Israel - Desert Eco Lodge Volunteer Testimonials
Zora Kovacic - Volunteer Experience, March 2010
There is something powerful about the desert that makes you feel like you're not just passing by, but you're being pulled in. In a somewhat naked landscape, you also feel stripped of the unnecessary, the precautions, and the reservations that usually shield you from the outside world. A really strong connection to the land is almost immediate, a feeling that was reinforced by the fact that we worked outdoors, warmed by the sun. We woke up to the most beautiful sunrises, went swimming in the crater, stared at the stars at night. Days were hot, nights were cold and everything seemed to follow a natural order. I believe that human beings are connected to nature one way or another, may it be spiritual, instinctive or just by the fact that we live on it. These ties in the desert felt stronger than ever. For three weeks the feeling of uneasiness that makes me travel the world in search of a purpose disappeared. The essential part of my being was uncovered by the equally essential surrounding.
As these things go, people resemble their environment. The desert does something to you inside, and so do its people. Ziv is the hard working and highly committed project manager, with the good old Israeli habit of being a little rough around the edges, just barely hiding a very generous heart. His wife Maya has the most contagious laugh of the Negev and a warm smile that puts anyone in a good mood. The family is completed by their cute 3-year old daughter Omer. Working at the ecolodge are also two Bedouins, Salim and Salman. Salim was my guide, my story teller and my interpreter who managed to make me laugh until my stomach hurt. Salman is the proud representative of the Bedouins, always willing to share his experiences and his traditions and an incredibly kind person. Last but not least, I arrived at the ecolodge with another volunteer, Dominique, who proved a precious companion in this journey and a comforting shoulder to share impressions and experiences.
We spent our days building mud tents, pruning the vineyard, tearing weeds. Exhausted at first, I came to love this physical work and the satisfaction deriving from seeing the results of our work. We helped in the kitchen, in the restaurant, with the cleaning and shared the charm of hosting the passing tourists and collecting all sorts of stories from them. I spent hours talking to Salim, over a cup of tea or coffee, always a cigarette and sometimes a small fire. Salman took me on a ride in the crater where I saw the most gorgeous sceneries and met an old Bedouin who shared the ride with us. We all visited Salman's village and ate the traditional fire cooked bread while listening to his life's tale. I tried to learn some meditation techniques from Dominique at sunsets. And at every chance, I would jump in the car with Ziv and go anywhere, trying to take in as much as possible, interrogating Ziv on whatever came to mind and thirsty for information.
The work at the ecolodge comprised a project with the Bedouin kids, aimed at creating small groups of children that can serve as leaders to their communities and peers, so as to reinforce and take pride in their identity. As Israelis, the Bedouins are the non-Jews, Arabic speaking citizens that end up in the backstage of society. As Bedouins, they are the population of the desert - a privilege that should not be lost with the younger generations. As for my brief contribution, I organised a game for the kids where they could enjoy being outdoors, playing with clay, collecting stones and flowers, having their faces painted with mud and being chased after. The most powerful lesson on the futility of cultural barriers came exactly from the children: having fun does not need a common language or even a common background.
The ecolodge stands on the edge of a natural crater formed by thousands of years of erosion, so that from there one is spying inside the crust of the earth. What I did not realize is that the desert was also creeping inside my crust. I like to think that I did not just see the desert, but that the land of craters and its people have added something to what I am.
Laura Barlow, volunteering with Bedouin youth video - June 2010
Liz Texeira - Volunteer Experience February 2010.
This is how scary movies start. That was my first thought upon arriving at the Desert Shade Eco Lodge on that cold, black night in early February. We seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, Ziv, our program manager, was monosyllabic after a long day of driving and meetings, and when we went into our combined room with approximately 25V lighting, things looked dark. I had no idea that the next three weeks would challenge me physically, intellectually, and emotionally comfortable and cozy., or that I would leave with a sense of contentment; feeling a deep connection to the desert, the Spectors, and Israel itself.
