How We Earn Our Bread & Butter (Or Pita & Hummus, As The Case May Be)

Ecce Homo volunteers work 30 hours a week, averaging 5 hours a day for 6 days, with Sundays off. On Saturday nights, Sister Rita, our director, gives us our schedules, which vary from week to week. A large portion of the schedule revolves around meals.

The earliest possible assignment is for 6 a.m. — breakfast prep. The continental breakfast is the same every day, with the Sunday addition of roasted eggs. (I [B.J.] thought they were boiled, but they’re cooked in the oven). It’s a beautiful buffet. A chart helps us remember what goes where until we get the hang of it. If we have a lot of guests (as we do now), two people are assigned to set up buffets in two dining rooms, greet people, and refill items like yogurt as needed.

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To save time in the morning, we can rinse fruit and do other odds and ends the night before.

Ecce Homo has two chefs, whose delicious, artistic creations include this hummus. Depending on the nationalities of our guests, some may hardly touch it, some may scrape the plate clean.

Michael bringing in a bread refill for a group of French breakfast guests

Refilling bread by the commercial toaster

After-breakfast jobs include servers cleaning the tables and setting up for lunch and/or dinner…

… washing or drying dishes, bowls, cups, silverware, etc., in the “wash-up room”…

… putting washed, dried dishes into cupboards…

… and, finally, mopping.

Mike & I are usually teamed up with other volunteers, sisters (nuns), or paid part-timers, but once in a blue moon, we’re assigned together.

When we’re servers, we like it when there’s dialog with guests. Buoyed by a delicious lunch, these British guests wanted to know where we’re from, what other tasks we do here, etc. One of the men mentioned traveling to Charlotte sometimes for business. We’re not just workers — we try to be ambassadors of goodwill, representing Ecce Homo, the U.S., and, most importantly, Christ.

Michael clearing lunch plates before a dessert of carrot cake

RECEPTION:

The front desk is called reception. When guests arrive, the workers on reception photocopy their passports. In this picture, Sister Wafaa (from Egypt) and Michael are checking in an Italian family. Mike is about to hand the photocopy for the couple to fill out information.

Wafaa thought it would be funny to have us pose as answering both phones at the same time.

Pilgrim groups come in at street level to see the Lithostrotus in the basement. http://www.eccehomopilgrimhouse.com/litho We handle the paperwork and money from guides and individuals, hand out brochures in the appropriate language, hang up guests’ keys when they go out, etc. With this screen from security cameras, we can monitor above, below, and street views.

One day when Mike & I were working reception together, we weren’t busy when this British family came in to see the Litho. Since the six-year-old son, Jasper, is about the age of our grandson Theo, Mike gave Jasper a personal explanation of what in the basement might be of special interest to a boy that age.

OUTDOORS:

Sister Rita loves to garden, and sometimes schedules us volunteers to help her. Since Michael does the yardwork at our house, he’s very good at this.

I don’t enjoy weeding, but I did enjoy gathering lemons which had fallen from the garden’s lemon tree. It was like hunting for Easter eggs!

Each volunteer is assigned a terrace to sweep, plants to water, etc. , at least weekly. Mine is on the third floor (which is actually the fourth level). The top of the third floor terrace is one of the most awesome views in all Jerusalem. What do I do up there? Replace the trash can bag and…

clean the ash tray. (See resultant dirty rag.)

One of my jobs is wiping outdoor tables and chairs. Can you believe the beautiful dome of the Ecce Homo Basilica is one of our everyday sights?!

On warm, sunny days (especially welcome this cold, rainy winter), I’m to set out tables and chairs in inviting clusters. It made me happy to see a Swiss guest with a cup of freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice, waiting for friends to join her.

HOUSEKEEPING

When Ecce Homo is slammed, like 70 guests leaving in the morning and 70 more arriving a few hours later, we’re scheduled, in pairs, to help make beds. The trickiest part is wrangling a cover onto a duvet. I’d never done this before, and was pathetically inept at first. It’s not like a YouTube with American duvets! But Sister Erika (from Brazil) is helpful and has a full-throated laugh which brightens my day. 🙂

PS – Regrettably, these few pictures of guests don’t show much diversity; we’ve served guests from many other countries as well, but there wasn’t a natural opportunity to photograph them.