leah's bat mitzvah

This past weekend I attended the Bat Mitzvah of Leah Sosland. Leah has been a good friend to Change the Truth since the age of ten.

In the Jewish tradition, now that she is 13, Leah has the responsibility to observe the commandments from the Torah. (Not just the 10 Commandments, but also all 613 that are contained in the Torah.)



Also, Leah must now take responsibility for her own deeds and misdeeds.

Modern Judaism emphasizes the obligation to actively work for tikkun olam, the improvement of the world for all humanity. Leah chose Change the Truth as her specific Bat Mitzvah project. She wants to make the world a better place by helping children who have very little. I’m so proud of her for doing so. I’m also very grateful.

Leah is the fifth young person to make the decision to assist the children at St. Mary Kevin Orphanage with funds donated in honor of their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. In the past JJ, Sarah, Sara and Josh have also been moved to help. These teenagers have been responsible for some marked changes in the lives of the kids in Uganda.

It doesn’t get much better than kids helping kids, does it?

At the reception following Leah’s Bat Mitzvah service, those in attendance were introduced to the children Leah is helping. Pictures of the orphans had been carefully placed at the center of each table, along with the jewelry, tie-dyed fabric and banana fiber dolls they have made.



It was heart warming to look around and see the faces of my young Ugandan friends spread all across the room. I have no doubt their beautiful smiles landed in the hearts of some new CTT friends.

Thank you, Leah, for making that possible.

sara

A Bat and Bar Mitzvah marks an eternal milestone in a young Jewish person’s life—one that happens even without (and perhaps despite…) all the hoopla and fanfare of public celebrations on this special occasion. On this day, every Jewish girl or boy becomes a full-fledged Jewish person. Prior to the Bat/Bar Mitzvah date, the soul of that Jewish young person had not yet reached maturation. Until the Bat/Bar Mitzvah, this child is considered spiritually under qualified and thus not held responsible for her or his actions. With the acquisition of new spiritual credentials comes a new career as a Jewish adult - one of climbing up the ladder of Jewish learning and performing good deeds.

These days, most all of the girls and boys take on Mitzvah projects in conjunction with the ceremony (where they are called to read from the Torah for the first time.) A mitzvah is, of course, a good deed. The kids get to choose for themselves who it is they want to help.

Change the Truth has been the lucky recipient of JJ’s and Sarah’s Mitzvah projects over the past year. Now, we have Sara, who has asked her friends and family to donate money in honor of her Bat Mitzvah to help the children at St. Mary Kevin Orphanage. I asked Sara to introduce herself and explain the process:


“Hi, my name is Sara Lessem and I am in 7th grade at Elm Place Middle School in Highland Park, Illinois. I am very busy with schoolwork, horseback riding and dance. In April of 2009 I will become a Bat Mitzvah and will read from the Torah. For my Bat Mitzvah I wanted to choose a Mitzvah Project that I knew about and was interested in. Then I e-mailed Gloria and told her about me and how I wanted to choose her organization for my project. Of course, Gloria said yes. I was excited and asked her many questions about Change the Truth. After I had read more and more about CTT I decided that it was definitely right for me. I set a goal for my project, which was $1,000 and was determined to reach it. A few months ago, I started to e-mail different people and tell them about CTT to try and get them interested in it. I ended up raising 1,200 dollars and still counting! I was so happy when I had reached my goal. I was proud of myself, my community, and my family. This shows that if you have something set in your mind, it is possible. I think of the children at Saint Mary Kevin Orphanage in Uganda and hope this makes a change in their lives.”

It will definitely make a change in their lives. Sara has raised enough money to send four orphaned children to secondary school for a year. Going to school in Uganda means obtaining the tools necessary for digging out of the rut of poverty. Sara should indeed feel proud: she’s just handed four kids her age a shovel.

kids helping kids

To be inspired is to witness how selfless and generous young people can be.

Sarah (Team 2) from New York has shown us just how dedicated and caring a young woman who is about to become a Bat Mitzvah can truly be. Since our trip, I have heard from two other Saras; one from Chicago who has decided that Change the Truth will also be her Bat Mitzvah project and a college student from Kansas City who is applying for a grant to spend a month working at St. Mary Kevin Orphanage this coming summer.

Just when I thought it was the month of Sara(h), I received this email from Jenna, a high school student in Kansas City.


