The K Experience

This is a picture of my students in Israel, during an English Camp teaching programme, run by the British Council. The first camp of two that I went to was in Sha'ar HaNegev, during the summer of 1999. I spent two weeks in total in Sha'ar HaNegev, and six weeks in Israel in total. The time I spent in Israel changed my life forever.

Sha'ar HaNegev is in the desert area in the south of Israel. The school that we stayed in during the time was in the middle of nowhere, literally. The closest place to us was Mitzpe Ramon, at the bottom of the map. Needless to say, it was hot hot hot, all of the time.

The group of students in the first picture were 14/15 year old immigrant russians who had moved to Israel due to political instability in Eastern Europe at the time. They were great kids, and all they wanted to do was find a place they could settle. Unfortunately for them the future of Israel had its own problems that they would inevitably get mixed up in.

The campus was beautiful, with two medium sized apartment blocks for staff in the south, and a school complex with gyms and classrooms to the north. The canteen was in the centre of the complex where the other teachers had breakfast lunch and dinner.

This camp was different from most of the other British Council English Camps as the students were expected to follow quite a planned curriculum. Although, I am not quite sure what they would have learned in the two weeks that we had. This meant that I was more of a teachers assistant, and just helped out with materials and instruction when needed. The students in the camps had quite a good level of English already, and so we didn't have to bother with the basics, and communication was not a problem.

This was all about 8 years ago now, and a lot has happened in those 8 years. I do worry about them when I think about the violence that has come about in Israel.

I also wonder about the teachers that were there too.

There were 7 volunteers from the UK, Ian, Robert, Keiva (who replaced Charmaine who left in the first week), Maria, Louise and Rachel (not in the picture), along with some local volunteers.

This was only half of my Israel experience, but was an amazing experience in its own right. I miss it, and can't wait to go back. I know it has been over 8 years already, but i'm determined to go back one day.

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