While winter break serves as a time for many students to relax, refresh, reflect and recharge after a strenuous semester, for fifteen selective, undergraduate Yeshiva University (YU) students, winter break was an opportunity to attend a service mission to Haiti. YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF) in conjunction with the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization, organized a seven day visit to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from January 11 to the 18.
Although the students only had a week to tour the country, meet with leaders of the community, and engage in service work, they gained a comprehensive understanding of Haitian culture; the challenges that face the country post the 2010 earthquake; as well as the hidden beauty of the country and its leaders.
Students spent their first day at Zanmi Beni, an integrated children’s home, which serves as a safe haven for 64 displaced orphans who were relocated from hospitals where they were found after the earthquake. There, students engaged the children in various activities ranging from playing tennis and soccer, to coloring and playing vigorous games of Dominos.
For the next three days, YU students began their service work in Zoranje with the Foundation for Progress and Development (PRODEV), which was established in 1996 to provide management, expertise, and curriculum, helping sustain a high standard network of schools across Haiti. Post the 2010 earthquake, PRODEV helped launch schooling, education, and psychosocial support, catering to over 3,000 children in Port-au-Prince. Students received the opportunity to hear from leaders involved in PRODEV’s work and were inspired by their willingness to take action in the most desperate of times.
In Zoranje, the fifteen YU undergraduates facilitated various activities with the school children. While some students took charge of implementing science in the classroom, such as building volcanoes with the students, others were engaged in teaching their Haitian friends contemporary dance and relaying their passion for pop music and songs.
After interacting with the school children and bringing education to the classrooms in Zoranje, YU students partook in service work that included planting trees with the students and community members to help resolve the deforestation issue Haiti currently faces. Students enjoyed pick-axing and digging, and organized a ceremony marking the implementation of almond trees during their final day of service work in Zornaje.
The students spent their last day visiting the General Hospital and Rehabilitation Center at Haiti State University Hospital, the local hospital in Port-au-Prince serving the poor and locals. There, students were exposed to further obstacles many Haitians encounter, and were deeply imbued with a sense of appreciation for their health and the easy access to medical care back home. The General Hospital serves amputees and others with severe limb injuries that had been hit during the earthquake, and are receiving services and treatment from a team of Haitian and Israeli medical professionals. Further, students visited a school reconstruction site and Heart-to Heart’s medical clinic, which provides medical services and equipment to those in need.
After visiting the hospital, sophomore Michal Segal said how she thinks “these two visits really put things into perspective. Time and time again this trip has presented us with so many reasons to be thankful for the ease with which we have access to the basic necessities of life. Especially considering we so often take them for granted.”
After the busy, empowering, moving, and eye-opening week, students spent their Shabbat at Jacmel. There, students enjoyed Kabbalat Shabbat and shiurim, and relaxed after a week full of activities and work.
Many students returned home feeling empowered and changed. Gideon Turk, a Yeshiva College Biology major “to say that this trip was a life changing experience would be a gross understatement. Tikkun Olam is such a fundamental part of Judaism, and this service learning mission was the ideal way to fulfill this obligation and really make a difference.”
Jannah Eichenbaum, a junior at Stern majoring in Political Science, explained that although she learned a lot from the Haitian culture, she learned even more from her peers who came on this mission.
The group enjoyed interacting with and helping the community, learning about Haitian culture, and is ready to bring what they learnt in Haiti back on campus. As Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” For many, this trip was an opportunity to grow as an individual as well as give and make a difference to those who need it most.