With a work methodology focused on social as much as technological or environmental sustainability, Comet-ME takes the notion of community engagement very seriously. The installation of an energy or water system is just the beginning of a long-term relationship with the communities, households, and individuals. With our earliest installations going back to 2008, we have been involved in the communities on a day-to-day basis since then—maintaining the systems, connecting new households when grown children get married, upgrading systems to meet the growing needs of developing communities, adding our clean-water systems and water-quality monitoring services, building the capacity of community members, and accompanying many of the communities in ongoing legal campaigns to protect their systems from demolition.

Over nearly a decade of empowering and supporting the sumud (steadfastness) of vulnerable Area C communities through the provision of basic services, we have gotten to know hundreds of individuals and heard as many stories—stories that are both personal and unique, as well as emblematic and reflective of the larger reality for all communities in Area C. We are pleased to cast a spotlight on just a few of these individuals.