We returned safely from the excursion

Apr 28, 2023

An update and many thanks to the Israel/Study Group

We returned safely from the excursion – a challenge in the desert. This time it was really a big challenge. On the second day of the trip it rained very hard during the day and we had to wait for a quiet day at a nearby inn. We used the day for social activities, conversations and discussions, and also a lot of rest. The rest of the days were as planned, walking and navigating the field, in teams of 4-5 girls.

It was a fascinating experience. The girls really enjoyed walking in nature. More importantly, of course, they felt they could handle it and were capable. Most of them have endured the journey without major moments of crisis. They were excellent at coping with the physical difficulty, with the distance from home, with the difficulty of being without a phone for four days, with the challenge of being without a shower and toilet for four days, with little food and cooking together on a small wood fire and then sleeping in a dark night, in a sleeping bag outside under the sky.

The girls said they had learned a lot from the trip. They learned about their ability to interact with each other even in the most difficult moments, not to underestimate their own abilities and to learn that what seems impossible is really possible, that you can function well even in your zone of discomfort. Most of them learned not only about themselves, but also about the ability to cooperate with other girls, to decide together – what they could eat, when to go to sleep, when to get up, how to walk, etc. They learned how to solve social problems within their small group on their own.

And above all, they learned to trust themselves. The leaders kept deliberately far behind the girls. So that they could not ask them for things, but understood that they are the strongest, and that they had to solve the problems themselves and deal with the situation themselves.

It was a big, important, long and very meaningful lesson, and now they have to persevere, with what they learned here, only with a much higher intensity.

Many thanks to Yad L’ Ami! Many thanks to all the dear friends!  Through your actions and effort you raised the money. You have enabled us to start this training journey.

After the trip, I see what we would have lost, if we hadn’t gone out.

Our heartfelt thanks and love.

Director, team and girls of the girls’ house in Sa’ad.

Group in dessert
Woman with backpack