February 2013 · West Bank, Palestine
Run Across Palestine
Runners from Michigan and Ohio and their Palestinian hosts covered more than 100 miles in five days across the West Bank, running olive grove to olive grove with the farmers who tend them.
- Covered across the West Bank in five days
- 100+ miles
- Olive tree saplings planted
- 5,000
- Women farmers who received micro-loans
- 14
- The People and The Olive
- 1 film
The Run Across Palestine took the model built in Ethiopia and applied it to a different crop and a different kind of pressure. Instead of coffee, the run centered on olive farmers; instead of school construction, it grew into micro-loans for women farmers, scholarships, the rebuilding of a women's center, and large-scale olive replanting across the West Bank.
Over five days in early February, the team ran more than 100 miles, hosted by Palestinian farming families along the route and joined by local runners. Traverse City filmmaker Aaron Dennis and Glen Arbor Sun editor Jacob Wheeler travelled with the run to document it.
The projects the run funded were chosen by the farmers themselves: 5,000 olive tree saplings planted, micro-loans for 14 women farmers, and university scholarships for students from the partner communities. Olive trees are the economic backbone of these families, and replanting is both livelihood and permanence.
Aaron Dennis, who serves on On the Ground's board, went on to direct The People and The Olive, the documentary record of the run — screened internationally and still the fullest account of what those days on the road built.
Film
The People and The Olive — official trailer
On the route
What came after the run
The relationships built on the route carried into longer-term work: micro-loans for female entrepreneurs, the rebuilding of a women's center, and continued olive tree replanting throughout the West Bank — the same pattern of community-chosen projects that defines On the Ground's coffee programs.
Results
What the run built
- 5,000 olive tree saplings planted with Palestinian farming families
- Micro-loans issued to 14 women farmers
- University scholarships for students from partner communities
- A women's center rebuilt, and the documentary The People and The Olive released
Keep the work going
The runs are part of our history. Donations today fund our active programs: DRC Gender Equity, DRC Back to School, and Cooperative Lending.