Getting our Hands Dirty by Jacob

Today was our first day of really getting down to work on our project of helping out the Donetsk Hesed Center. This particular center serves the thousands of Jews in the Donetsk area (a city of about 1 million people), but is quite a small building. So, our job is to turn the yard into extra space the center can use for people of all ages. We started out the morning by clearing out all of the extra brush and garbage, then got to building. So far, we've done a playground area and sandbox for the little ones, and some benches in the shade for the old folks. On the agenda we have a basketball court and a barbecue area, so the center can host larger gatherings. During the lunch break we had a fun sing-along session with some of the older crowd. They really get all of their social interaction through Hesed, so they verу thrilled to see us. After lunch we had a nice chat about our first impressions of the trip. Here are the basic conclusions: 1. Our Ukrainian peers from Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk are awesome people, and we've been having a great time hanging out with them, despite the occasional difficulties with the language barrier. 2. We're having a great time interacting with the old and the young at the Hesed centers in Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk, all very lively and all so excited to see us. 3. We all had home visits yesterday with some of Hesed's clients who are much worse off, and it was quite a powerful experience. As an example my group visited a family of five, two grandparents around 80 and their three grandchildren who are all mentally handicapped. The grandfather is totally senile, and two of the three kids are very low-functioning. The grandmother is full of energy, but she has only two years of schooling, is illiterate, and can barely walk. So she single-handedly runs this household with an income of 120 US dollars per month from her WWII pension. Without outside help, families like this would really have no chance.

Trip has been amazing so far in every aspect. Signing off now for dinner and bowling with the Ukrainians, should be fun.