For most American teens, summer vacation often devolves into a blur of theme parks, crowded movie theaters and In-N-Out burgers.
But for 27 teens from Camp Tawonga, this summer vacation was happily spent planting trees and digging trenches in a mosquito-infested corner of El Salvador.
It was all part of a recently inaugurated program, which takes Tawonga campers to the Central American country on a mission of peace and friendship.
Along the way, the youths learned something about the true meaning of tzedakah.
Nina Kaufman, assistant director of teen service learning at Camp Tawonga, was one of four adults accompanying the kids on the trip last month.
“Most of our kids had never left the country,” she notes. “The Torah says we are to take care of one another, and so this trip was about tikkun olam and teaching kids about the world economy.”
Coordinated by Tawonga and American Jewish World Service (a New York-based social justice organization), the trip was modeled after similar AJWS trips for young adults to places like Ghana, Honduras and Israel.
The project is also part of a series of teen programs supported by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, providing opportunities for Bay Area teens to “live out the Jewish value of community service.”
AJWS has been taking groups to El Salvador for several years, but the Camp Tawonga trip (plus an earlier one in April) was the first for teens. All 27 kids were pre-interviewed before being invited to make the two-week July trip.
Once the Tawongans landed in the capital of San Salvador, they headed straight for Ciudad Romero near the southern coast.
In the tiny hamlet, cows and chickens block traffic on the road, and the smell of burning garbage hangs in the air.
“It was very rural,” recalls Kaufman. “No electricity or running water, dirt floors, tin walls, minimal resources.”
The Tawongans joined forces with La Coordinadora, a network of 86 Salvadoran villages that collaborate on farming efforts, conflict resolution and other worthy goals. “The government stays out of it,” Kaufman points out. “It’s all about helping the campesinos.”
For the kids, it was about more: discovering a world beyond California.
“We went into it not knowing what we’d be doing,” recalls Max Roth, 16, of Palo Alto. “They told us to be flexible, but we knew we would be doing hard work.”
That turned out to be true. In 100-plus-degree heat and high humidity, the kids made improvements in local infrastructure, including connecting two wells with a quarter-mile trench.
“We worked with them,” says Roth. “Sixty-year-old ladies were digging next to us. They were very thankful.”
Adds Margaux Permutt, 16, of Santa Rosa, “The work was hard, but it was such a bonding experience. We went to one house and helped a man turn the soil to plant cucumbers. He said, ‘Come back in 40 days to eat cucumbers with me.'”
That kind of hospitality made an impression. The Tawongans stayed with host families that treated them right. “My first mamasita was very nice and cooked really good food,” recalls Permutt.
Adds Roth, “The most rewarding thing was the interactions with the people. The language barrier didn’t matter.”
Midway through the trip, the kids went back to the capitol to spend Shabbat at the only synagogue in all of El Salvador.
“Our kids and their kids played, danced and celebrated together,” recalls Kaufman. “Seventy families belong to the synagogue, with about 30 active ones. They were all extremely welcoming, and let us sleep in the synagogue that night.”
“It was amazing,” says Permutt. “At the blessing of the children, a lady put her arms around me and my friends and said, ‘You can be our children.'”
Adds Roth: “It was interesting praying in another country. So many miles from home, people knew the same prayers we knew.”
Upon returning to America, the kids and their chaperones headed straight for Camp Tawonga in the mountains near Yosemite, both for much-needed decompression time and to share tales of their adventure with fellow Tawongans.
All in all, the participants agree it was one of those peak experiences a kid carries for a lifetime. Adults, too.
Says Kaufman: “The kids learned they have more in common with people around the world than they knew, even with people in poverty. And they learned the power of their own hands. Now they know they can go out into the world and share a sense of community, love and support, not just at Tawonga, but anywhere.”