People helping people. Is there a better way to burn a few calories?

Habitat for Humanity Jordan (H4H) recently teamed up with Sahhyieh Jamia, a community association in Deir Alla (Salt province), and American Community School to help build homes in a village near Salt. You’d think this architect would record the event with artsy construction snaps: turns out the house was the least important part of the day. I’m guessing that’s should be part of H4H’s motto. The American Community School (ACS) is a private international school in Amman.  Rigorous curriculum, great facilities, but its middle name says it all: this place is about community. Look on for our photos and day out with the organization.

Community service is prerequisite for all students, and the school cooks up year-round events that attract enthusiastic participation. House building’s on today’s menu, offering a taste of Salt.

Salt is about an hour’s drive north of Amman.  Incredible scenery appears about 20 minutes out, golden mountains and lush valleys.

It’s an ancient farming town founded around 300 B.C. along the old Amman trade highway leading to Jerusalem. It’s nestled within three hills, about 2,700 feet above sea level, near the Jordan River valley.  Most of the workers in its 50,000 population are employed in agriculture: the primary crops are grapes and olives.

H4H projects vary with each trip: the high school kids on my bus were old hands, having built walls and fences on earlier excursions. The work can range from site-clearing to full build-out.  Today’s job was building walls for an addition, mixing cement and laying courses of heavy cinder block.

Kids are instructed to pay attention to the job foreman and chaperoning adults.  Safety’s a primary concern.  They listen politely to the briefing, don work-gloves, and break into small groups of cement mixers and block-stackers, bricklayers and tool-cleaners. Splinter groups go play with the mob of village children who come onsite to watch.

The kids get dirty.  And really tuck in to task. Villagers gather: super smiley tiny ones, teenage boys (checking out the girl builders), and astoundingly, a big group of adult men pull up lawn chairs. (Really?  You guys are going to just sit there and watch?)

It’s common for more than one family to live in the same house, a multi-generational arrangement.

According to Sahhyieh Jamia , each family can be as large as fifteen people, with a resultant lack of living space and privacy. Limited incomes means families can’t easily add rooms.

Formal loans are available but with stringent conditions and collateral requirements.

So Sahhyieh Jamia teamed up with Habitat for Humanity Jordan to create affordable loans with simpler conditions. Add free labor to the mix, like the boisterous crew from ACS, and a micro-housing boom erupts.

So far this program’s served seventeen families.  The Jamia says that average cost of new home construction is about $8,500.  Rehab projects, general maintenance and new additions range between $200 to $3,000.  Monthly pay-back is in the range of $25 to $100. The costs are primarily for materials and for specialty labor.

Foreign groups of volunteers have frequently raised funds to cover the cost of their trip and the building materials: a brilliant way to immerse into a country, really connect with it’s people, leaving the place a tiny bit better than they found it.

Back on our job site, within a few hours a routine’s established.  The students have built four block walls, about 300 square feet of building enclosure. Their village peers have joined in, and even the lounging men have gotten out of their chairs, if only to bark orders or chase the little ones out of the way.

After clean-up, there’s a speech from the homeowner and some giant group photos.  Local women served up a feast of grilled chicken and eggplant on mountains of spiced rices.

The day was sunny and warm.  The work was rewarding.  But the feel of the community was astounding.  People helping people. Is there a better way to burn a few calories?

If you’re not lucky enough to be connected with ACS, contact Habitat for Humanity Jordan directly to learn how you can get involved.

The post Habitat For Humanity Restores Jordan’s Salt – PHOTOS appeared first on Green Prophet.

As the world’s eyes are watching Egypt’s people uprise against its government, the need for change has already began impacting the streets of Cairo. After seven days of demonstrations rubbish, placards and dirty water have collected in the roads which the Egyptian people are not leaving for outsiders to clear up, despite their frustration for economic survival and better living.

