Chelsea and I: Our Sar-El Experience
LeAnn Powers
Oct. 2003

I first heard of Sar-El when my mother and her husband volunteered with the organization back in the early 90’s. My children and I were living in Israel then, and my mother wanted to do something for Israel besides just visiting us. She was in her early 70’s at the time and had come in the middle of winter, but she had thoroughly enjoyed herself and came away with fond memories and numerous pictures taken with “her soldiers”. Now I had been back in the U.S. for over nine years and had been itching to return to Israel for a long time – wondering how I could do it in such as way that would be both financially feasible at the same time as productive and supportive to the country. Sar-El came to mind and seemed to be the perfect solution. One of my daughters had been only 6 years old when we had left Israel and she was anxious to go back and see the land and the people which had figured so prominently in her early childhood.

When my 15 year old daughter and I landed in Israel at 5:00 a.m. in mid-April of this year, we didn’t have any preconceived notions about what to expect of our volunteer experience with Sar-El. Like most other volunteers, we did not know which base we would be volunteering on, or what other groups or individuals we would be linked with. We did not come as part of a group, and we were arriving in the middle of one of the volunteer sessions. We had been given wise advice by the representative in Seattle who had interviewed us - to take things as they came. He had told us that there would likely be another volunteer arriving on the same flight as ours. Sure enough, we were able to spot him and the three of us waited at Ben Gurion for the local Sar-El representative to arrive. She arrived promptly and kindly waited with the three of us for 3 hours for the van to arrive to pick us up. This gave us ample opportunity to talk to her about the program and get to know our fellow volunteer, as well as observe the Israelis milling about and get re-acclimated to the Land. One of the first things my daughter noticed was the open affection with which the Israelis greeted their loved ones, male and female, that were arriving back home.

We were taken to the main Sar-El office in Jaffe, where we waited for about an hour as other volunteers arrived. A couple from South Africa arrived who had been staying in Jerusalem and were to begin their volunteering. Others who had already been volunteering on the base arrived from their weekend “hofesh” in various parts of the country. As we all clambered into the van I overheard one of them tell the soldier driver to take it easy and not kill us all on the drive back to the base. Having had experience in the ways of Israeli drivers I told my daughter, with a smile, to hang on. It was a ride to remember as we flew through the back streets of Jaffe at about 80 kilometers an hour, barreling around corners and swerving from one lane to another missing pedestrians and vehicles by a hairs breadth. My daughter had to straddle the soldier’s M-16 which was shoved on the floor between her feet. She got quite a kick out of that. The cool-as-a-cucumber driver released his sweating and panting passengers at the Base near Ramla, about 30 minutes from Tel Aviv.

We were met by our Madricha (female soldier leader), who divided us all up into rooms. The Base is an “open” base, meaning that most of the soldiers are able to return home after their day’s work. Some soldiers, both male and female, stay on the base if they live too far away to make it practical to leave, or if they’re responsible for guard duty. We were then given a tour of the base. The Base is a communications base and the work that we would be assigned involved two different areas – tank helmets with their earpiece communications, and radios. The radios included two different kinds, large ones for the tanks and humvees, and smaller ones from the jeeps and trucks. We were given the choice of outside work - scraping, bonding and repainting helmets and scraping old paint, grease and dirt off the radio casings, or inside work – rewiring the helmet earpieces and reassembling them into the helmets as well as some work with antennas, which I’m not too clear about because my daughter and I, coming from rainy Seattle, didn’t even need to consult with each other, we knew immediately we’d be working outside in the sun and breeze, overlooking the fields surrounding the base. The rewiring of the radios was handled by soldiers who were specially trained as well as one long-term volunteer who had been there for several months.

So, within two hours of arriving at the base we were in our allotted uniforms and hard at work. A word should be said about the uniforms. Don’t expect to catch any fashion shows with them! The soldiers in charge of distributing uniforms size you up with a look, reach into big bins and pull out a variety of well-used shirts, pants, sweaters and boots. We had taken the advice of the Sar-El pamphlet and brought our own army green t-shirts to wear under the army shirts. The first week was still quite cold and we were very thankful for the sweaters. Our pants were either too short or too long in length and too wide at the waist, held up by big belts, and thankfully we had thought to bring our own work shoes as the army boots were also in short supply, at least in our sizes. We all got a good laugh looking at ourselves, and each other. This was the first of many laughing sessions as we were fortunate enough to be rooming with the woman from South Africa, whose people rival the Australians for having a great sense of humor. As the weeks progressed we became a little more presentable as we had the opportunity to return to the clothing room several times to piece together more proper-fitting uniforms. I was even able to eventually get an army hat, as my Seattle skin was definitely not used to the bright sun.

The rooms at the Base, we were told, are among the better of the bases that house Sar-El volunteers. There were both rooms connected to each other surrounding a central outdoor, open, covered area, as well as free-standing modules. We were given one of the modules which contained 2 bunkbeds apiece as well as a wardrobe and cabinet. There was a heater/air conditioning unit, however we were not able at first to figure out how to work it, (it turned out to need a minor repair as did two units in other modules). So that first week we bundled up in extra blankets and sweaters when we slept. By the second week it suddenly became quite warm and by the end of that week we were using the air conditioner. This is quite typical of April/May, and I would advise anyone going during these months to bring a wide temperature range of clothing. The dining room was shared with soldiers, which, I was told, is not always the case on other bases. The food was abundant and reminded me of kibbutz food. The typical Israeli breakfast of eggs, cheeses, yogurt, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, bread, jams and spreads. This was also commonly the menu for supper. The mid-day meal, the large meal, always offered a chicken dish. Unfortunately, my daughter and I didn’t discover the urn that contained the delicious mint tea (otherwise known as Moroccan tea) until our last few days. So, don’t hesitate to snoop around!

We heard from other volunteers who had volunteered on other bases in the past, that our Base was a good base to be on if one wanted to interact with soldiers. The volunteers were not segregated from the soldiers - both the sleeping areas and dining room were also used by male and female soldiers, though we did not work alongside the soldiers, they had their own jobs to do. However, there was hardly a half hour that went by as we worked that there was not at least one soldier at our work table chatting to us, giving us a chance to practice our Hebrew, and him, or her, to practice English. The evenings, after our volunteer meetings which often included a special speaker, were spent at the outdoor central covered area chatting with other volunteers and soldiers. Sleep was not a high priority as it was just too much fun learning of each other’s backgrounds and why we were in Israel.

We happened to arrive during Passover week, so that first week was a short one with a 4-day weekend. As volunteers are not allowed to stay on the base during the weekend, this enabled us to rent a car and visit friends in the Galilee. As it turned out our third, and last, week was also a short one due to Israel Independence Day. Volunteers were taken on a tour of various sites which figured prominently in the War for Independence, as well as a trip to the JNF forest near Jerusalem. Volunteers were then given the option of staying the weekend at the Soldier’s resort at Ashkelon, along with hundreds of other Sar-El volunteers from other bases.

Anyone who has spent time volunteering, or living, in Israel can testify to the connection which occurs there between people. Just on our base there were volunteers from France, Canada, Holland, the U.S., South Africa, Germany and Russia. There were even a couple of Israelis who had grown up abroad and were permitted to do their army service within Sar-El. We were all there united in a common bond of love for Israel and her people. We were there to give of ourselves, but came away enriched. Israel will surprise you, frustrate you, stretch you and charm you, and you will come away feeling as if you have experienced life in a way you never had even considered.