As a participant in AJWS Volunteer Summer, you will travel to New York in mid-late June for a two-day orientation with all of the VS participants before you travel abroad with your group.

Orientation

An introduction to AJWS and the work of our partners overseas, cross-cultural training and country specific sessions, Jewish text study relating to international development and time to get to know your AJWS Volunteer Summer group and group leaders.

Abroad

Following the orientation, seven weeks are spent in-country. The AJWS Volunteer Summer group lives and works within a community while participating in a development project identified by the community as a local priority. The group also travels to sites of historical and cultural significance during a weekend trip and day trips.

AJWS Volunteer Summer operates on the premise that service and learning reinforce one another, together yielding a greater impact than either could alone. Knowledge is tested in hands-on projects, and participants have space for structured reflection and critical discussion of what they see and experience in their communities. Several times each week the AJWS Volunteer Summer group gathers for study on social justice and international development-related topics weaving together Jewish texts. Groups celebrate Shabbat together weekly.

Participants are hosted by AJWS project partners, independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working at the grassroots level to assist local communities in achieving their development goals. Participants learn directly from NGO staff as well as other local and international experts on grassroots sustainable development.

Each weekday, participants work alongside members of the local community engaging in a cultural exchange as they lay down pipes for a potable water system, or bricks for a new school. Often the AJWS volunteers are the first Jews that the host community ever encounters.

NGO Project Partners for 2009

El Salvador - Comite Contra el SIDA (CoCoSi)

CoCoSi was established in 1999 to focus on HIV/AIDS education and awareness. The organization runs workshops in schools with teachers, students and parents, with health professionals, in military bases, and in prisons. CoCoSi also supports peer-led programs with young people.

Ghana - Institute for Cultural Affairs (ICA)

ICA-Ghana is a member of the ICA network, which has local partners in over 30 countries throughout the world. Founded in 1997, ICA-Ghana conducts training in human-centered development practices to enable communities to facilitate their own development, and works with them to promote environmentally and socially sustainable economic growth.

India - Rural Institute for Development Education (RIDE)

RIDE's mission is to end child labor, promote economic and social justice for women, provide essential medical and educational services and cultivate economic opportunity in Kanchipuram. The organization is recognized as the leading advocate for the eradication of child labor from Kanchipuram's silk weaving industry.

Uganda - Uganda Orphans Rural Development Program (UORDP)

UORDP is an indigenous rural organization based in Tororo, a district ranked as having the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in eastern Uganda. The organization's goal is to promote and support the health, nutrition, income and educational status of orphaned children, their caregivers, widows and widowers and other marginalized groups, especially women affected by and infected with HIV/AIDS.