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From MANNA 83: Coping With Crisis

Written by Resa Galgut and Leonie de Botton Thursday, 22 July 2004

Resa talks about the 'Time for Life' programme she used to co-ordinate for World Jewish Relief, and Leonie describes her work as a volunteer on the programme in Argentina.

Resa Galgut:

Argentina is an amazing and depressing place to be at the moment. I have only been there once, on World Jewish Relief business, and I was moved and motivated by what I experienced.

World Jewish Relief have worked there since 2002, in response to the economic crash of December 2001. In one month, two successive Presidents resigned, pensions and assets were frozen and the peso plummeted to record lows. The repercussions of this are still being felt throughout the country — many of the middle class have become the ‘New Poor’ — those who were once middle to upper class, and lost businesses, homes and security in the crash.

World Jewish Relief has supported programmes that provide hot school meals for those that cannot afford them in Jewish schools and food vouchers for clients of welfare centres. Often Argentinians are embarrassed to receive help, more used to being donors than recipients. The provision of food is a perfect example. Food parcels such as those we provide in Serbia or the Ukraine were too much of an admission of poverty for Argentinian clients to accept. Instead we now give credit on a specially designed credit card. A woman I met in the Sephardi welfare centre, who received free medication from them, refused to take the new warm shoes that were offered. Her expensive designer pair, bought pre-2001, were distinctly shabby and worn but represented too much for her to give up. It is nuances such as these that make each community unique to work with, and vital to understand.

In Argentina, we wanted to add depth to our support — to comprehend the situation, assess the community’s response and find ways in which the British Jewish community can further assist.

From this, the Time for Life programme was born. This scheme sends volunteers from Britain to Argentina, Bulgaria, South Africa and the Ukraine, for long term placements in aid distribution and community development. On their return, we ask volunteers to act as advisers, educators and ambassadors for their host community. Leonie de Botton, who was the first volunteer accepted on to the programme, has just returned to England.

RESA GALGUT was, until recently, the co-ordinator the 'Time for Life' programme for World Jewish Relief and was formerly the mazkirah of RSY-Netzer.

Leonie de Botton:

I worked in and for the Argentinian Jewish community for just over four months. In many other overseas volunteer programmes in Africa or Central America you encounter structural and desperate poverty, but Argentina has not had a recent history of extreme poverty and has had a very strong middle class. It is this middle class that has been hit the hardest by the economic and social crisis of 2001.

Many of these people are now facing a new reality — they are without jobs or sufficient resources to continue living the life to which they had been used. These newly impoverished middle classes have completely different needs to those of the ‘structural poor’ and require an appropriate welfare programme. The economic indicators convey the extent of the crisis: 57.5% of the general population live below the poverty line, 750,000 jobs were lost last year and 162,000 small businesses closed in 2002. The increase in poverty has measured 40% in the last two years.

I have been working with another volunteer, Dan Ozarow, in Buenos Aires for the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). This is supported by World Jewish Relief and from what I have seen, the JDC has responded quickly and efficiently to the sudden poverty that has hit so many of the 200,000 strong Jewish community. The number of beneficiaries of the JDC’s programmes exceeds 36, 000. Not only are basic welfare needs met in nationwide social assistance centres, by giving food, medicines, clothing and housing support, but emotional and practical support is offered to enable people to regain their independence. At the Ariel Job Centre skills training is offered, amongst many other services, to better equip professionals for the workplace.

I have been working on a number of projects: from sorting and classifying donated medications in the community pharmacy, teaching English to unemployed professionals, escorting older people, working in a donated clothes deposit and managing a computer project. This used young volunteers from a technical secondary school to teach their peers from a local shanty town. In return I have been overwhelmed by the warmth and friendliness of people and by the way they wanted to help us feel at home and enjoy our stay. Beneficiaries of our project also want to give something back, as many used to be the givers and not the receivers and want still to contribute as much as they can. This community solidarity is shown in a network of volunteers that is 2,000-strong.

Even so, many are depressed and feel helpless but others respond with pragmatism. One of my students at the Ariel Job Centre where I teach English was the Managing Director of an important agricultural products company. When the company was declared bankrupt at the end of 2001, he had to support a family with no income. In order to make ends meet he has sold off valuables in his home. He has also had to reconcile himself to the fact that job opportunities for the over 50s in Argentina are few and he may have to rely on support for the foreseeable future. So, like many others, he is considering a move to Israel.

On the religious front, there is no United synagogue, but there are plenty of Masorti shuls and the Chabad movement is also strong. Two of the biggest and oldest synagogues have made the gradual transition from Orthodox to Masorti as both communities were not attracting youth to their services. In the Masorti shuls, services are extremely lively and spiritual, with lots of singing and participation, siddurim in Spanish and Hebrew.

At the time of writing, the economy seems to be stabilising, the number of families requiring welfare assistance is levelling out and several of our students at the Ariel Job Centre have got jobs in the past few weeks alone.

At the time of writing, LEONIE DE BOTTON had just returned from her 'Time for Life' placement in Argentina. She has grown up in the Reform Movement. Her background is in youth and intergenerational work.