On December 28, 2014, our MiniActive women activists found a notice on a few walls in Shuafat and Beit Hanina, stating that the next day there will be no water in this large area due to maintenance work. The activists understood that these postings would not reach very many people. There is no formal way to spread the word in East Jerusalem, and it was obvious to them that many would find themselves unprepared for a full day without water.
So we used our Miniactive Facebook page. Around 6,000 of the 7,800 on the page are Palestinian Jerusalemite women 18-34 years old (this is 15% of this age group in East Jerusalem!!). We boosted the post and in a few hours, it was “virally” spread to more than 8,000 residents! This meant that almost all the relevant families knew on time!
Notice for water line maintenance – and the statistics of the Facebook post
This is not the first time that we use the MiniActive network for spreading such a message. A few months ago, when there was a suspicion of sewage getting into the drinking water, we used this communication channel to spread the word about using only boiled water. Then, too, it worked very well.
