I wanted to do some volunteering in Israel in the summer so I decided to do the Desert Eco Building project, which turned out to be a very satisfying experience. The project started with a one-day-orientation in Jerusalem, which was amazing. Although I had been to Jerusalem twice, this time was different. Our tour guide, Yan, gave us so many surprises—-things I would never have noticed but quite worth seeing. What surprises? If you may ask. Sorry to let you down, but I’m not going to tell you because I hope you can figure it out yourself. Jerusalem is definitely worth your time! The next day would be the formal beginning of volunteering. We took a bus from Jerusalem to the eco village located in the Negev Desert.
Upon our arrival, the project coordinator Rinat (she is also the founder of the eco village) introduced us to the villagers and helped us settle down. That afternoon, we started our work. Girls were assigned to work with mud while my job was sifting sands for the preparation of the mud. Then I “made the mud” by mixing buckets of earth and sifted sands and straws. Honestly, it was so tiring, especially under the huge sun, but this was something I had never done before, which made it really fun.
Although I really wanted to do more of the lodge building, it was not my main job. The time I was there was kind of special (it was one of the Jewish holidays, Sukkot). During the holiday, we had to prepare food for guests and clean their lodges when they left.
So this is a typical day for me – I get up at 7 am and help others do the breakfast preparation. Then at 10 am, we start cleaning the lodges which lasts for about 3 hours followed by a lunch break. At 3:30PM we start preparing dinner. After dinner we need to clean the dining room a bit, and usually we finish it before 9 pm.
At first I thought it would be boring. However, I actually enjoyed it. During the time, I learned a lot of things. Taking cooking as an example, I learned how to make pita (a kind of Middle Eastern bread), Poike (slowly stewed food in cast-iron potjies put in hot coals) and grilled eggplant with tahini. More importantly, a busy day like this made me feel really fulfilled.
In my spare time, we would sit in the zula and chat. Besides that, we also had fun doing a lot of things—-Taking a hike into the desert and watch the sunset amidst nowhere, lying in the swimming pool and doing nothing (a bit cold though), or simply watching a fascinating movie together in our zula. By the way, at night in the desert, you’re able to see the sky full of stars with a few shooting stars across it sometimes, which is, awesome!This is definitely one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I really recommend everyone to give it a try. You won’t regret it.
