-products of olive pressing. At the olive press, when a farmer takes his olive oil, he must also take the solid (olive cake) and liquid waste from the process. Because there are no facilities for accomodating thsese wastes, farmers often just dump them where they can - on roadsides and on corners of their land. It takes years for the land to recover. There's something symbolic perhaps about these burned scars - open wounds - in the midst of such beautiful scenery. The lushness of it all is due to the tons of rain we've been having - we need to get that car out! Anyone have a tractor?

Our day was perfected by a visit from one of our friends, as we discussed ideas for new projects in Zababdeh (he's full of ideas). We fed him Gaza maqlube, the distinction being that Gaza has hot spices. Poor guy didn't know what hit him...