It was midday on a Monday when 61-year-old Hamdan Abu Shallouf bent down, laboring away in his small home garden among his okra plants. There is something special about Abu Shallouf's crops in the rural area of Khirbet al-Adas in Rafah in southern Gaza Strip.
"This small crop of okra and some flowers were first initiated by my late wife Umm Abdallah in cooperation with the Khirbet al-Adas branch of the Rural Women's Development Society," Abu Shallouf said. The Rural Woman's Development Society (RWDS) is a nongovernmental organization with chapters all over the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"We are following up on [this] project which is based on the reproduction of seeds," Abu Shallouf explained, holding out some of the flower seeds he produced as tears rolled from his eyes upon mentioning his wife who passed away this summer.
Abu Shallouf's small farm is green with crops including mulukhiya, a green popular throughout Palestine and surrounding countries and used to make a soupy stew, as well as basil.
Abu Shallouf said that he and his children have benefitted from the project by selling the dried seeds or greens back to the local RWDS branch.
Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer based in the Gaza Strip.
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