Feliz Purim!

Day numero dos and the fun has yet to stop! Today was a mix of fun and hard work. After waking up to an early 6:30am wakeup call, we ate a traditional Argentinean breakfast consisting of toast, croissants, and fruit, then we took a nice one hour bus ride to a Jewish Community Center. Here we learned about how the school (JCC) had gone into foreclosure nearly 10 years ago, forcing them to sell part of their land to the government to in order to maintain the actual building and pay off their debt. Due to lack of funds, the building was abandoned and books, supplies, furniture and school work done years ago were the only items left scattered in the dusty three story building. Classes are still held every week; the kids must walk through the shambles to their appropriate paint pealed, dusty classrooms in order to obtain a lesson from their maestro each Sunday.

As part of our tzdek service to the Argentian community we were asked to clean the building, paint the walls and furniture, and design and paint a mural on one of the outside walls. We were split into multiple groups and all assigned activities to help rebuild this Jewish community. Eight hours later the group came together to discuss the progress made. As one group we will design and paint the mural on our next visit to the JCC on Wednesday.

During the community service, one of the townspeople came over to my group. He explained how he had a child that attends the JCC every week and how much it meant to him and his family that we were helping to rebuild his community and helping to make it a welcoming place for all. Even though I do not know more than this man’s name, his words will stick with me forever. It feels great knowing something I did will help to strengthen a community in need, especially a Jewish group.

After this strenuous and emotional activity we were given a two hour siesta break. It was so nice to finally have time to just relax and reflect on the past two days. But our day didn’t end there, immediately following our siesta we traveled as a group to the Hillel house and learned about the history of Argentina from a Jewish perspective. We were also supplied costumes and were told the story of Purim. The night ended with a Purim celebration with all three groups: Virginia Tech, UNC, and Kenyon, as well as various students studying abroad and our fellow Argentine friends. A few hours of sleep and we’ll be at it again….