CSC Stuff

I was talking to Samah, one of the program coordinators, about the image people have of the West Bank.
“The rest of the world considers us a Third World Country. But, I mean, look around you. Does this seem like dire poverty to you?”

And sure enough, it doesn’t.

I must admit, I had an image of Nablus that involved a much more rural landscape. Far from the ‘camping in caves with Osama bin Laden’ image that some people have worriedly expressed. But Nablus itself has infrastructure, building, streets, even pedestrian walk lights (now and forever my indicator of ‘modernity.’) Many are university educated, and they have excellent personal social support networks in place. Sure, everything is a little more ramshackle than in the West, but one can just imagine the level of development that would be without being occupied.

In any case, I was thinking about this because I was called into work on Saturday, to have a look at part of the Volunteer Program that the CSC coordinates in conjunction with An-Najah. See, every student has to complete a mandatory 50 hours of community service. “Community Service” here means just that- like ‘social work’- but without the prison term connotation associated with it in the West.

I first show up at the biggest park in Nablus. There are 86 girls there, all taking a quiet break from the work. Their job on the Saturdays is to clean up the park- rake up old leaves, and gather trash. All under the ridiculously hot sun, fully covered, and wearing the CSC cargo vests. I am impressed.

We move on. There is a group of about 40 shbab (guys) whose job is to clean up one of the local cemetery- clearing piles of dead branches knee high from between the graves. There is even less shade here, and it’s harder work. I’m not too surprised when they not-so-occasionally drop their work to pose for my camera. This, however, is great capacity building for the leaders. Thayer, their de facto coordinator for their weekend duties, was forced to step up and push them to keep working. He provides a great model, being formerly one of their number, after all.

I was reminded of the conversation with Samah, because instead of entering a blatant war zone, I am instead flambé-ing in the sun, watching the ‘Green and Clean Nablus’ initiative working in an orderly and productive fashion. One girl told me that she happily volunteers at four different organizations, eating up all her free time. She confirms that this does teach young people the value of voluntarism and the importance of community; volunteer work will also, hopefully, help her secure one of the rare jobs in the future.

The incentive structure is also extremely effective. I’m sorry to say that I was shocked; but it’s actually quite capitalist. Everyone has to serve 10 hours a week, but they can receive their stamp of completion after just six hours on Saturday, if they show themselves to be hardworking.

I considered myself to be quite open-minded before I came here, but the people are graciously breaking down the ones that stubbornly stay.

---

Part of trip: Nabulsi Adventures

---