by Sanaa Kamal
GAZA, Jul 31 (NNN-XINHUA) – A group of women from the Gaza Strip have been working to produce cosmetic products, using natural ingredients, such as parsley, mint, nettle, watercress and roses.
The project was funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in partnership with Oxfam International and the NGO, Najd Development Forum.
The project involves some 40 Palestinian women. Some of them farm and cultivate the plants needed for the production, while others work in a small factory, recently opened to produce the cosmetics.
Rifqa al-Hamlawi, head of the Najd Development Forum, said that, the project aims at producing natural beauty products, as well as, to create jobs for local women.
“We are providing job opportunities for many Palestinian women, who suffer from unemployment and poverty,” she added.
The project supervisor, Hassan Tammous, spends long hours a day, training the women and helping them manufacture these products.
Tammous, who works as a lecturer of industrial chemistry, at Al-Azhar University, said, using natural materials in manufacturing is the way forward worldwide, adding that, the Gaza Strip has hundreds of herbal and natural plants that can be suitable for producing natural products.
Among the workers in the projects, about 20 women were trained on how to grow herbal, medicinal and aromatic plants, and how to harvest and store them according to international standards.
Another group of 20 women were trained on extracting oils from these plants, the aqueous extracts used as an essential ingredients in making these cosmetic items.
They are able to produce 15 kinds of products now, including shampoo, conditioner, creams, hair oils and others.
Nevin al-Khudari, a woman from the Gaza Strip, expressed her happiness in joining this “pioneering” project, which helped her learn a new skill.
“I graduated from university years ago, but I couldn’t find any job. So, I joined this project to learn how to make cosmetics from plants, in addition to securing a source of income that helps me with daily expenses,” the 45-year-old mother of four, said.
The case is not much different for Doula Marouf, a Palestinian farmer from Beit Lahia, located in the north of the Gaza Strip. The 53-year-old mother of 12, cultivates aromatic, herbal, and natural plants.
“In the past, I could hardly make five U.S. dollars a day, but today, because of this project, I earn about 30 U.S. dollars a day, which helps me provide money for my family,” the woman told Xinhua.
The women produce between 200-500 packages of cosmetics daily. These products are marketed through social networks, such as Facebook and Instagram, in addition to some pharmacies.
According to the project’s organisers, the price of each package is between five and eight U.S. dollars.– NNN-XINHUA
