Stephanie Jolson volunteers at Shomera in the Jerusalem Forest
For many of us, contributing to environmental causes in Israel has taken the form of donating a tree in memory or honor of loved ones. During our time in Israel, making a positive impact on the Israeli environment has taken a much more active form through our volunteer placement with Shomera, a non-profit organization that was founded in 1988.
Based in the Har Nof area of the Jerusalem forest, Shomera takes an active approach at engaging the public in environmental activities through education, activism, and work with communities. Shomera recognizes the vital importance of the Jerusalem forest to both local residents and visitors and through formal and informal experiential progams, and imparts the necessity of forest preservation and sustainable lifestyle practices. A year after its founding, the JNF offered Shomera 20 dunans of land to create the Shomera Forest Education and Activity Center. During the past decade, the site has welcomed thousands of school children and adults alike to benefit from public classes on permaculture as well as mishnayot on agriculture, ancient crafts, the Jewish annual cycle and organic gardening. Moreover, Shomera recognized the need to reach out to people who could not necessarily visit the Center and has since established programs at numerous community centers and other public institutions as well as initiatives like Project Ace which helps rehabilitate youth at risk from Har Nof and Gardening Therapy for individuals with special needs at Hadassah Hospital.
On any given day, our work with Shomera can vary as much as the projects themselves. Some days, we find ourselves out on site, building domes out of palm leaves that serve as protective shelters during the rainy season or that provide a shaded activity area during the hot summer months. At other times, our work takes us out into the community such as during a recent Earth Day fair in Jerusalem where we represented and promoted the activities of Shomera to the community at large. At other times, our work is more research based, exploring various new ways for Shomera to expand their programs and ways in which the organization can both reach more people and engage in environmental activism on a local and national scale. This opportunity to impact the land and people of Israel through our hands-on work with Shomera has truly been a worthwhile and rewarding experience.
