A group of American Jewish students from the "Tufts" university in Boston arrived to Almaty last week as a part of a volunteer programme. Together with their peers from Almaty they helped elderly and those living alone to clean and repair their homes. They also helped to create order in the library at the ‘Rimon’ Jewish Community Centre. 11,000 books held there were cleaned and placed on the book shelves. This volunteer programme was organised by the American Distribution Committee ‘Joint’.

The youth from America and Kazakhstan worked, rested and travelled around the city hand in hand. They visited the National Museum, the observatory, climbed the mountains, competed in sporting activities, enjoyed a concert prepared by the youth from the Almaty Community Centre and learned to dance. The intensive programme also included games and excursions, discussions on religious topics, discotheques and shashlyk.

21 year old Anna Osipova from Almaty, who was one of the organisers and participants of the programme, said, "I liked working with the American students. It was inspiring to work together in helping the elderly, and to learn to dance ‘Country’ with all the 40 participants. It did not even take half an hour for everyone to move in unison. I believe that this meeting of two cultures was important for the participants from both Kazakhstan and America. The lessons in culture were equally important for the students and for the organisers of the program. During the program, each of the participants had learned something useful."

23 year Perry Teycher, the volunteer from the Peace Corps, said, "It was very important to spend a week with Kazakhstan’s youth. This has widened my understanding of the country, its people and their mentality. I was impressed by the Jewish Community of Almaty. Their care of elderly and support of each other are outstanding.

The young participants were housed in a sanatorium, which is located in a mountainous region near the famous ‘Medeo’ ice-skating ring. The Boston youth admitted that the clean air, pine and birch tree forests left an unforgettable impression on them.

Prior to the guests’ departure, they had a round table meeting with Alexander Baron, the President of Association of National Jewish Organisations of Kazakhstan ‘Mitsva’. He talked about the activities of the Jewish organisations in Almaty and held a questions-and-answers session with the youth.

The guests from America stayed at Almaty between 24 and 31 July, after which they returned to Boston. We hope that this visit paved the way for a strong friendship between the communities of the two cities, and that the volunteering will become a second nature for the youth.

Anna Naumova