As a child in the village of Abu Sanan, Khalud Azzam
used
to spend a lot of time in the open spaces near her home.
"I was a nature girl, all the time outside," she says.
But when tractors began to come onto these areas for construction work, she felt that her backyard had been taken away from her.
"It seems to me like a terrible injustice. I understood even then that things had to be done differently. That's when the seed for my environmental awareness was actually sown," she says.
Upon matriculation, Khulod, now a 43-year-old resident of Yerka, became a teacher for the Shalah and an instructor at the Nature and Parks Authority. In recent years, she has been managing further training and training for the Arab Society at the Society for the Protection of Nature.
"I travel all the time. I did the Israel Trail, the Golan Trail, I gave survival workshops in the desert. My first husband and I traveled a lot in nature. When my son was a baby, I took him on walks with me in a carrier. People in the village thought we were delusional," she says.
According to her, the family trips in the field, all the more her alone as a woman, were not acceptable in the Druze society to which she belongs.
For years she hid from her parents her occupation as a guide and the fact that she goes out to prepare tracks alone.
"Even today, my mother thinks it's not a good job and would have preferred me to be a teacher and not walk around so much in the field," she says.
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For years she hid her occupation as a teacher from her parents.
Kholud Azzam, a Druze roadblock (photo: surfers' photos, Kholud Azzam)
"My goal was to know the country and get the women out."
The female hikers in Ein Abdat (photo: surfer photos, Khalud Azzam)
"We are not concerned with politics and religion but with knowing the land."
The pilgrims in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Photo: Surfer Photos, Khalud Azam)
The first group of Muslim, Druze and Christian female travelers
Holud: "I wanted them to feel nature, to rest through it, that they should not be concerned with meals and food, but that they should really do things for the soul"
But Khulod not only did not give up her love for traveling, but she even swept other women from the Arab society after her.
"Nature does a lot of good for a person, and I thought that the field trip could empower women," she explains about the idea of opening the first group of Muslim, Druze and Christian female travelers.
The group, which Khalud called "Sachar Beldana" (Arabic for "the magic of our country"), consists of about 35 women from four villages between the ages of 25 and 70, most of them teachers.
They started meeting once a month on Friday for field trips.
"My goal was to know the country and get the women out," she says.
"I wanted them to feel nature, to rest through it, that they should not be concerned with meals and food, but to really do things for the soul."
According to Khulod, the group continues to travel to this day in almost the same vehicle, but in light of the success and demand that began to come from more and more women, she opened another group under her guidance, "Women and Nature".
"I thought that the field trip could empower women."
The Arab hikers in the north (Photo: Surfer Photos, Khulod Azzam)
"When I called home from the trip to Eilat, my son said to me, 'Mom, get a life'" at "Petria" in Tamna Park (photo: Surfer Photos, Khalud Azzam)
As part of the trips, the female hikers also clean the beaches (Photo: Surfer Photos, Khalud Azam)
"They did the track in Gilbon like adults"
During the meetings, the women go on routes of different levels of difficulty, also routes for those with disabilities.
"They did the route in Gilbon on a hot day like adults," she says.
"When we went to Nahal Tabor, which is not an easy route, there was the moment before, when they were afraid of going on a long route, and the moment after when they felt great satisfaction. To say, 'Well, I did eight kilometers,' is great."
The openness to travel that is growing in the Arab society and also in Druze with the women now makes it possible to take trips of several days.
According to Khulod, at first there were not many customers for this concept, but slowly this option also started to succeed.
"We did routes in the Negev for a few days," she says.
"We were in Ein Gedi and we were in a hostel, and now we were four days in Eilat. Women who spent there a hundred times and did not go beyond the boardwalk, walked in Nahal Tsfahot, in the Red Mall, some of them with skirts and a handkerchief."
Naamat Atallah, 58, a preschool teacher and mother of four, who recently retired, has been traveling with the group since her first day.
"This is the only place where I can do something for myself," she says.
"I was always busy with work, family and children. I had a big load on my head, and when I heard about this group that Khalud was starting, I immediately signed up. I just wanted to put a backpack on my shoulder and travel, walk, not sit in one place and do things over the fire like in our family outings. On trips, I detach myself from the environment, all responsibilities and stress and surrender to nature. I see unique and beautiful places that I never imagined existed, I met new friends, my physical fitness has really improved and even the knee pain I had disappeared thanks to walking."
The family actually encourages and supports this hobby.
"When I called home from the trip to Eilat, my son told me, 'Mom, live a life, have fun, and don't think about us'"
The trips are always walking trips, even if they are in cities.
"We traveled in Acre, Jerusalem and Haifa. A place like Jaffa, you can't imagine how many women have never visited it. But we are not going to eat in Jaffa, but to travel, to get to know each other," says Khalud.
"It is also important to me to connect the essence of Arab society in all its nuances. We are going to visit core Druze villages such as Yerka, Kisra and Paki'in, and we also visited the Christmas market in Pasuta."
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To the full article
Do the route on a hot day.
The hikers in Jilbon in the Golan (photo: surfer photos, Khalud Azam)
"We did routes in the Negev lasting a few days."
Khulod and the girls (photo: surfers' photos, Khulod Azzam)
A traveler from Mirka: "This is the only place where I can do something for myself."
At the Gamla waterfall (photo: surfers' photos, Khulod Azzam)
"They are not concerned with politics and religion but with knowing the land"
"When they are far from the eyes of men, they also dance in nature and the feeling of liberation fills them"
And what about Jewish heritage sites?
"Of course, when we were in Paki'in we went to the synagogue. When we were in Jerusalem we went to the Western Wall, and next year we will also walk through the tunnels of the Western Wall, but we are not concerned with politics and religion but rather with getting to know the land. We don't usually go to holy places, and I don't choose controversial places either. We have women from different backgrounds. Various, including a bereaved mother, women whose families lived in the countryside in '48, a bereaved mother, so I don't get into political matters and leave nature as the main subject."
As part of the trips, Khulod combines contents of love of nature and knowledge of the land, as well as challenges in nature and problem solving.
She conducts pantomime games, thinks, assigns tasks to them, conducts meditations.
Sometimes, when the terrain allows, she lets them walk alone 20 meters away from each other in silence, so that they can face their fears and themselves.
When they are far from men's eyes, they also dance in nature and the feeling of liberation fills them.
But, of course, sharing and friendship is the real strength of the group.
"We have a lot of card games that allow them to tell what is going on with them, and this thing is very close. We have created a strong friendship."
Today the groups are very close-knit.
"We attend weddings, funerals, celebrate birthdays, if a trip is canceled because of the weather, we don't give up the meeting, and sit down for coffee together."
"This process fills me up," says Khalud.
"At the end of each activity, when someone tells me, 'That was amazing, I'm so glad it exists,' I fill up a little more."
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