Day 11: Bedouin Community

Today is Wednesday, May 25 we leave our hotel (Harmony Hotel) of the past 5 days in Jerusalem to head South, to the Dead Sea area, on our way we visit a Bedouin Community...

We had the privilege of meeting with Sara and Huda today, who are Bedouin women, but are part of an organization within the Bedouin community aimed at helping the women in this culture get more education and have a stronger stand in their community.

Bedouins, traditionally, have been nomadic people, living in tents and moving where ever their herds have needed to go. But in recent history, they have become settlers because life is changing in the world and they don’t have to move as they once did.

This community is a settled community. They live in homes, not tents, although their buildings are still fairly open by our standards. This place of education for women came about because 4 women, back in 1986 decided they wanted an education…as you can imagine, they faced some pretty severe persecution from the status quo, but have prevailed to become a place where many women now gain a strong education.

When we arrived, we were greeted with Bedouin coffee…serious hair growing coffee…and then they talked about community life. A Bedouin man can have up to 4 wives…so Paula and I donned wedding garb, as well as Vicki from our group…don’t worry, one wife is enough for me!:)

We then talked about the work these women do in wool making crafts like the making of rugs. They showed how they make the yarn from the wool…we met some of the sheep that are in their herd, very cool!

We then had lunch and talked about how far these women have come in realizing their own basic human rights and how they are educated. Many of them have now gone to the universities and many of them have better educations than Bedouin men.

They make beautiful, handcrafted embroidery items which funds their organization helping them to receive the education they desire…

After lunch we set off for an hour and a half drive to our next hotel, the Leonardo Hotel on the Dead Sea...the Dead Sea is 1300 feet below sea level and is the lowest place on earth...can't wait to show you this hotel...very cool...

Talk to you soon...