Years of political uncertainty, occupation, slow economic
growth and physical barriers have stifled life in the northern Palestinian city
of Nablus. Today, residents deal with insufficient governmental institutions
and a lack of social programs leaving many alienated community members. In
2000, the Community Service Centre, known as the CSC, was opened as a social
work centre at An-Najah National University to tackle some of the most
important issues facing the city. Not only were the most vulnerable
of Nablus disenfranchised, but ambitious and professional men and women often
felt hopeless and unable to effect change in their fractured city. Raja Bawwab
beat all odds and built a long and hugely successful career in Social Work.
After finishing her studies in Egypt and working in the field for several
years, the 50 year-old mother of four has become the CSC’s longest serving
social worker working with the rights-based organization since it opened its
doors in 2000.
Launched during the thick of the Second Intifada, the
small staff of the new centre knew it would take a new strategy in order to
affect real change, and set out with an approach to community service that they
were convinced could make a difference. New to community centres in the city, Rights-Based
Community Practice (RBCP) is an academically developed and tested method of
tackling social issues by focusing on community-initiated searches for solutions
to problems. RBCP is unconventional by virtue of leaving it up to community
members themselves to prioritise their problems while offering the close
support of locally-acquainted social workers. RBCP strengthens the
institutional capacity to respond to the social issues afflicting the community
by building relationships with appropriate government departments and other
NGOs, all while maintaining the primary focus on recovering and protecting
basic human and social rights.
Since the start, social workers at the CSC have approached
community members directly, listened to problems affecting the most vulnerable,
and worked with residents to implement solutions that are agent-centred,
institutionally enforceable, and sustainable. The focus is on empowering people
and helping them gain access to what is theirs by right. As Raja puts it, “We
are making a chair for [people] to make good decisions about [their] lives…
they have to be part of this solution.”
The year 2000 was a year of great instability in
Palestine. Blocked off from the rest of the West Bank, Nablus was isolated from
vehicular traffic for a period of several years as the Israeli Army occupied
the city in efforts to quell the Second Intifada, a time marked by violent
uprisings against the Israeli Occupation. The Intifada brought in its wake
curfews and severe restrictions upon civilian movement, a near-complete halt on
the local economy, and an Israeli military presence night and day. “At the time,
we were only 4. There was no furniture, and we had 2 offices. We started with
two issues,” Raja explains.
The first issue that the centre tackled was access to
education. With the strong belief in the right to access education and in the
necessity of education as a tool towards social progress, the Supportive
Education Program was born. From the start, it relied on volunteers from the
university and community, and brought small group and one-on-one teaching and
tutoring to children whose parents are unable to support them in their academic
pursuits, either because they are not educated themselves, or because they work
long hours and cannot afford the time or a private tutor.
The veteran program quickly blossomed into a hugely
successful initiative. In 2010 alone, 232 volunteers helped 783 pupils in 25
different schools, helping drive up literacy, and providing a solid foundation
in basic skills. Aside from crucial after-school homework help, Supportive
Education has helped thousands of students overcome socioeconomic obstacles to
success, and all using resources from within the community. In the early days
the sessions helped make up for the weeks of school closures during the curfews
of the Intifada, and today they aim at ensuring that as many local Palestinian
children as possible have access to a good basic education. In the process of
educating the kids, Supportive Education volunteers learned that they could
change the lives of others, and serve as an example to their young pupils, many
of whom go on to volunteer themselves.
The second initiative was brought to the CSC by the
community via its storefront open-door program. Raja recalls, “People came from
Rajeeb village near Balata Camp. They said: ‘we need a safe garden for
children’”. Safe space was a common concern, “During the Intifada, Israeli
tanks would fill the streets and there was a curfew”, Raja remembers. Unstable
conditions meant that areas safe for children to play were few; city streets
could turn into military zones without warning, and parks were neither
maintained nor exempt from military presence.
Parents brought their concerns to the centre, and Raja
went with a colleague to look into options for play space. Teachers and
residents from the area suggested that some nearby land be bought or donated
for the project. When Raja looked into it however, residents “did not want to
give the land”. Raja says that the political situation at the time was partly
to blame, with concerns over the land topping concerns over the needs of the
children.
