Week #9

       Being Saturday night when we got back to Bethlehem from the Dead Sea, as soon as we got home & had dinner, we went out dancing all night which was really, really fun! For our final Sunday in the West Bank, many enjoyed time outside -- it feels like spring here -- and took a final walk to Nativity Square.

      Our last couple days in Bethlehem were spent doing a lot of work to pull together our volunteer projects, meeting with Sami Awad one final time, doing final interviews for our research projects, visiting a permaculture village in Beit Sahour and enjoying an insane amount of laughs together with our Palestinian friends. Our final day started with the Holy Land Trust volunteer groups presenting all the research they had done. Then, we painted the wall, enjoyed pizza with Marwan & met with the two main characters in the documentary "Encounter Point" which is about the Bereaved Family Forum (an incredible organization which works to bring about reconciliation to both Palestinians and Isarelis who have lost people due to the conflict). We also had the the opportunity to do some olive wood shopping before our farewell dinner at The Tent Restaurant which was definitely bittersweet. We ended the evening with a video chat with Northland College in Wisconsin and had just enough time to pack before heading out of the West Bank the next morning.

      Though we were most definitely sad to leave the West Bank and all our Palestinian friends, the Negev was definitely a beautiful place to travel to. We stayed on Kibbutz Lotan - an environmentally focused kibbutz, not to mention a small and super loving community. We were blessed to experience a Shabbat service, Shabbat dinner and a discussion the following day about the importance of taking time to rest. We also got to sit down a bunch of kibbutz members to talk about the community and hear a lecture from an environmental expert. In Lotan, we continued learning about various sustainable practices ranging from certain garden techniques & growing local organic food to an intense composting system and lots of recycled sculpture, walls and even houses. We have definitely seen a LOT of mud houses over the past couple weeks.

    Though the desert is extremely dry, it is so, so beautiful with lots of sand dunes and a great view of Jordan's mountains. We also had beautiful, beautiful weather while in the south and were grateful to be out in nature. On our free day, the majority of the group got to enjoy some time snorkeling in the Red Sea which was a nice break for a fairly intense couple weeks academically. We also spent a day at Arava Institute which is a small school (30-40 students) focused on environmental studies on a nearby kibbutz. With them, we learned about several of their programs ranging from conservation, peace building and environmental leadership and developing and testing renewable energy resources such as solar panels and bio-digesters. 

    We are so grateful for everything Holy Land has been doing to help facilitate our travel and abroad experiences!!

                                                                                                                -Heather

Week #8

     It was so wonderful to return home to Bethlehem after our time in Jerusalem -- and home it is! We got to enjoy a couple more day volunteering and also having class.

   Spending a lot of time our first week back in the West Bank apologizing to people about the US veto of the UN Security Council Resolution which condemned Israeli settlement expansion (especially in East Jerusalem), it actually was perfect timing to meet with a Palestinian Authority Negotiator because we had a really rich discussion. That same week, we also got to take a trip to Tulkarem and Nablus - located in the northern part of the West Bank - to learn about all the pollution & health challenges which have resulted because of 12 Israeli factories that were relocated inside the 1967 borders. We saw a different area of the wall, enjoyed some falafel and had a impromptu debke (Palestinian dance) session in this wedding hall owned by a local who we interviewed. Not only was it really fun for our group who loves dancing, it was so nice to see a lot of joy being expressed, amongst some unfortunate situations. Our time up north really started kicking off the sustainability focus of the abroad & we also got to talk to a Muslim Shiekh to learn a bit more about Islam.

   The night before we left for the Dead Sea, our group enjoyed getting to share our abroad experience with friends and family back in the States via Skype and Internet Radio. The next morning we drove about 2 1/2 hrs east to 400 m below sea level. Our first stop was to Rotem - an environmentally focused settlement located atop this incredible hill overlooking the entire Jordan Valley. It was definitely nice to get back out into nature and breath some fresh air with the Jordanian mountains so close by, though it was definitely difficult to think of how much water was being used to build their mud-brick houses and keep the community so green, while the surrounding Palestinian villages constantly had to worry about whether or not they would have enough water to get them through the week.

   The rest of our time in the Jordan Valley was spent at an eco-center in Auja (about 45 mins from the Dead Sea). We learned a lot about composting, biogas and grey water practices & were impressed with the eco-garden used for educational purposes which included many fun sculptures created from reused tires. While in Auja, we also got to do a hike through an area of the desert called Wadi Qelt & got to spend a bit of time in Jericho. We visited Mt. Temptation where it is believed Jesus fasted 40 days before being tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread, jump off the pinnacle and worship him. We also visited the oldest city in the world - Jericho - and got to see a well which is 10,000 years old (pre-pottery). And, of course we enjoyed a swim - though it's technically more of a floating experience - in the Dead Sea. We also got to learn quite a bit about the environmental concerns in the Jordan Valley region ranging from pollution to a quickly decreasing sea level.

     On our way home we stopped at this village called EcoME which was started by several students from the Arava Institute who wanted to create a space which was environmentally friendly and which is open to both Israelis and Palestinians. It was really neat to hear about all the activities they do to bring together Palestinians and Israelis & it was amazing to see how many sustainable practices were fit into a tiny plot of land!

    Definitely an enriching week for us and a nice shift to focus on the environment -- we are so grateful for all Holy Land is doing to set up such incredible experiences!

                                                                                                                -Heather