sampicksolives (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sampicksolives) wrote,@ 2004-10-14 16:44:00 |
|
Marda - olive trees smashed by soldiers
Olive trees smashed
After another really enjoyable day out in the groves with our host families, we were cooking dinner in our house when a few of the village youths turned up to tell us there were soldiers on the main street and asked us to come out with them. Sam and Cathi went out to find out what was happening, and after a few minutes N, peasant union co-ordinator, turned up in his car. With the rest of the team back in the house ready to take messages and be present in the village if there was an army incursion there, Sam and Cathi drove down to the main street with N. Of the three or four exits from the town, only one now remains unblocked by the army. So we drove out and back up the main street. N seemed nervous – it was his grove that had been affected, and he kept telling us the situation was dangerous. We asked him what he would like us to do if there were army still there and he didn’t want us to get out of the car or talk to the soldiers, but just to observe what was happening.
By the time we got to the groves, the army had gone, but in the darkness we could make out the uprooted olive trees in the headlights. When we got back to Marda, we asked N to call us or knock on the door if there was any more trouble. He told us that often, after this kind of incident, the army entered the village late at night, setting of sound bombs and announcing a curfew through the loudspeaker.
Olive trees smashed
After another really enjoyable day out in the groves with our host families, we were cooking dinner in our house when a few of the village youths turned up to tell us there were soldiers on the main street and asked us to come out with them. Sam and Cathi went out to find out what was happening, and after a few minutes N, peasant union co-ordinator, turned up in his car. With the rest of the team back in the house ready to take messages and be present in the village if there was an army incursion there, Sam and Cathi drove down to the main street with N. Of the three or four exits from the town, only one now remains unblocked by the army. So we drove out and back up the main street. N seemed nervous – it was his grove that had been affected, and he kept telling us the situation was dangerous. We asked him what he would like us to do if there were army still there and he didn’t want us to get out of the car or talk to the soldiers, but just to observe what was happening.
By the time we got to the groves, the army had gone, but in the darkness we could make out the uprooted olive trees in the headlights. When we got back to Marda, we asked N to call us or knock on the door if there was any more trouble. He told us that often, after this kind of incident, the army entered the village late at night, setting of sound bombs and announcing a curfew through the loudspeaker.
