Check out our Volunteer Blog at blog.goeco.org to read experiences
written by GoEco volunteers from all over the world!

Israel - Desert Eco Lodge Volunteer Testimonials

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.