Michigan State University students show off the mural they designed and painted for the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Hillel of Argentina
Since Hillel Argentina opened in 2001, more than 250 North American students have traveled to Buenos Aires to help rebuild Jewish schools, synagogues and Community Centers that were seriously affected by Argentina's economic collapse. This past year, students from Santa Cruz, Cornell and Michigan University Hillels each spent a week in Buenos Aires. The Santa Cruz group renovated the garden of an elementary school and joined Argentinian students to visit a soup kitchen. Michigan and Cornell students built a library and painted the main hallway of the Lomas de Zamora Community Center.

A student from Stanford University uses games to teach social skills, citizenship, and democracy to students in Rio de Janeiro.

Hillel Rio de Janeiro
Seventy students from Hillels at the Universities of Michigan and Maryland, and Stanford and Northwestern Universities spent their breaks with Hillel Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. They engaged in ongoing projects to assist the community at large. One project was the Meninos de Luz School. Students from Stanford University built a solarium and upgraded the recreation space for the children to play. There was not a space where the children could be outside and play. The school is basically the only functioning one in this community, and the only real opportunity for these kids to gain an elementary education. The solarium will serve for kids as young as 5 months old, who desperately need an outside retreat.

Students work with Un Techo para mi País -- Uruguay (A Roof for my Country -- Uruguay)

Hillel Uruguay
In 2006, 2007, and 2008 Hillel Uruguay facilitated Alternative Breaks focused on the fundamental human right to housing. Students worked with an NGO called Un Techo para mi País -- Uruguay (A Roof for my Country -- Uruguay), whose aim is to eradicate extreme poverty. This past year, 90 students from Yale, Vanderbilt, and Duke Universities, as well as the Universities of Delaware, Massachusetts, and Illinois at Urbana-Champaignspent their breaks with the Jewish community in Uruguay. With the addition of these students, participants have constructed 47 new homes for Uruguay’s most impoverished residents, in what have been very moving and enriching experiences for everyone involved.


For more highlights from this year's trips, read Students Head South to Make a Difference.

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