"Gloria: When you came to class and told us your story I truly was inspired. For my final project I donated my large beanie baby collection to Change the Truth. As I was collecting all my beanie babies my mom was constantly asking me if I was sure I wanted to give them all away. At first I have to admit I was a little sad. I felt as though I was giving away a part of my childhood. But I then realized that these beanie babies only hold memories from when I was a young girl and those memories are forever with me. Why should I be selfish and let these beanie babies collect dust in my closet when a child, who has nothing, could also make wonderful memories with the cuddly creatures? Donating the beanie babies to Change the Truth gave me an understanding as to what charity is actually about. I realized that I received so much more than what I gave away to the children. I felt as though I was truly going to make a difference in a child's life. It was a feeling of great fulfillment and gratification for the soul."

We can all learn a lot from the younger generation.

quite a day

Yesterday began with frustrations, delays, heat, a lot of walking, crowds, sweaty back rooms, damaged goods and endless haggling as we purchased the musical instruments for the SMK marching band. Let’s just say, doing business in Kampala is very different from doing business in Kansas City!

After a long, trying few hours, we emerged victorious. Sarah, her mom Linda, Max and I helped load up the van with a bass drum, some side drums and with a few trombones, bugles and trumpets.

We arrived back at the orphanage late in the afternoon to a royal welcome. The children knew what we had been doing, and their excitement was sky high. We were mobbed as we got out of the van. The instruments were passed through the crowd and eventually neatly arranged on the stoop that is the podium for school assemblies. Rosemary stood there and announced to the gleeful children that the SMK marching band could now become a reality. Clapping and cheers followed.

Next Rosemary told the children that it was Sarah who was responsible for this great gift. Sarah, who is the same age as many of these kids, has taken on SMK as one of her Bat Mitzvah projects. Not only is she here helping, she is raising money to pay for these musical treasures. She has learned early on how important it is to assist those in need, and she really “gets” what this is all about. (The rest of Team 2 often forgets that she in only 12!)


So then Sarah was mobbed. She is tall and towers over kids who are even older than she is. As they swarmed around her, there were hugs and high fives and hooping and hollering and a smile on Sarah’s face that I doubt any of us will ever forget.

The drums, cymbals and a trumpet were unwrapped and handed out to a few select kids (including my sonny boy, Max.) Next thing we knew, there was music. And the rest of the kids started marching. And then we were all marching, and the giddiness of the children spread to the members of our team. A riotous celebration ensued as we marched around the grounds of the orphanage, stepping in time to the pounding rhythms. (Dr. Tom later reported that his last patients of the day claimed they were absolutely fine and bounced right out of their examining chair so that they could join in the fun that was happening on the other end of the campus!)




We were all simply overjoyed.

And then the reality of it all came slamming into me. One of the older girls, Samalie, came to me (just after I had done a showy twirl accompanied by a high stepping maneuver) to say that there was some sad news. She led me to her dorm, where I found Pauline lying on her bed crying. I learned that Pauline’s uncle had died. Both of her parents are already gone; her uncle was her guardian. Now she is alone.

The girls in her dorm (her family, really) were hovering. One was stationed at the door; one was making sure she was comfortable in her bed. One had come to get me. Others were coming and going just to check in. Some were crying. They know this pain all too well. They were sad for Pauline; they are also sad for themselves.

I sat for a long time with her. The merriment outside our door continued, and I was able to clearly see the profound juxtaposition of joy and sadness.

Melissa had said the other day, “At the end of the day, these children are still orphans.”

She was so right. As much as we do here to provide happiness, an escape from their reality and an opportunity to move beyond their desperate situations, these children have a hole in their hearts that we can’t really fill.

Another older girl, Rosette, had told Lynne recently (when Lynne complimented her on her active, outgoing, engaged and joyful personality) that she just had to keep moving and doing and living, because if she stops, she might get stuck too deeply in her pain and not be able to move.

Pauline left just before dinner to go to her uncle’s burial. She had spent a long time in the arms of Melissa earlier in the day and with me later in the day and with her girlfriends (who are truly her sisters) and hopefully she will be able to begin to figure out a way to just keep moving when she returns to SMK on Wednesday.

The celebration of music continued for a long time. I have never seen such happy children!

change the truth trip: meet linda and sarah

My daughter Sarah and I are looking forward to our trip in December with Change the Truth in honor of her Bat Mitzvah. After watching the video of our neighbor Carol Joseph's trip to Uganda, Sarah was interested in helping the kids at the orphanage.

