MJDS Students Go Homeless to Help Others

The 13 seventh-grade students at Milwaukee Jewish Day School know they have been dealt a fortunate lot in life.

Although they are only in seventh grade, they chose to learn more about children in developing Latin American countries who don't have access to medical treatment, education or clean water. And earlier this week, they took their coursework out of the comfortable classroom environment.

On Sunday night, the students slept in cardboard boxes covered by a tarp in their principal's back yard. Although their experience was much different than an impoverished child in Mexico, they did experience the hardships of sleeping on the ground, scattered showers soaking their belongings and the general instability of homeless life.

"It was hard to keep the boxes strong and structural so they wouldn't fall down," said seventh-grader David Zetley of Fox Point. "Once one fell down it woud knock the others over." 

Some students only caught a couple hours of sleep and tried to take naps the next day at school. 

"We got to know each other better and had fun, but it probably wouldn't have been fun if we had to live like that every day," said seventh grader Rachel Blumenthal of Bayside. "If it was one kid with inadequate resources or a lack of education, it would have been much harder. We worked together as a team." 

The next morning, the seventh-graders headed straight to school without a shower and with only hose water to brush their teeth.
 
The students stayed outside all day Monday, so they did not have direct access to water or any technology. That meant they took a trigonometry class without a calculator and went an entire day – and the previous night – without texting, browsing the Internet or using any other electronic devices.

$8,000 Raised So Far

As part of their effort, the children have been raising money for Save the Children, a non-governmental organization that supports children in developing countries. As of Tuesday afternoon, the students were only $500 short of their $8,500 fundraising goal. They are confident they will reach their goal by Friday. 

Last year, the students raised more than $11,000 for Direct Relief International through a Day of Silence, where students stayed silent to raise awareness of children in other countries who do not have a voice.

A generous donor matched last year's donation, and will offer another matching grant this year if the students meet their $8,500 fundraising goal.

Raising awareness

The students focused their studies on poverty in Latin America, and four subjects in particular: drug abuse, malnutrition, child labor and lack of medical assistance. After doing their research, they made presentations to their class and prepared videos on their area of study.

"They learned a lot about kids who wanted to go to school who couldn't go to school – maybe because they had to go to work or because they were living in conditions that made it too dangerous to go to school," said seventh grade social studies teacher Mike Hinkens.

Blumenthal said her group studied child labor, which was an eye-opening study for her.

"It's surprising how much of what you buy in stores and in restaurants is made by children, especially when you think of how well-protected children are in America and how little protection they have in other areas of the world."

Zetley agreed that much still needs to be done to raise awareness of impoverished children in Latin America.

"They're the country right below us, but a lot of people don't know a lot about them," he said. "It's hard to learn about – and sometimes gruesome – but we all need to learn about it."