I'm a Chabad shlucha in a 3rd world country- AMA

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amother

Wed, Oct 06 2021, 11:20 pm

Jumping on the bandwagon. Feel free to ask questions if my life interests you! Staying anonymous here so I don't end up giving myself away.

amother

Junglegreen

Wed, Oct 06 2021, 11:23 pm

No questions but you’re amazing. Kol hakavod. May you and your husband have continued strength and good health to be able to do your amazing work!!

amother

Dill

Wed, Oct 06 2021, 11:27 pm

What's the most challenging part of your job?
What lead you to the country that you're living in?

amother

Darkblue

Wed, Oct 06 2021, 11:30 pm

Describe what you mean by 3rd world. Thanks.

How do people feel about covid where you are?

Do you have any fears living where you do?

amother

Forestgreen

Wed, Oct 06 2021, 11:30 pm

you are amazing!
im a therapist in oholei torah and im blown away every day by chabad.

who do you show shailas to? where do you go to tovel?
where do you get your meat from? does it ever get lonely?
what does your husband do about a minyan?

flowerpower

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 12:13 am

Wow! Very impressed by your strengths. Which country is that?

Do you ever get lonely?

How do your kids entertain themselves on shabbos and yom tov?

Zehava

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 12:16 am

Thank you for your service! Chabad has been so amazing wherever I’ve been.

familyfirst

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 12:39 am

I’m a shlucha in regular United States and I think you’re awesome!! How do you it???

honeymoon

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 12:42 am

Is your country crime ridden and dangerous or relatively safe?

Are there other Frum Jews there other than your family?

What do you do about kosher food?

Do you travel often to see family?

amother

Maple

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 12:43 am

How do you handle having kids do online school? I had to do it last year during COVID an it was a nightmare. How do you ever get things done with kids always home? Do you have a lot of help?

How do you handle kids acting up in front of guest?

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 12:58 am

amother [ Dill ] wrote:

What's the most challenging part of your job?
What lead you to the country that you're living in?

I'll assume you mean most challenging part of the job, as opposed to side affects of the job. Probably the fact that our community is very small, so when each class in Hebrew school, bas mitzva club, etc. has only a few people it often happens that people cancel and we end up with a very low turnout, which is frustrating after all the work and arranging that went into it.
What lead us here is Hashgocha Protis. My husband went to yeshiva for several years in a country that speaks the same language as where we live. Someone who knows of the community here and that they needed a shliach was asking among people who speak this language and found my husband. (I learned the language when we moved here)

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 1:11 am

amother [ Darkblue ] wrote:

Describe what you mean by 3rd world. Thanks.

How do people feel about covid where you are?

Do you have any fears living where you do?

Third world- lots of poverty. You see children, mothers with babies, and all kinds of people begging everywhere. Also healthcare is very behind. We can't trust doctors to know the latest research. Every prescription, instruction etc that we get from doctors here we take with a grain of salt and do our own research, and sometimes have to not follow instructions.

Covid- It was pretty bad for the first few months, there were literally bodies in the streets because the cemeteries couldn't keep up. Now it's much better, some schools are back in person but not all. It took a while until the vaccine got here (donated by America), a lot of people traveled to the US to get vaccinated before then
Most people are pro-vax, but doesn't mean they can afford to pay for a vaccine.

Fears- Not really. Our neighborhood is relatively safe. Relatively because even here it's better not to wear a purse and keep your phone out of sight because it can be stolen. We have a guard at the entrance to our shul and house.

amother

Forestgreen

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 1:21 am

how did you find imamother?
do you visit your friends and families back home?
how many guests do you have at a typical shabbos table?

amother

Tuberose

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 1:25 am

You are awesome!

I’m also a Shlucha in a third world country (emerging economy. Smile

) Except it’s got a large Jewish community and we live quite nicely. So got beautiful schools for my kids restaurants etc...

Except it’s so so so so far from my family in the USA and that is a painful part of my life, always missing family Simchas.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 2:27 am

amother [ Forestgreen ] wrote:

I show my shailos to my husband Smile

he is trained in that. We are lucky to have a mikva in our Chabad house bH.
For meat we bring in a shochet a few times a year and he shechts a bunch of cows for us.
Yes it gets lonely. BH we are in a generation where we can video call and keep up with family and friends pretty easily, but of course it's not the same as seeing them in person.
My husband davens with a minyan when we have one, which is Mondays and Thursdays for shacharis, Friday night and Shabbos morning. (Not always is there a full minyan but most of the time we get 10)

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 2:31 am

flowerpower wrote:

Wow! Very impressed by your strengths. Which country is that?

Do you ever get lonely?

How do your kids entertain themselves on shabbos and yom tov?

I'd rather not say where we live because there are only 2 families of shluchim here, so that would pretty much give me away.
I answered another poster about getting lonely.
For my kids entertainment on Shabbos and yomtov is easier than during the week! On regular days they're pretty much home all day. We don't have a school here. On Shabbos and yomtov other kids come for shul and stay to play all afternoon.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 2:35 am

familyfirst wrote:

I’m a shlucha in regular United States and I think you’re awesome!! How do you it???

Same way you do it. We're here with a clear purpose and follow the guidance of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and deal with each challenge as necessary. I find it very encouraging being on WhatsApp groups with other shluchos who are living similar lives. Everyone is always so encouraging to each other and happy to share recourses, recipes, classes which they prepared, etc.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 2:44 am

honeymoon wrote:

Is your country crime ridden and dangerous or relatively safe?

Are there other Frum Jews there other than your family?

What do you do about kosher food?

Do you travel often to see family?

As I mentioned in response to another poster there are definitely areas in the country which are not so safe. Our neighborhood is pretty safe.

Other frum Jews- yes there is a modern orthodox family and several families who keep Shabbos to the best of their abilities.

Kosher food- like I said we bring in a shochet for meat. For milk my husband goes to a milking farm twice a year and supervises large quantity of milk, which is made into UHT (long life shelf stable) milk.
Cheese we often ask travelers to buy big blocks of cheese for us. Same with snacks like pretzels, rice cakes, candy, matza meal, etc.

We travel relatively often, like for siblings' weddings, kinus hashluchim, etc.
Our parents have both been here and several of my siblings have come to visit as well.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 2:55 am

amother [ Maple ] wrote:

Chinuch is probably the hardest part of living here for us. My kids aren't yet old enough for online school; my oldest is 3.5. For now I homeschool 2 of my kids that are preschool age for about an hour a day. We'll cross the online school bridge when we come to it, and the sending our kids away to real school after that...

It's definitely hard to get everything done, even though I do have help. BH labor is cheap here. I have a maid for 6 hours a day 5 days a week. Sounds like a lot but actually is hardly enough. I teach for several hours every afternoon, which also means lots of preparation because it's all done as crafts, games, activities, etc. so people will want to come. So the maid is watching my kids while I'm at Hebrew school and a little more while I do some of the preparing, does a basic clean and that's all she has time for.

My kids are little and pretty shy, and generally behave well in front of guests.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 3:00 am

amother [ Forestgreen ] wrote:

how did you find imamother?
do you visit your friends and families back home?
how many guests do you have at a typical shabbos table?

I found it from googling recipes.
We don't go to my parents very often. We go a little more frequently to my in laws because they live in NY, and there are more reasons to go there. I bump into friends in crown heights when we go.
At our home Shabbos meals we usually invite a couple families at a time, so typically like 10 people. Shabbos day the kidush is always a full meal, for that we have like 30 people.

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