Canaan Palestine olive oil producers from the village of “Jalqamous”

AS STEADFAST AS THE MOUNTAIN

Aida and Mahmoud are a dynamic sister-brother producer team. They inherited their land from their parents and have been carrying on the Palestinian traditions of planting and harvesting while at the same time adopting new methods of organic agriculture to improve their soil and their environment.

Every morning and afternoon they walk forty minutes each way to reach their land and tend to their olive trees. When asked why they would do all this hard work instead of pursuing jobs in the city they both say, “We love the independence we get from working in olive production. Since Canaan Palestine started buying our olive oil, we feel that we have a new kind of freedom in our lives. We don’t have big homes and fancy cars but we own our own lives, we get to keep our family land, we learn about what other people in the world eat, and we get to share with them the same olive oil we eat

“We love the independence we get from working in olive production.”

The Karam’s hope that their children will continue their agricultural tradition, but fear that modern day demands will force them to seek work in different areas. However, Mahmoud’s daughter, Hanin, is glad Canaan exists because she knows that next year she can apply for the Canaan University Scholarship Program so that she can pursue her dream of going to art school in Nablus. She is confident that whatever she will end up doing in the future will involve her village, its landscape, and its people.