What to expect while in the field
AJWS service programs operate on the premise that service and learning reinforce one another, together yielding a greater impact than either could alone. We believe that to become effective social changemakers, volunteers should contribute to the hard, hands-on work of fighting poverty, and at the same time, reflect on their individual strengths and build relationships with others working to effect change.
Service Component
Each Alternative Breaks group spends one week to ten days in the country of service, living in a local community affiliated with one of AJWS's grassroots partners working to promote human rights and alleviate poverty. Each weekday, volunteers work alongside community members on a labor-intensive development project identified by the community as a local priority. The projects facilitate cultural exchange and help the community address issues such as sustainable livelihoods, health, education and civil participation.
Alternative Breaks is, by design, a physically challenging program. Volunteers engage in physical labor projects for up to six hours per day, outdoors, rain or shine.
Past service projects have included:
- Building a water reservoir in the community of Paraxaj, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. This project now provides clean drinking water to more than 180 children in the school.
- Building a classroom in the local elementary school of Pachay Las Lomas, Guatemala. Children now have a safer and less crowded environment to study.
- Building 30 latrines in Potrero Batres, San Isidro, El Salvador. Thirty families now have a latrine for the first time, reducing pollution and water-borne disease.
- Installing an irrigation system in Nandaime, Granada, Nicaragua. This project facilitates the irrigation of agricultural fields during the dry season, ensuring food security for community members.
- Building a preschool in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. This project provides 78 children with a safer structure and nicer environment to study and play, and motivates parents to send their children to school.
Learning Component
Each day, the group will gather for study of social justice and international development-related topics, often incorporating Jewish texts. These sessions use AJWS's core curriculum, Expanding the Universe of Obligation: Judaism, Justice and Global Responsibility. The learning sessions provide space for structured reflection and critical discussion of what volunteers see and experience in the community, reinforcing the lessons learned in the hands-on service projects. At the end of the week, the group plans and celebrates a pluralistic Shabbat together, creating additional time for growth and reflection.
All AJWS groups are led by two or three qualified and well-trained group leaders who facilitate participant learning while on the program. Learn more about our group leaders.
