We're Off to Latvia/Estonia...

Hi Everyone,

My name is Elana Kobernick and I am the student coordinator for this year's JDC short-term trip to the Baltics. I am so excited for this trip, as I am watching everything come together so well. We have an amazing group of 16 students (including myself) that will be traveling to Latvia and Estonia this summer. Our trip will begin in Tallinn, Estonia and end in Riga, Latvia. The JDC has some great volunteer projects lined up for us!

Actually, last summer I had the opportunity to travel to Estonia and Lithuania with the JDC on basically the same trip. It was one of the best experiences I have had. I love to travel and do community service so when I heard about the trip I immediately signed up. You can read the previous blog posts about last years trip if you are interested, but, basically, I thought it was only going to be a once in a lifetime experience. Little did I know that I would have the opportunity to be the student coordinator for the trip this year.

In Estonia we will be visiting the elderly in their homes, providing companionship and helping with small household repairs. Estonia is beautiful. In fact, the entire Baltic region is green and lush and breathtaking (especially the countryside). There are of course the communist looking slabs of concrete that they call buildings but there are also parks and forests that make up for the dreariness. One of the nice things about our time in Estonia will be that we will be working closely with a group of college students from the Baltic States who will work as our translators with the elderly and spending time with us. One of my favorite parts of the trip last year was getting to know the Lithuanians who are our age.

In Latvia we will also have a group a peers with us. Once in Latvia we will switch our attention from the elderly to the youth. There is a Jewish school in Latvia that has an elementary, middle and secondary school. We will be helping with repairs on the elementary school. This is where our fundraising efforts will hopefully be going, both our in kind goods (material donations) and monetary donations (children at risk).

I know this summer is going to be phenomenal and I hope that everyone realizes how important the work we are doing is. It is important to the people we are helping but it is also important for us to understand the Jewish community in a place where most of us have never been before.