Nepal stop-off for Israel travellers
IN a break from the past, AUJS looks set to introduce a special volunteering component for end-of-year Israel trips. "Volunteer Nepal" is the proposed four-week social justice program, which will see Jewish volunteers from across Australia spend a month in Nepal.
TALIA JACOBS
“Volunteer Nepal” is the proposed four-week social justice program, which will see Jewish volunteers from across Australia spend a month in Nepal. Organised together with Jewish Aid Australia, it will see the volunteers engage with local Nepalese communities.
“There are no other programs offered to Australian Jews to volunteer in the developing world,” said Jewish Aid Australia chief executive officer Gary Samowitz.¬†
“The participants are going to do a social justice activity with a group of Jewish students, and this type of work is a fundamentally Jewish act,” he said.
The program will commence with an orientation and education week in Nepal. Participants will then be involved in hands-on activities, including helping at day-care centres, training teachers at schools and creating literacy classes for Nepalese women.
Volunteer Nepal is running in association with Israeli organisation Tevel Betzedek’s volunteer program, which offers Israeli students and travellers a similar volunteering opportunity in the same region.
Samowitz said that although the program was open to any Jewish person aged 20-25, AUJS and Jewish Aid Australia would be highly selective when accepting participants.
“This program is very much out of people’s comfort zone, so we need to make sure that physically and emotionally people are prepared for the experience,” Samowitz said.
“For a lot of these Jewish students, it will be the first time that they will be in the developing world, and it will open their eyes to a lot of poverty and injustice.
“While it may be traumatic for them to see these types of things, [we hope] it will plant the seed of passion and interest, and hopefully will create a lifetime commitment towards social justice causes,” he said.
AUJS Israel programs director Leora Hyman said organisers of the program are looking for people who want to make a difference in the lives of others.
“We are looking for university students who are aware, [who] maybe have an interest in international social justice, or in volunteering, and are interested in helping underprivileged communities,” said Hyman.
In its final stages of organisation, Volunteer Nepal is likely to be offered in conjunction with the pre-existing AUJS international programs, such as Achshav, Academy, Poland Heritage Tour and AVIV.
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