Owen's Forage for Peace in Palestine

Hi, my name is Owen and I will be foraging for peace in Palestine.

I’ll be living on locally foraged foods for a week to raise funds for the situation in Gaza.

I’m a herbalist and wilderness therapist living in Scotland. As the

catastrophic situation in Palestine-Israel spiralled into new levels of

madness in October, I found myself wondering how my particular skills

could be put to use in service of the people suffering in Gaza, the West

Bank and Israel.

Like so many I feel powerless, not even able to participate in protests due to my remote location in the Scottish Highlands. Here I and my family are about as safe as any human can be anywhere. I have been reading about the desperate food

situation imposed by the Israeli government upon the people of Gaza and

their resorting to eating grasses and animal feed.

Heart-wrenched my imagination started playing out; what would it be like to import this conflict to my own local environment? As a herbalist I gather some of my own medicinal plants and so began thinking about how well I would fare if restricted to the wild foods I could find at this time of year within walking

distance of my home. I’ve decided to undertake a challenge in order to

raise awareness on this humanitarian issue as well as the on-going

deliberate destruction of the ecosystems of Gaza and the West Bank. My

plan is to do a sponsored challenge to eat only from locally harvested

plants as well as resources harvestable from the intertidal zone

(seaweed and shellfish) for at least one week. My wife and children will

join me for part of the time.

I want to provide donations to a few organisations that are playing what

I see as key roles in the humanitarian and peace effort. For me this

entails supporting a medical organisation working within Gaza

(Palestinian Red Crescent), a Palestinian environmental organisation (To

be determined) , a human rights organisation within Israel (B’Tselem),

and an organisation in the US working towards Peace and countering the

prevailing notion that Jews worldwide are pro-Israel, pro-Zionism and

pro-war (Jewish Voices for Peace).

I'm nearly at the end of my week of foraging now. Thank you all so much for your kind donations. The fundraiser will stay open for another while. You can read my reports of how the week has been here: https://www.facebook.com/owen.okie