One way she will help will be experiential - helping with arts and crafts, painting that needs to be done, perhaps assisting in the garden - maybe she can even teach a lesson. I am excited about joining her on the trip. Since I previously took a volunteer travel trip with Save the Children building homes in Honduras with my oldest daughter, Kayla, when she reached the age of a Bat Mitzvah, I have officially made it a custom to have a "mother daughter" bonding trip associated with this coming of age celebration. I hope that I will be privileged to have a similar experience with my son Adin when his time comes.

While I expect the trip to be inspiring and a great learning opportunity for the two of us, Sarah will also have a first hand eye witness view of one of the organizations that she has chosen to benefit with donating a portion of the gifts from her Bat Mitzvah. She has decided to help the orphanage purchase instruments for a marching band. Having the instruments will allow the orphanage to rent the instruments to neighboring schools providing a steady source of revenue. Two years ago, her sister dedicated her Bat Mitzvah funds to a cancer center for kids in Israel.

What makes Sarah's contribution to Change the Truth - both financial and perhaps more importantly, volunteering at the orphanage - particularly meaningful is that it reflects the values that are most important to the Jewish faith - the values of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Her school curriculum at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School stresses these lessons as much as it does science and math.

One of the great Jewish thinkers, Maimonides, describes various levels of giving charity, and at the top of the ladder is the gift of "self reliance.” We are hoping that by purchasing the musical instruments for the orphanage that it will be able to realize an annual source of revenue and assist in its efforts to realize a measure of self-reliance.

Perhaps, I should also add that after reading Gloria’s blogs on breast cancer that at the time I took my trip with Kayla I was closing in on my first anniversary of being diagnosed. After I return from the trip with Sarah, I will be closing in on a third anniversary. The good news for all the curve balls you get thrown is that you do not put off for one day sharing these types of lessons and experiences with your kids.
My husband Ed and I are pretty proud of her, and if we had to use one tag phrase or song for her it would be "Conviction of the Heart" - she has it in spades!

children helping children

I am constantly amazed and humbled by the good work being done by kids. They really want to help, and they just do it rather than merely talk about it.

Just before Christmas, a ninth grader named Ali called to say that she wanted to make a donation to Change the Truth in honor of her mom and give a certificate stating such as her gift.

More recently, I received a letter with cash stuffed in the envelope. The accompanying letter from a young girl named Ashton said:

“For Christmas I was given $25 to donate to any organization. I chose to donate mine to Change the Truth. I was hoping this could be used to help pay the school fees for my pen pal, Clare.”

Last night, the following email from a twelve year old in Chicago danced its way across my laptop:

“My Bat Mitzvah is in April 2009 and for my mitzvah project I would like to try to raise money for Change the Truth Foundation because I have been trying to find an organization that I could do for my mitzvah that would also help make people's life better in any way and now I found one. I will be thinking of ways to raise money. In addition for this foundation being my mitzvah project I would like to be a pen pal to one of these children to see what life is like and hopefully sometime before my Bat Mitzvah I would have the privilige to go to Uganda.
Thanks much,
Sara”

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to say that there is hope for the future!

bar mitzvah boy pitches in

There has been a big increase in the readership of this blog lately. Many of you are new to it, and I’d like to welcome you! Some of you are new enough that you may not be aware of the foundation I started soon after I returned home from Uganda last fall. It’s called Change the Truth. Please feel free to go back through the Uganda archives to read more about it. Occasionally, I will post updates on the progress of our fund raising efforts.

Like this one:

JJ read an article in the KC Star about Change the Truth a couple of months before his Bar Mitzvah. He read about children his own age who had lost their parents to HIV/AIDS and who could not afford to attend school. He decided to do something to help.

After contacting me, speaking with me about the needs of the kids in Uganda and actually meeting Michael, the manager of the orphanage when he visited Kansas City in May, JJ set a goal for himself. He wanted to raise enough money through his “mitzvah” projects to be able to send five kids to secondary school for a year. He left my house one afternoon armed with the beaded jewelry the kids at the orphanage had made and set out to accomplish his goal.

Over the course of the next few weeks, JJ raised $1,425 from jewelry sales, solicitations, 10% of his cash from Bar Mitzvah gelt, and working in a warehouse. At $285.00 per year for each high school student in Uganda, he hit his target.


JJ will be given the names of the five kids he’s assisting and will be able to follow their progress through the school year. The difference he will make in their lives will be huge.

PS – A “mitzvah” is a good deed!