After extensive consultation with residents of Rajeeb
village, an alternative solution was found. “We made contact with the Ministry
of Education,” and with the help of the teachers and parents, the centre gained
permission for the community and school students to access two school yards
after-hours. “Just as something temporary,” Raja notes, but the plan worked.
A boy’s school and a girl’s school became available for
children after hours. As zones generally off-limits for the military, parents
felt safe allowing their children to stay outdoors after school, and helped
ensure that the area was looked after. Moreover, as parents, teachers, and
ministry officials worked together to find a solution, they learned that change
could be made. Today, like at the beginning, the open-door program caters to
community members seeking information about rights, how to best access them,
and social or governmental facilities that provide these rights and other
essential services.
Despite several unstable years, the people of Nablus were
highly receptive and gracious to the efforts of the centre. Raja recalls how those
first years brought her immense satisfaction. “You can say the political
situation is stable now”, she says today, somewhat resigned, but relieved that
the centre can take on longer-term projects and expand its focus to the rights
of women, the disabled, the poor and the elderly.
The latter effort took on a particular significance for
Raja four years ago when her father died: “working with the elderly brings me
the most enjoyment: it gives me a sense of fulfillment.” To this end, she
regularly visits elderly citizens in the Old City of Nablus, dispatches
volunteers to make house calls, and organises special dinners for elderly
people living alone or in communal homes, turning what she personally enjoys
into a communally beneficial initiative.
Children are also among Raja’s favourite people to work
with: “they don’t have anything aggressive,” Raja says, “in their mind everything
is clean.” Smiling, Raja talks about one of her favourite cases: “He came to
the centre as an orphan, at the age of 7. He is a very intelligent boy. He
studied IT, and the degree was paid for by local patrons.” Pairing people in
need with people who can help is another of the CSC’s basic goals. “He
sometimes comes to the centre to visit and drink tea. He always says thank you,
you were like a mother to me,” Raja says.
For Raja, her work at the center is her politics: “if we talk only about the political situation and
leave [out] the other sides, the social, or educational, we will be destroyed,
we will disappear,” and so she works tirelessly to make sure that the people of
her community are able to make a difference at the most basic levels, and most
importantly, by themselves. This is where the CSC lays crucial foundations.
Social rights, the CSC believes, are realised through
education, personal empowerment, and community engagement. For Raja, social
rights also crucially embody human rights. “Social rights are a very important
part of all human rights,” Raja says, explaining that while rights are “not
related to the political, [they are] part of the political.” In this spirit, the
CSC’s mandate is not to represent any particular political position, but rather
to create a means for people to personally, then socially, and then
institutionally create the society they want to live in. Once these steps have been
achieved, political empowerment can occur. It is a process that Raja lives out
through her practice of social work.
“Social Work is a positive field. It is respected,” she
explains, and it’s also why she chose it as an avenue for positive action. But
it is not always easy: “To young graduates I say: you need to be very patient,
very respectable, you are not giving [people] just mercy, or just charity, you
are giving them their rights.”
Realizing human rights is an ambitious project, but Raja
has been taking the issue on, case by case, for twelve years. Aside from the
day-to-day storefront cases and home visits, she created and now heads the
CSC’s Goodwill Forum, a philanthropic fund administered by 45 local women.
The fund was established through a fundraising event for
which the Goodwill Forum members sold homemade food items. That first event
raised more than $2,500, which was put into a special account at the university.
Today, the Forum hosts multiple events a year, and as it gains in prominence,
able community members donate even outside of fundraisers. “I am just a
coordinator”, Raja says, rejecting the spotlight. In reality, she says, it is
the 45 other women behind the Forum who do much of the work: “They have the
decision-[making power]”. This power has changed lives. From supporting CSC
programs such as Supportive Education and the Elderly Program, the Goodwill
Forum also finances medical treatments, x-rays, and more recently the
university tuition of some of the community’s most disadvantaged students.
Beyond charity, the Goodwill Forum is a crucial area of
networking between philanthropists and local benefactors, and for some, the
first point of contact between a life of economic privilege and the often
separate world of the disadvantaged.
