July 16, 2024
Looking back at our amazing week at Budapest!
I have been reflecting on the great time I had in Budapest with my new friends. For the last three years, I have been coming to Budapest to lead an English language summer camp for Ukrainian students. This has been a truly transformative experience for me, not only because it taught me that I can create something and contribute to the development and learning of others. It also taught me the power of working with people from different backgrounds, cultures, and countries, despite the fact that our countries and cultures have acrimonious relationships. All of our students came from Ukraine; most of our volunteer teachers have strong ties to Russia but live in the US. We all met in Hungary, which had become a new home for most of our students, and JCC Budapest hosted us even though only a few in our group were Jewish. While our governments are fighting, we worked together, learned from each other, had fun together, came to appreciate each other, and became friends. I experienced firsthand the power of collaborating with people from different countries.

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