Notes from a Visit - by Avila Kilmurray

The walls of old Jerusalem were built to withstand siege and clearly presided over war and attack, but at least they have a sense of presence and place that the new ‘security wall’ can never claim. The latter is perhaps the most brutal reminder that working for social justice in Palestine must always take place within the shadow of a horribly abnormal political situation. This is the quandary the members of the Dalia Association face and which we – as a delegation from the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland – shared with them on our brief visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah in March. Of course Northern Ireland has its own share of ‘peace walls’ built to separate warring Catholic/Republican and Protestant/Unionist areas, and one of the first things you learn when living and working in a divided, violent society is to listen more than to speak. Conflict demands the ability to seize on the nuance and accept the complexity. As we used to say to visitors who came to Northern Ireland ‘If we haven’t sent you away more confused than when you first arrived, then we’ve failed!’

What was overwhelming about the situation faced by the Dalia Association was the need to work in a society where freedom of movement is so stringently curtailed; where a people are grasping desperately at protecting their own story and culture; and where even the best efforts at reconstruction can be swept aside by the politics of the day. Notwithstanding this there are always things to be done – local communities have needs to be addressed around everyday issues, childcare; provision for older people; youth provision; health care. If every journey starts with a single step, then well targeted philanthropy can provide the shoes for the journey. The route map may well be different from group to group, and from community to community, but that is what is most exciting about support for local communities. Organisations such as the Dalia Association, or the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, need not aim to change the world, it is enough if they can help create the space for other people to change it.

Of course, there are differences in being an independent funder in situations of conflict. Violence brings suspicion and uncertainty in its wake, clear communication is of critical importance and so too is the ability for disempowered communities and groups to feel that their voices are being heard and reflected in the priorities that the funder adopts. Sometimes these voices can be raised through the holding of local festivals, or in the discussion over coffee when women meet together. Culture and arts activities can help people to both remember and plan; they can also support people in getting their message across. The Dalia Association can be there to listen and to reflect back the concerns raised through the priorities of funding programmes. But perhaps the most important thing that an organisation like the Dalia Association can bring to a society in conflict is the commitment that it is there for the long-term, and that it will respond to those various journeys that might be taken within the communities that it is serving. But these are just a whisper of reflections from a very different society many miles distant from both the old and the new walls of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Gaza, Nablus, and those other names that weave a history of their own.