This weekend we met representitives of the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village who were in town from Rwanda in order to study some new schools here.  The ASYV is a school in Rwanda which hopes to nurture and teach young orphans of that country’s terrible genocide so they may become whole/healed adults capable of becoming leaders. More than one million children were orphaned in Rwanda, so this is a huge task.

ASYV is based on the model of the Israeli Youth Aliyah Village of Yemin Orde which was established in 1953 to accommodate Holocaust orphans and immigrant children and several groups and agencies are involved in this excellent project.

The visitors met with the synagogue members at Congregation Ansche Chesed, an Upper West Side Synagogue, and discussed the school and their hopes for the future for both the children and for their country.  They are survivors of the Rwandan genocide. A synagogue member was able to link them to an organization which provides computers to third world schools for only $100 each. This was good news. All help is appreciated.

As we had lunch, elderly members of the congregation, who are Holocaust survivors, walked up and  simply patted the visitors gently…all understood without the need for any additional words.