Shabbat and Zaparozhye, by Lauren

Priviet!

This is Lauren blogging from Zaporozhye, Ukraine. It’s Sunday evening and our group is on the bus heading back to Dnepropetrovsk from a true bread basket experience. Out the left window is every shade of green imaginable and to my right is an overwhelming sunset. From the back of the bus our Ukrainian peers are playing a guitar, beating a drum, and singing their hearts out.
This whole week has been a remarkable experience, and it is sad to think there is only one day left when there is so much more to see. Considering this, I’m sure you can imagine that we are very tired, which is why Shabbat could not have come too soon. Yesterday, on Shabbat afternoon, we walked to the Dnepropetrovsk Chabad Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky’s house for lunch and had a four hour meal. No, you read that correctly; we sat there for four hours as our delicious lunch overlapped into our dinner. Then we topped the evening off with a Ukrainian sauna experience in the local banya. As Rabbi Ed and some students competed to find the fastest way to convert degrees Celsius into Fahrenheit (R’Ed won with “take the Celsius temp, add 15 and multiply by two.” OK, its close enough), I relaxed and enjoyed getting whacked with eucalyptus leaves (yes Mom, I did that for you). A rejuvenating Shabbat was just what we needed in order to wake up this morning.

Even though we dealt with the frustrations of temperature conversion on Saturday night, and deal daily with a difficult language barrier, we learned this morning that hand games and friendship bracelets are universal. We visited an orphanage where we worked on art projects and completed therapy exercises with the children. I also learned that I don’t have my mother’s talent for crocheting scarves. By the end of the session, I knew how to say “hold it like a spoon” in Russian. (The only other thing I’ve heard repeated enough to learn was “thank you” and “yes.”)

Our afternoon was spent clearing brush for an “Ethnic Village,” an idea of Zaporozhye’s JCC Director, Inessa. Because Zaparozhye is such a multi-ethnic city, Inessa wanted to build on the success of the Jewish Community to help foster growth and pride for all of the other ethnic groups. She has secured a piece of land and has a vision of an Epcot type village with “compounds” for all of the ethic communities of Zaparozhye. The first thing I did was use a sickle to hack away at tall stalks. I also used a knife bigger than both my arms and got to drive a tractor. And although I had a great deal of fun, our time there was also meaningful because we were able to break ground on a project that will bring so many positive things to an area that has had to deal with so many struggles.

This trip has been eye-opening, tough, and will without any doubt greatly affect all our futures. Among our late night conversations, our immediate and long term goals are a repeating topic. And although I am aware I am on a service learning trip, it is still surprising to realize how much other people care about your visit to them. I am taking a mere ten days out of my life to spend it here in Ukraine, and this visit alone has already impacted their community a great deal. It’s scary to realize, but the American name carries so much with it. When we are introduced in a room, our nationality is the most important thing. We are followed around like paparazzi. We have already had two television stations interview our group. We were even visited by the Deputy Mayor of Melitopol. Although we have limited time, every moment we spend in each place sends the message that we care.

We were told at the beginning of our day that the local government gives little aid to the orphanage. However, JDC’s involvement with the orphanage has raised the government’s attention. And today, Americans visited those orphans.

Even though I couldn’t give all two hundred kids a friendship bracelet, I am pleased that our small group of twenty Americans could get the local government to sit up in their chairs, if only for a short moment.

Laila Tov.