Programs & Projects

Workcamps – current dates on our homepage above

Participate in one or more of our annual 10-day workcamps.

A special program is prepared for each day, including orientation, general information about the situation, activities, documentaries and on weekends the opportunity for excursions to Bethlehem and its surroundings. In the evening you can enjoy time around the campfire.

Accommodation: Volunteers sleep in tents or caves at the TON campsite.

Participation fee: 150 euros. This amount covers food and accommodation, but it is not covering the costs for excursions.

For more information on current costs, please visit our page for volunteers.

Please note: Participants are expected to pay for their own flights and their own health insurance.

Food: Traditional Palestinian meals will be prepared for volunteers such as breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Useful tips: It is important that you get enough sleep each night, as this type of work usually starts very early in the morning to avoid the heat during the day.

Tree planting: “Plant a tree for the environment and a better future”.

Project details: This project welcomes both local and international volunteers. During the camp, you will plant different types of trees and help us to bring new life to the farm.

Weather (March): The weather is usually warm, windy with light rain and temperatures between 18º-24º. On the farm it is usually warm during the day but windy, and in the evening it gets cold – under 10º. Please note that the weather is changeable during this period; it can rain at any time, but we can also enjoy a lot of sun. If it rains, the program will continue; we will then change the days and do the tree planting on the drier days.

Weeding & Wheat Harvesting

In addition to harvesting, volunteers will also assist with weeding as well as removing of grass around the various fruit trees and in areas where cultivation is not possible. This is very important to keep the trees healthy, to use the grass as food for the livestock, but also to reduce the risk of fire during the summer months.

Cave renovation and fruit harvesting: “What you plant, you will harvest”.

Project details: volunteers will help clean, renovate, paint and decorate some of the caves at the ToN. The caves you will be working on are centuries old and all have their own character and history, making participation to this program a unique and stimulating experience. It took a long time to make the caves habitable, but as the work progresses, you will be able to appreciate the results and see the beauty of these caves and their stones. During the camp you will also help with the Harvesting fruit trees.

Weather (June): The weather is usually hot, dry and dusty, with temperatures between 22º-27º. On the ToN it is usually hot during the day, but it can get cool in the evenings.

Children’s summer camp: “From the ground and Up”.

Every year in July, we organize a summer camp on the ToN for children from Bethlehem and the surrounding area. The camp creates a fun and safe environment and is designed to give the children some freedom and distraction from their daily lives – giving them a break from the politics that overshadowing their childhood. Our goal is to build the children’s self-confidence and help them to understand and appreciate their own strengths and abilities, and to encourage them to believe that they able to make a difference and be part of the change towards a better future.

We invite international volunteers to join the children summer camp and help in organizing games, sports and a range of activities such as art, music, theater and creative writing. The camp also offers the opportunity for children to learn more about their rural heritage and how to care for the environment.

Our volunteers, who come from many different countries and diverse backgrounds, give the children the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and become familiar with different cultures as well as practice English and other languages.

Project Details: 40-50 children, ages 10 to 16, will be invited to visit the farm to enjoy their time but also to participate in educational and creative projects.

Volunteers will lead small groups of children in various activities and organize games and Sports for the entire camp. The camp will end with a performance of play, dances and songs that the children have learned during the camp, with the children’s families on the last day of the camp.

Weather (July): The weather is mostly hot, dry and dusty, with temperatures between 25º-30º. On the vineyard it is usually hot during the day, but in the evenings it can be cool.

Both local and international volunteers are welcome to participate.

Almond and Fruit Harvest: “Almond Tree & Learning Hope”.

Project Details: In August, our almonds, apples, and apricots are ready to be harvested, and it is important that volunteers spend this important time together on the ToN. Together we will harvest our nuts and fruits during the 10-days camp.

Weather (August): The weather is usually hot, dry and dusty with temperatures ranging from 26º-32º. On the farm it is usually hot during the day, but it can get cool in the evenings.

Grape and fig harvest: “A branch cannot bear fruit by itself”.

Project details: In September, our grapes and figs are ready for harvesting. During the 10-days camp, we will harvest the fruits together and volunteers will help make syrup from the grapes.

Weather (September): The weather is mostly hot, dry and dusty with temperatures between 26º-30º. On the farm it is usually hot during the day, but it can get cool in the evenings.

Olive harvest: “Rooted in the earth – like an olive tree”.

Project details: In September, our grapes and figs are ready for harvesting. During the 10-days camp, we will harvest the fruits together and volunteers will help make syrup from the grapes.

Weather (September): The weather is mostly hot, dry and dusty with temperatures between 26º-30º. On the farm it is usually hot during the day, but it can get cool in the evenings.

LandArt Project “Angel of Cultures” (EdK)

The aim of this pioneering project at the ToN is to set a visible sign for intercultural understanding and peace in this region.

The international art project “Angels of Cultures” (EdK) (www.engel-der-kulturen.de) by the German artist couple Carmen Dietrich and Gregor Merten promotes intercultural and interreligious understanding actions, primarily in Germany, but also in other European countries and in the Middle East in our globalized world.

In this art action, which connects cities and people, the symbol is installed in a sustainable and clearly recognizable in public space. From the multitude of actions a social sculpture, which in the EdK column makes it perceptible how many people in Germany, Europe and worldwide are working for peace between the nations, cultures and religions. Young people in particular should be encouraged to take responsibility for the success of our common future.

A LandArt implementation of the Angel of Cultures is being created on the ToN – sponsored by JugendInterKult e.V. (www.jugendinterkult.de) and the Bethe-Stiftung (bethe-foundation.org) – in a diameter of 30 meters with stones from the surrounding area. The outline was created by the artist couple Carmen Dietrich and Gregor Merten. By adding more stones , the angel will become more clearer to see . We want to ask our visitors to keep adding more stones until the whole picture being shaped. In this way invite people to contribute, even if it is symbolically, towards creating more intercultural and interreligious understanding and to express their hopes and wishes for a better future. Our plan, in the center of the Angle of the cultures to create a space of silence.