Community Service in Uganda

Lisa Kassow, director of Trinity College Hillel, and three students journeyed halfway around the world to Uganda during the winter break to meet with members of that country’s tiny Jewish community and help spruce up a school in dire need of a facelift. The group—which included Shawna Berk ’13, Rebecca Levy ’12, and Jillian Zieff ’14—was joined by Kassow’s daughter, Miri, as well as three students from Wellesley College and one from Babson College. Accompanying them were Patti Sheinman, Hillel director at Wellesley, and Denning Aaris, Babson’s assistant director of Multi-Faith Programs.

“It was an absolutely incredible experience,” said Kassow, adding that many of her pre-conceived notions about the country and the Jewish community were at odds with what the group found. “We went there thinking we would tutor children in basic math. But when we got there, we were told there were other more pressing needs.”

At the top of the needs list was the dilapidated condition of several rooms in the Hadassah Primary School near the town of Mbale. The headmaster of the boarding school asked the group if they could paint the dormitory and classrooms, which they did, as well as clean the library and dust hundreds of books.

The school, whose students are Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, is supported by fees, donations, and proceeds from the interfaith coffee collective nearby, founded by JJ Keki, who is not only a farmer but also an ordained cantor. The Delicious Peace Coffee Collective of East Uganda provides a livelihood for many of the community’s residents.

Keki was in New York City on September 11, 2001. “In the aftermath of the disaster, he understood what people were saying and feeling about Muslims— the enemy, the other. In his life, on his land, Muslim, Christian, and Abayudaya live next to each other in peace,” said Kassow. “JJ decided to establish an interfaith cooperative with his neighbors and thus, the Coffee Peace Collective—Mirembe Kawomera—was born. As JJ said, ‘At noon, everyone is hungry. It doesn’t matter what you are, Jewish, Christian or Muslim.’”
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