Life in Dharmsala…

It’s absolutely beautiful here.

Anyways, we have been in Dharmsala for over a week and we are pretty much settled in. We know our way around, and have already started to have favourite restaurants (and ones we hate). We have been able to explore neighbouring towns like Bhagsu and Dharmkot, which all have different things to offer. We are staying at TCV (Tibetan Children’s Village) which is a school for Tibetan, Indian, and foreign summer students. The kids are very cute. The accomadations are also nice. The best part is that they make fresh bread every morning that is delicious (sort of like a sweet corn bread) and it only costs 10 Rupees.

We visited the Tibet museum at the Dalai Lamas temple yesterday and it was really interesting. We all want to learn as much as we can about the Tibetan situation so we can share our knowledge with everyone back home. We have a private audience with the #2 Lama tomorrow which will be amazing..

Did I mention its beautiful here?

Thats all I feel like writing for now,

Ashley

Winter Day

The past few days have been very busy in Bat Yam. At the Kadima Centre, we are facilitating Chugim (hobby group activities) for the children. The children have experienced programming on English vocabulary, aerobics, music, art, computers and cosmetics, and we hope to add to this list of activities as we progress in our volunteer session. The level of excitement rises at Kadima when it is time for Chugim, as the children are given the opportunity to make choices, acquire new skills and have fun.

Getting Acquainted with Bat Yam

After a relaxing Shabbat together as a new group (with much time spent on the beach), we began our orientation. We began by learning the history of the Ethiopian aliyot and discussed the issues facing the Ethiopian community in Israel.  Laura, from United Israel Appeal and Leah, from the Jewish Agency, described the work that is being done in Bat Yam with the Ethiopian community.

As a group, we explored the concept of Tikkun Olam, repairing our world, and began to consider guiding questions for our experience. We then had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the various social services in Bat Yam. Because of the many talents of our group, the staff were arguing over which volunteers would go to which organizations.  It was nice to feel so wanted!  We finished off our orientation with an inspiring and thought-provoking session on what it means to be a volunteer and had the chance to explore our motivations for participating in this programme.