go eco - Volunteers for Ecological & Humanitarian Projects

call us on

+1 917 477 3931

+44 208 133 8041

+972 77 5527000

Volunteer in Israel - Kibbutz Lotan Eco Family Program

Israel - Volunteer in Europe

Live as a family on unique eco kibbutz in the beautiful Arava desert and volunteer for sustainable living and practical ecology, with experts in their field.

Tags: Volunteer in Israel Volunteer for Development Family Volunteering

Duration:

Departing:

$1,580

Profile
Full Details
Pictures
Volunteer Logs

Fast Facts

Project length:	Min 1 week
Project costs:	US$1580 per family up to 5 for 1 week, US$900 for each extra week. US$500 for extra room per week
Location of project:	Kibbutz Lotan 55km north of Eilat, Israel
Arrival airport:	Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion or Eilat
Volunteer work:	Mud building, organic gardening, care of bird sanctuary, setting up work shops for educational tour groups
Number of participants:	up to 5 family members per room
Age limit:	0 - 80

What's Included

Accommodation:	Family guest suit
Food:	3 meals a day (Kosher)
Orientation kit:	full project details will be sent following registration
Training:	Pre-departure preparation and In-country orientation
Support:	Local in-country team and 24hr emergency support

What's Not Included

Flights, airport pickup, Insurance, Local transport, Personal expenses, Visa (if required)

Location

Kibbutz Lotan is a young community situated in the Arava Desert in the south of Israel, 55km north of Eilat, far away from urban Israel in a quiet area in beautiful desert surroundings. Lotan was established in 1983 by graduates of the Reform Jewish youth movements from Israel and overseas. They came together to create a community based on a modern liberal approach to Judaism that strives to fulfill values of equality between the sexes, equality in work, and genuine communication between people. Lotan's population is equally divided between native-born Israelis and immigrants from all over the world. Kibbutz Lotan maintains a co-operative lifestyle in which means of production and resources are shared. In 2006 Kibbutz Lotan received the Global Ecovillage Network's award for Ecovillage Excellence in recognition of its work in promoting practical ecology.

About the project

The family eco-volunteering program on Kibbutz Lotan is a complete and practical introduction to both ecology and cooperative living. As participants in the program, volunteers will be interwoven into the daily life of the kibbutz and volunteer for the Center for Creative Ecology (CCE).
The CCE is a unique ecological center that combines hands-on, experiential environmental education within the framework of a living community. Utilizing creative recycling and alternative/natural building techniques, the center now includes an ecological theme park, migratory bird reserve, nature trails, recycling center, and constructed wetlands for treating the waste water of the entire kibbutz.

Volunteer work and contribution

Volunteer families will be exposed to the challenges involved with the designing, building and running of sustainable communities, linking together ecological, social, economical and spiritual aspects into a unified whole. Practical skills are developed through hands-on work in our environmental education center, organic gardens, alternative/natural building projects and the Lotan migratory bird reserve, complemented by theoretical sessions in topics such as ecological design, permaculture and sustainability. Practical work includes:

Organic gardening
Natural, alternative building with mud, straw and straw bales, tires, and junk
Creative recycling -creating art and usable objects with discarded materials
Expansion, maintenance and running of the Center for Creative Ecology
Development and upkeep of the bird reserve and nature trails
Setting up workshops for educational tour groups

Work hours are 09:00 - 14:00 (Sunday - Friday) with a break for breakfast in the middle. Some hours will be spent working closely with a supervisor, other times the volunteers will be working in a group on their own.

Accommodation

Volunteer families stay in one of Kibbutz Lotan's several guest suites. The suites are situated with bathrooms and kitchenettes. Passive cooling systems are employed to combat the desert heat. Electricity is almost entirely from alternative energy sources. Composting (no water) toilets and showers are shared and gray-water systems help conserve water. The daily challenges of living together as a micro-community in this low-impact environment form an integral part of the educational experience of the course.

