Living as a North American Jew who has attended private school all my life has been all I could wish for in an upbringing. I hear about the genocide in Darfur, poverty in South America and terror in the Middle East, and I thank God that I do not have to experience that firsthand, that I am privileged to live freely and safely at all times. This past March, however, taught me that while being in my situation is a fantastic thing, turning my back on the struggles of our surrounding world would be a shame.

A high-school Junior in Palo Alto, Calif. explains why doing manual labor in a third-world country was one of the best experiences of his entire life

This past March, I had the incredible opportunity to travel with American Jewish World Service (AJWS) to a poor village in El Salvador. The group I went with consisted of eight of my fellow peers, my school's headmaster and founder, Rabbi Danny Lehmann, as well as another faculty member. The villagers live in small homes for the most part consisting of three rooms: a kitchen, often outside of the house, an eating/sleeping area and a bedroom. Life in Ciudad Romero is far from easy, but the people have an extraordinary way of finding happiness in everyday life.