A Testimonial from Michael Burd
 

In October 2002 I left my comfortable home town of Melbourne to go to Israel to do some thing more tangible for Israel than just give money. Although my Family of two teenage daughters and wife were 100% behind main fact my older daughters first reaction when I told her I wished to go was, "It's about time you put action into motion instead of words." My friends all thought I was mad and I think that was the most disappointing thing to me as too few people I know would ever have this commitment to Israel.

On arrival at the Jaffa office I was told I was being sent to Tela Shamir just out side of Tel Aviv. I would have like to go some where down south away from the big cities how ever I went where I was told. Tel Has homer is a very large Army medical logistics camp right next door to one of the middle east's biggest Hospitals. There were about 30 of us volunteers mostly Americans and some Canadians, South Africans, Mexicans and South Americans. We were to stay in Army Barracks 8 per room which I shared with a Mexican student, American, one other Aussie and a French Algerian who used to be in the foreign legion. We woke up at 6:30 am showered in the communal shower block (men only), woman had their own.

Our job was to recycle medic and doctors army back packs to take out expired medicines and exchange and to check all the medical equipment that should have been in each pack. This army base supplied the whole of Israel every army base with these back packs so there would be hundred very day come in to be opened and re-supplied. We would have breakfast lunch and dinner with the soldiers and in the evening sit around and try to solve the Middle East problems. We also had different speakers come to talk to us. On Friday/Saturday we would take off to Tel Aviv. I stayed with family I had near Dizzengoff and spent most of the two days on the beach. My two and a half weeks went very quickly and when I returned my army uniform and papers I felt sad that I could go home to safe Melbourne whilst all the Israeli kids on the base had to put up with the Arab threat on a daily basis.

My only wish is that a lot more volunteers would go to Israel from Australia.

Michael Burd is from Melbourne Australia.