We started doling out blankets-they weren't kidding when they said it gets cold in the desert-and I had a moment to look around. Our mud hut reminded me strongly of a tent with its sloping walls, open doorways, and feeling of semi-permanence, but it also had a glorious shower filled with hot water, a kitchenette, and a bathroom ensuite, making it decidedly more comfortable and cozy. Burrowed in sleeping bags and warmed by little space heaters I fell into an incredibly deep sleep, one that I will forever associate with the silence of the desert. The next morning we woke up and stepped out of our chadrologue to one of the most glorious panoramas I have ever seen. The Desert Shade Eco Lodge overlooks Ramon Crater, the world's largest crater created by erosion processes, and it is truly spectacular. The sunrises were magnificent and blinding masterpieces that seemed to take over the sky, (A site that three weeks later would still take my breath away as I turned to take a last photo the morning of my departure).
As we settled in for our orientation meeting with Ziv, our leader and a sort of seen-it-all-done-it-all version of Crocodile Dundee, Israeli style, we met his lovely family. Beautiful Maya, an Amazon Queen of the Negev, and someone I would eventually come to think of as my family away from home. Filled with blunt opinions, but always kind words and armed with a carrot cake recipe that made even children ask for the vegetable flavored concoction Maya was a font of information about life in the desert, at the Lodge, and in Israel and our conversations would oftentimes last long into the night. Their adorable daughter Omer (age 3) was singlehandedly teaching me the few words of Hebrew that I would remember long after I left the Negev. They lived on the premises in a desert bungalow and would oftentimes invite us over for tea and delicious dinners. Ziv explained that when we weren't eating with the Spector's we would have our very own kitchen at our disposal and a supermarket in the town of Mitzpe Ramon, a ten minute walk away. Despite numerous failed attempts at culinary basics (including one memorable afternoon in which I had smoke billowing out of the small kitchen's windows after setting a pan full of olive oil on fire) I feel proud to have mastered a few basic dishes, mainly through helping out at the Lodge's Friday dinners! In addition to the local supermarket there was a bank, a little clothing store, a few restaurants (including a shawarma stand), a Western Union office, a weekly fruit and vegetable market and a 24/7 gas station with attached convenience store (the only thing open in town on Shabbat).
Once we had the basics covered, food and lodging, we learned about some of the tasks that we would be doing to help out at the Lodge. Ranging from administrative work to physical labor our tasks ran the gamut and sure enough, over the next three weeks my tasks alternated from the mundane (dishes, dishes, and more dishes) to the gross (cleaning bathrooms) to the backbreaking (moving wheelbarrows of clay) to the intellectually stimulating (helping develop tourism materials and a website) to downright fun (playing games with Bedouin youth). One of the most meaningful days I had at the Lodge was the day that Ziv invited me to come along and work the Bedouin as part of the Desert Generation program, a social start-up for cross cultural youth dialogue. Here I played with Bedouin children and learned about a lifestyle completely different than my own- yet realized through our language-complicated discussions, that people are people wherever they are and everyone has hope for the future. I spent a lot of my time working in some capacity at the restaurant they had at the Lodge, from kitchen prep work (learning how to cook my own bread!) to setting up the guest dining room, to waitressing and then finally as part of the clean up team. I also spent a few days working on the Desert Shade Groups organic wine vineyard where in between meditative sessions with my grape shears and during water breaks I began to learn about the nuances of wine production.
Whatever my daily tasks, I never doubted for a second that the work I was doing directly benefited the Desert Shade Eco Lodge. There is something viscerally satisfying in volunteering with a small business, you know that everything you do makes daily life easier, and working within a desert lifestyle, a difficult lifestyle, the work is that much more satisfying. Being in the Negev, and having the opportunity to completely immerse myself in the culture of the desert with the support of the Spectors, was an experience that made my time in Israel. Physically demanding at times, intellectually satisfying at others, my time at the Desert Shade Eco Lodge is something that I will never forget and always appreciate.