Small Moments, Big Impact: Yeshiva University’s Summer Course in El Salvador and Guatemala
On May 26, 24 students set off with Rabbi Daniel Coleman, professor Jill Katz and professor Ronnie Perelis on a 10-day academic travel course across El Salvador and Guatemala. The course, Social Determinants of Health in a Global Context, was a three-credit general education requirement built on a simple idea: one cannot truly understand global health disparities without witnessing them firsthand.
The trip was advertised by Yeshiva University as “Ten transformative days of chesed, adventure and learning in Guatemala.” The flyer described hiking a volcano, touring historic landmarks, experiencing the hospitality of the local Jewish community and making a real impact through hands-on volunteering.
The journey began in El Salvador, where the group bonded and explored. In just one day, the group visited the local Jewish community, touring its shul and mikvah, and eating, singing and dancing together. Singing and praying together showed the group that Jews are all one people, all saying the same words regardless of where they are from or what language they speak. The group also volunteered at a local school, where making slime and ice cream (and having a shaving cream fight) with the kids was enough to bridge the language barrier. They also made their way through the markets, trying delicious fruits and foods native to the region. The night ended on a boat, singing “Hatikvah” arm in arm with people who had been strangers just hours before.
After less than a day in El Salvador, the group traveled together to continue the learning and volunteering in Guatemala. This next leg of the trip was nonstop, with early wake-ups and a packed schedule each day. Students attended daily Spanish lessons in the mornings at La Unión Spanish School in Antigua, while also visiting schools, families, local NGOs and community organizations, and volunteering in shelters. Some other memorable moments included an incredible Shabbat at the Chabad, an overnight hike up Volcán Acatenango and a stop at a coffee farm. Eventually, the group moved to Guatemala City, where they heard from Israeli Consul Yonatan Bijman and was given tours of Universidad Francisco Marroquín, known as UFM, the city and its shuls, a shelter for young women, a senior shelter, a local school, the Israeli embassy and more.
The Spanish classes at La Unión were a highlight for the group. Students were split into pairs, each with a teacher who had their own teaching style: some groups took trips to the market a few minutes away, learning the names of different fruits and how to describe them by seeing them firsthand, while others focused on conversation. At the end of the week, each student gave a presentation in Spanish about themselves or about the fruits they had learned about, walking out of La Unión with a basic grasp of Spanish.
At UFM, the group toured the campus and sat in on classes as if they were enrolled there — one on 3D printing, another a discussion-based class on the “transitional gains trap” — asking questions and working through the material alongside the actual students.
The visit with Bijman was also an unexpected highlight. Bijman spoke openly about some of the issues and struggles Guatemala faces, shared his life trajectory, and discussed the work he does as deputy ambassador and consul in Guatemala, all while conveying dedication to his work and passion for the people and the state of Israel. The next day, the group toured the Israeli Embassy and heard from Bijman again, alongside his colleagues. For students who face pushback for supporting Israel, the visit was an encouraging reminder that Israel has a network of supporters everywhere.
While in Guatemala, the group also visited Casa Jackson, a facility that cares for severely malnourished children. Some of these children were brought by parents who couldn’t take care of them; others were transferred from local hospitals; some were left on the doorstep of the institution.
Another of the volunteer opportunities was visiting homes through the organization GRACES, a local organization in Guatemala that connects volunteers with families living in poverty. The group visited “houses” that could barely be called that by traditional standards, with 15 to 20 people — parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and children living in a single small space — with three kids to a bed and parents on a shared twin mattress. Many homes had no hot water, thin walls and in some cases, only a tarp for a roof. What the course called “the social determinants of health,” namely poverty, overcrowded housing and lack of basic resources, were not abstract concepts anymore for the participants of the trip.
“Visiting their homes was eye-opening,” said Bailee Schwartz (SCW ‘27), reflecting on the trip. “What stood out even more than the conditions was the warmth inside each home. The love, gratitude and connection within each family was incredibly powerful.”
Echoing the same sentiment, Maytal Imani (SCW ‘29) reflected that one of the families showed her that “money was not the answer to happiness; happiness was present through the love and joy from the fullness of their home.”
These same lessons showed up for me in two moments I have not stopped thinking about since. At one of our volunteer opportunities at Casa Jackson, I was handed a little girl named Gabriella. She was small and fragile. When I held her, I could feel her tiny bones. I sat with her on the play mat, fed her and pushed her in one of the small red baby swings. She didn’t smile much, so I started making funny faces at her, and her face lit up. I held her, played with her and rocked her to sleep. When I tried to set her down at the end of the day in her crib, she started to cry, slowly reaching her arms out toward me. I picked her back up and held her a little longer. Moments like this aren’t something you can learn in a classroom or read about in a textbook. Being there, holding Gabriella, feeling how fragile she was, that’s what makes you stop and understand what it actually means when the most basic things in life aren’t guaranteed.
The second moment came at one of the home visits, when I handed a young boy a small toy. It was something simple and inexpensive, the kind of thing I wouldn’t think twice about. What I saw on his face surprised me: that look of anticipation as I struggled to open the packaging for him, the excitement as I ripped off the label and then that smile as he jumped up and down, pure joy over something so small. It’s easy to go through life not realizing how much we take for granted: the houses we live in, the food on our plates, the clothes we wear. That boy’s smile put all of it into perspective.
This trip gave me more than I anticipated. Going in, the excitement was about the adventure, the culture and the chesed. But the small moments were the ones that stayed with me the most: a little girl reaching her arms out, a young boy beaming with excitement over something so small, families with almost nothing making you feel more welcome than you ever expected. Those moments don’t come from a syllabus. They come from showing up, being present and being willing to open your eyes to the world around you.
Photo Caption: Group standing together outside PROChapina - a nonprofit organization that empowers women through work experience and building practical skills, helping women build sustainable businesses and improve their quality of life.
Photo Credit: Coby Pollack
