Our First Day in Arad

Today was our first non-jet lagged day in Israel and it was another incredible adventure. This time we met up with our guides for Yahel, the Jewish service learning organization who will be working with us for the next 9 days in Arad. Moshik and Maayan are the two Yahel staff members who we are working with. They are both very open and kind and today we went through some introductions with them and got some background information on the African asylum seekers in Israel. We also made our way to the Avi Cohen House in Arad, which is located right by the Dead Sea.

To give you some quick facts about Arad: It is a city in the South District of Israel. It is located on the border of the Negev and Judean Deserts, 25 kilometers west of the Dead Sea and 45 km east of Be'er Sheva. Arad was founded in November 1962 as an Israeli development town, the first planned city in Israel. 

Upon getting to Arad, we had a yummy Israeli lunch and then went over to a nearby school that was having a health fair for some of the African asylum seekers living in Arad. The event was put on by a student group in Arad that advocates for refugee and asylum seeker rights and Physicians for Human Rights. While some of the men waited to get seen by the Physician, there was also live entertainment going on. The women and children who were there also got to enjoy a show by a local children's performer. The event was wonderful and allowed us our first opportunity to talk with some individuals from Darfur who are living in Israel and looking for a better life. It was a wonderful event and afterwards we went home and cooked our first meal in our new apartment (and by cook I mean heating up some delicious pizzas).

Tomorrow we are ready for another full day of events and activities with the refugee community in Israel. Keep checking our Facebook page for more updates and pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alternative-Break-Israel-The-Refugee-Voice/643606842346781?ref=ts&fref=ts

Lila tov!

And We're Here! Finally!

After 28 hours of traveling, dragging around way too much luggage (the majority being donations) and hitting a couple of minor bumps along the way, our Israel Alt Break group has arrived safely in Jerusalem with smiling and enthusiastic faces! Although we were exhausted, everyone was eager to get out of the hostel to see the beautiful city of Jerusalem. Chatter about preconceived notions and questions about Israel invaded our minds, while silences took over other at times. Already so many breathless views and new cultural experiences! Immediately after getting out of the taxi vans in Jerusalem, we walked through the Old City and through the suk to get to our hostel. Soon after arriving we had the pleasure of hearing the beautiful call to prayer and hung out on our hostel’s rooftop admiring the views. Before a majority of our group went on a city tour, we spent time at the hostel going over expectations for the week. Each participant will have responsibilities throughout the trip such as blogging, food tasks, developing reflection questions and so much more. While we will have Internet for the majority of our trip, we do not want to be spending our time posting on Facebook or sending emails instead of experiencing this unique opportunity. Therefore, we will take turns writing on the blog and posting status updates on Facebook so our families can stay tuned in to our happenings on the ground and support us throughout our service project.  At the moment, we are winding down from our adventure filled day and getting ready to make dinner. Through our exhaustion, we still haven’t lost our excitement to experience all that Israel has to offer us.

*Due to exhaustion and a bit of loopyness, this blog was written by Heidi Bloom, Emily Bird, Hurubie Meko and Jes Walton. Even with four eyes we hope it makes sense!

Thoughts About Israel

The first time I remember learning anything about Israel in school was second grade. A section of the curriculum had been set aside for “world studies,” focusing on four countries on four different continents and learning a bit about their history and language: Israel, Kenya, Japan, and France. As part of the lesson, we watched a Sesame Street special about Big Bird travelling the globe. One of those stops happened to be Israel. There are only a few bits of information I can honestly say I remember from that class, besides the image of Big Bird wearing a yarmulke, and those are:

            Flag: blue and white, Star of David

            Language: Hebrew

            Religion: Judaism

            Location: Middle East

            Food: kosher

Textbook, simple, and as I learned later on, very over-generalized. Like any country, Israel is far more complicated than a second grader’s color book map could possibly depict.

Nowadays, I might skip on over to the CIA's World Factbook to pick up tidbits like this:

            Nationality: Israeli(s)

            Ethnic Groups: Hebrew (official), Arabic (official in specific regions), English (foreign affairs)

            Geographic Coordinates: 31 46 N, 35 14 E

            Religions: Jewish 75%, Muslim 16.9%, Christian 2%, Druze 1.7%, other 3.8%

            Government: parliamentary democracy

All great and wonderful, probably helpful on an eighth grade report or the background section of a research paper, but when all is said and done this probably makes up about .0001% of what makes Israel, well, Israel.

So where else could a little girl from a Connecticut suburb look for information on this mysterious country afar?

Music and books.

I have never been a churchgoer, but as a lifetime chorister, booklover, and member of a mostly Christian family, place names such as “Israel,” “Jerusalem,” “Bethlehem,” “Nazareth,” and the “Red Sea” became household items. I still have all my melodies and harmonies from dozens of Christmas carols and hymns memorized, even though I haven’t sung in a choral setting in two years. Through school, choir, and my own curiosity, I collected religious, cultural and political history, piecing together a quilt that might someday show me an image of this region and this country that had intrigued me for so long. Once I got to high school and I had a little more say and resources in my education, my learning only swelled.

Now here I am, nearly twelve years after that Sesame Street special, a college kid studying in Washington, D.C. about international relations and the Middle East. And I find myself about to embark on an Alternative Break trip to a country I had only dreamed of seeing in real life.

You could say I’m excited.

Perhaps a little nervous…

Most of it won’t kick in till we land (a habit I’ve acquired from over a decade of stage fright suppression), but just this week I’ve caught my mind subconsciously wandering down corridors I didn’t know I’d built. Regardless of rationality, I’ve asked myself questions such as:

            What if my host family only speaks Hebrew?

            What if I do something I didn’t know was offensive?

            Do I know the address for the nearest embassy by heart?

            Will I look too “American”?

            Will my body freak out if I don’t have caffeine every morning?!?!?

Maybe some of these questions have answers; maybe some of them are better left for “figuring it out.” Either way, I am confident in my trip leaders, Heidi and Annelise, and the rest of this diverse, talented, and passionate group of students. I can’t wait to meet up with everyone again next week at the airport!

During the trip I will be keeping a running journal on my experiences and observations while in Israel. I hope to share as many entries as possible here!

This blog post was written by Lucette Moran.

Tis' the season to give and be thankful!

We hope that you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and loved ones. Since, we believe that the season of giving should be year round, we wanted to share our upcoming trip fundraisers at the following locations:

• Cava (4237 Wisconsin Ave NW) on Monday, Dec 2 from 6:00-10:00pm. AND 
• Angelicos (4529 Wisconsin Ave NW) on Sunday, Dec 8 from 12:00-5:00pm. 

If you would like to help us with our fundraiser, please print out the attached flier and bring it with you on the respective dates and times of the fundraising event. Each restaurant has promised to give us a portion of the proceeds from all sales when the flier is presented.

Thanks for your assistance and we look forward to keeping you updated more on our trip.

Here's to 25 days and counting until we are in Israel!