Introduction

Over the last four years (2006–10) we have travelled back and forth to the Palestinian West Bank. Our purpose has been to interview Palestinian young people about their experiences of life under occupation. But in the process we have come across some magnificent welfare projects and have spent considerable time observing and talking to a range of workers in various projects, asking them how they understand their role and the importance of the work they do. The majority of those we spoke to had no formal qualifications in social work, yet the quality of the work they undertook, we believe, holds lessons for social workers everywhere.

This chapter is based on interview material with six workers at the Yaffa Centre, Balata, with three workers at the Jenin Disability Centre and with three workers at the Am’ari Children's Centre. We spoke with each group three times, each interview lasting for at least two hours. In what follows, whenever possible we quote directly from the workers at the project. We have changed all the names of our interviewees to protect the workers from the threat of arrest – or worse.

Setting the context

For the Palestinians of the West Bank life is extreme. Poverty, oppression and occupation provide the backdrop against which daily life becomes a battle to survive, to live, to hope and to dream. Yet amid this maelstrom the Palestinians have managed to organise a range of grassroots welfare projects that meet some of the complex needs of the communities they serve.

The three projects we focus on are all in refugee camps: the Yaffa Centre based in the Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus, the Children's Centre in the Am’ari Refugee Camp next to Ramallah and the Disability Project in the Jenin Refugee Camp. The impact of the Israeli occupation is felt by all Palestinians – army incursions; killings and injuries; arrests and imprisonment; acute poverty and restricted mobility, due to checkpoints and barriers (Lavalette, 2006).