On the 1 July 2008 Anatol Hiller visited Almaty with his family. The visit lasted only three days, but a lot was achieved. He visited friends, the cemetery, the community centre, the Hesed and various clients of the Community. He also met the representatives of the Jewish Community of Kazaknstan, visited the mountains and returned to his place of birth and childhood. This mission was undertaken by the member of the Counsel of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan and the President of Association of Jewish National Organisations of Kazakhstan "Mitsva" Alexander Baron. Max Wiesel, the representative for the Central Asian and Caucasian region of the American Distribution Committee "Joint", also took part in the mission.

Anatol Hiller was born in 1947 in Almaty. While still a child, in 1959, he left his home city under his father’s instructions to reunite with his family scattered by the war. He had a difficult time when he left to America to live with his brother. Nevertheless, he adopted to the new word with distinction. He is now a successful businessman and sponsors a number of community programmes initiated by Heseds in Kazakhstan. This was his first visit to his place of birth since he left it half a century ago to America.

In Almaty the mission was accompanied by Galina Chelohsaeva, the coordinator of social and community activities in Kazakhstan from the "Joint" Committee. Anatol Hiller with his spouse, Pnina, their son Jeffrey and friends Garry and Sharon Galpern visited the tombs of their ancestors, the place of burial of Rabbi Shneerson, and talked to the superintendants of these sacred places. The visitors were then taken to, and given a private tour around the "Polina" Hesed by its director Sima Branovich. She told the Hillers about the services and programmes design to assist and help the Jewish people in Kazakhstan. The guests saw the Day Centre and the libraries, observed the "Volunteers" programme, and met doctors. Next, the guests visited the "Rimon" Community Centre. Inessa Chugaynova, the director of this community centre, demonstrated to them her domain, which included an IT class, dance and singing studios. The children from "Yonati" and "Prahim" ensembles presented the transient audience with a mini-concert. They performed Yiddish songs and dances which they presented on the 4th international "Freilehe Kinder" festival. At the end of performance, the children gave Anatol a national Kazakh dressing gown as a sign of respect towards their guests.

During their visit, the Hiller family also met some of the clients benefited by the "Home Visit" and "Medical Help" programmes, went on an excursion to the mountains and tasted Kazakh cuisine in a national restaurant.

The visit was concluded by a presentation to the guests of photo albums which recorded their three days in the Southern capital.

Anna Naumova