This feeling of Egyptian pride is contagious as people are encouraging others to come outside with brooms and bags, voluntarily cleaning the streets. Muslim women have been taking their scarf pins to help attach ‘Keep Egypt Clean’ signs to men’s shirts; men themselves embrace one another with smiles, with hope and a love for the maintenance and environment of their country.

‘This charges us with positivity, so we can do more, to help our country to be better’, said Mohammad. Watch the fast spreading video by The Daily News).

More passion has flooded the streets as medical workers have volunteered their skills to help protesters hurt in the previous days and free food and drink is being handed out.

There is environmental revolution in the air. And we are witnessing a truly different Egypt that won’t be changed back easily.

Image:: Kitsap Sun (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Video:: The Daily News

Read more on Egypt:
Egyptian Energy Crisis Sends Protestors To The Streets
In the Face of “Nile-lessness” Egyptians Protest Water Shortage
What Egyptian Regime Change May Mean for Regional Energy Cooperation
Egypt To Grab Sudanese Land To Meet Its Wheat Needs
21st Century Egypt Powers Two Villages Entirely With Solar Power
Egypt in Top 22 Nations for Renewable Investment Potential

The post Egypt’s Social Change Begins With Cleaning The Streets appeared first on Green Prophet.

Jonathan Gilben, co-founder of GoEco, talks about his passion for eco-tourism. (Jonathan pictured at the center of this photograph and in the video clip below.)

A few weeks ago we wrote about GoEco, an organization founded by Jonathan Gilben and Jonathan Tal in 2005 that has pioneered bringing the concept of volunteer eco-tourism to Israel.  We were so inspired by the organization’s altruistic mission and by its ability to attract good-doing volunteers that we decided to get in touch with Jonathan (Gilben, that is) and hear a little more about their programs.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USZRYQvc1OQ&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Was there a particular experience that inspired you to co-found GoEco?

After university I volunteered in Mexico for a Sea Turtle conservation program. During my time there I lived on a tropical beach, met people from around the world, conducted amazing volunteer work and participated in unique Mexican cultural events.

I was amazed by this travel experience and I realized that volunteer tourism is almost non-existent in Israel. This is what inspired me to co-found GoEco and bring people from around that world to volunteer and experience Israel like never before.

How do you select the location for and design your volunteer programs?

I usually find projects that have reliable managers and volunteer work that is eco or social based. The location of the programs provides unique natural and cultural experiences of Israel.

Approximately how many volunteers come on GoEco’s programs in Israel each year?

Around 300 – 400 and rising.

Is there a particular GoEco program or destination that is most popular?

Yes of course:

Ecotourism development in Nazareth

Kibbutz Lotan Eco volunteer Program

Wildlife Reserve

Have you considered operating environmental volunteer programs in the Middle East outside of Israel?

We have considered cooperating with other Middle East organizations. Our next potential collaboration may be with a Dolphin Conservation program in Egypt.

GoEco currently operates volunteer programs in Nazareth and Umm el-Fahem – could you please elaborate on what inspired you to create these programs and what the response is from these diverse communities?

The idea behind these programs is to promote coexistence initiatives in Israel through social aid and art. We want volunteers from around the world to experience Israel as a multi-cultural country with strong hope for peace. The response from the communities themselves have been very positive and they warmly welcome foreign and Israeli volunteers.

:: GoEco

Read more about GoEco::

GoEco Pioneers Volunteer Eco Tourism in Israel

Go on a Volunteer Eco-Tourism Adventure in Israel with GoEco

The post Learn More about Volunteer Eco-Tourism from GoEco’s Jonathan Gilben appeared first on Green Prophet.

My wife Amy and I (Arron) 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 over all 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.

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. Its 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, full volunteers (placed by Israel’s volunteer organization) and 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.

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.’

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.

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 snorkeling 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.

Read more on Kibbutz Lotan:
Eco-Kibbutz Lotan Rolls Out Two Green Programs
Study Abroad at Kibbutz Lotan
Jews Celebrate a Solar Passover with Solar Oven at Kibbutz Lotan

::Family blog (Wood Auster World Tour)
::Kibbutz Lotan

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