Seventeen Washington-area Jewish high school students traveled to El Salvador on a community service trip from Aug. 19-26. The trip, in which 14 JDS students participated, was co-sponsored by the Jewish Youth Philanthropy Institute (JYPI) and the American Jewish World Services.

The goal of the trip was to advance youth philanthropic and civic involvement by taking advantage of students’ affinity for travel and allowing them to travel while doing community service, according to JYPI director Eytan Hammerman.
Most of the participants’ days were spent working in local agriculture to lessen the work load on Salvadoran farmers.

They took a break in the middle of each day for lunch and a study session about community service.

“[The study sessions] made me realize how much Judaism focuses on the idea of helping the world,” said junior Jacob Heller. “As a Jew, I learned I was obligated to go and help.”

Every 3-4 participants were paired with a Salvadoran “adopted family” with whom they ate meals.

“Their houses were very small, but we were amazed at all the technology they had,” said sophomore Joshua Hamburger. “They had a TV with channels like Nickelodeon and their clothes were like ours. Seeing different aspects of American culture there was surprising.”

There were also many aspects of Jewish practice and observance which were highlighted each Shabbat.

“Shabbat was a challenge and an opportunity to take advantage of the breadth of our participants,” said Hammerman.

“At home, Shabbat means you don’t go to school and you go to shul,” said Heller. “In El Salvador, Shabbat means that there is no work; no manual labor in the hot sun. We had time to do a lot of things, like take a tour of the town. It was a day to learn.”

Participants also had a chance to improve their language skills.

“It was difficult to communicate but I learned to speak Spanish better. The trip was a challenge to grow from,” said Heller.

Unlike most teen community service programs, this one was at the summer’s end. This presented a unique transition for students returning from El Salvador.

“Going to El Salvador made me appreciate my life here. Going from normal life in El Salvador to normal life at home at JDS gave me perspective. Tests didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore,” Heller said. “It was an eye-opening experience that made me more aware of the problems in the world.”