Gaza water shortage and Saed’s garden
Saed Al Atar is a young farmer who wants to break new ground in the agricultural business he inherited from his father. He dreams of growing unique plants like yellow cacti in the garden he lovingly cultivates.
However, water is scarce in Saed’s village of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. This makes maintaining a garden tedious and difficult. “Water is the necessity of living things around us,” he said. “Lack of water makes my plants wither and die.”
Gaza water doesn’t flow all the time and when it does, it’s for short and unpredictable bursts of time. “I used to put the sink plug under my pillow,” said Saed. “Once I heard the sounds in the pipes, I’d jump out of bed in the middle of the night to plug it in, so I could fill my water tanks. But there were times when we only had water for half an hour after three or four days without a drop.” Because of this unreliable schedule, he’d save water for household cleaning, personal hygiene and cooking.
Read the full article via Anera.
[Photo by upyernoz | Flickr]