Trvel Highlights

Throughout the entire Eco-volunteering program families are encouraged to take part in cultural / religious events on the kibbutz and in the region that occur throughout the program. The program also integrates tours to local points of interest, neighboring kibbutzim and other ecological projects, and hikes in the region around Lotan. During the summer, the kibbutz pool is open for refreshing afternoon swims. The tourist city of Eilat and the Red Sea are only 55 Km away.

Minimum requirements

Min age 0 - Max age 70
Basic English or Hebrew
Good physical fitness
Motivation to work in practical ecology
Able to work in harsh desert climate
Full travel & medical insurance
Immunizations (please consult your doctor)

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

The story of a Kibbutz Lotan Go-Eco Volunteer Family

My wife Amy (40) and I Arron (43) made a decision to pull our family out of the day-to-day suburban world in Australia and venture on 5 month world trip. We wanted an experience that would expose our family of 5 to new cultures, languages, foods and most importantly different ways in which other families and societies co-exist in a less consumption-oriented way.

But was this possible? One month at Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava Desert in Israel ticked all the boxes and - as we were to discover - many more. Firstly we requested time away from school for our daughters 9 and 5. The school was very accommodating and recommended home schooling text books. Our plan was to home school an hour a day focusing on areas that we felt the kids needed to improve. Our goal was to have the kids remain or even advance their overall academic status on return. We rented out our house, requested leave without pay from our jobs and packed our bags. Once we decided to do it, it is was easy and nearly everyone around us commented about how jealous they were: we were taking control of our own lives.

What is this place? Kibbutz Lotan is a special place 40km north of Eilat bordering the magnificent Jordan mountains. Approximately 1.5 km long and 1 km wide it is a working Kibbutz that produces milk, dates, goat yogurt and cheeses. It's 50 members work and live towards a vision of "Jewish Renewal; Equality; Economic Cooperation; Community and Repairing the world". Kibbutz Lotan operates as a team with its members, long-term volunteers and short-term Go-Eco Volunteers (paying student/workers). There are also a group of paying 'Green Apprenticeship' students studying various aspects of permaculture who also work part of the time. Ultimately all these groups work, eat and play together as part of one community.

Family volunteering? Quickly our days on Lotan fell into a pattern. It gets hot in the desert so the working day starts early. One parent would rise early and start work. The rest of the family would soon follow. Work duties varied and were carefully selected so as to be child safe and friendly. On different days we might construct mud walls and houses, compost or harvest in the organic garden, or paint the children's eco-playground. Work finished late morning, which was when we did some schooling before lunch. The afternoons were filled with walks, reading books, playing and swimming in the beautiful shaded pool. Twice a week we were invited to lectures on the principles of 'Permaculture' or 'Sustainable Agriculture'.

What about free time? There really is something for everyone in the family here. We were all astounded by the free time created by having three healthy meals a day provided in the communal dining room. It was also a great social outlet. Not having to buy or prepare food left us more time to play with the kids, and watch and help our 11 month old crawl and talk. I loved the work and lectures, and the kids picked up more knowledge than we would have expected. I'll be composting everything when I return and putting in a solar oven; honest the food tastes better. The kids loved all the games in Hebrew with their new friends. As Lotan is an enclosed area with virtually no cars, kids on their bikes run this place. Amy enjoyed spending time to understand life on a kibbutz through conversations with members and volunteers. Hanging with the 20's set was great fun. The entire experience is a good change from the school drop off/corporate slog/rushed meal/bed routine.

What did you do on the weekends? On weekends when we weren't playing in the sand dunes or hiking up to mountain outlooks, we would catch a bus South to Eilat to do some snorkelling in the Red Sea. This was the only time we used cash in the whole month. Consider that when looking at the charges as it will include all food, all activities and all learning experiences. All in all a great experience where we felt like part of the community. We did it easily with a 1, 5 and 9 year old and discovered many simple ways of living without wasting resources and precious time. It has helped us prioritize what's really important.