The sun is hitting my neck, the backpack is heavy on my shoulders, I am surrounded by rocks and dust, no shade to get some rest, no grass no green.

I left Bethlehem area early in the morning, the place where I spent last month, I decided to travel around West bank, I do not have a clear destination, there are some villages I would like to visit but I decide to go with the flow.

I managed to hitchhike very easily as people are very nice and eager to help me just as I imagined. The second car who stopped to give me a ride is going to Ramallah, he asks me where I’m going and I answer I do not know and I ask if he has any suggestions, he then makes a phone call, he talks with a friend for a while, he hangs out and he tells me:” ok I will bring you to Farkha”.

We are now driving on the mountains, we are basically in the middle of nowhere and we passed Ramallah a long time ago. I do not know what to aspect but I have positive feelings. On the way to the village we pass by a settlement, at the entrance, there is a flying air balloon with a camera on top of it.

After a while we arrive in the small village, he dropped me in front of a house and shout something in Arabic to the people inside and wish me good luck.

The owner of the house receive me very nicely, when I arrive he is making brushes with wooden sticks, he has a friendly face, his name is Baker and he is the former mayor of the villages, where 1700 souls are living. Currently, he is working in a Palestinian agricultural community. Baker is also a farmer and a dreamer, in 2000 he began to cultivate organic olive oil trees with other 9 friends thus creating a cooperative in the village with the help of many internationals who sell the olive oil in Europe.

Today Farkha is the first Eco-village in Palestine, Baker tells me how growing their own food for Palestinian is important in fighting the occupation especially through not buying Israeli products full of chemicals. The main problem is the water, according to Baker this area is one of the richest in water resource in all of Palestine, but of course, Israel has total control selling the people their own water at a very high price. All of the water goes to the settlements.

They offer me food and a place to sleep. After a while I meet Sabina, an amazing volunteer who has been doing many different projects here for many years, today she is working on making compost in the garden, she would like to involve and teach women how to make their own compost in their households, I happily decided to join in helping her.

The view around this place is amazing, Liar after liar with the sunset behind us we work all together on the compost, kids are also helping in the job as Sabina tries to explain to them what to compost and what not to compost.

The atmosphere is lovely I’m happy I ended up in this place, a peaceful place in a hell of an occupation.

Struggle, survive, resist, exist.