While some graduating seniors spent 
their winter break on the couch, Tamar Gaffin-Cahn spent it in Kenya, helping to support a group of 15 women with HIV. While many students are lucky to get to the gym a few times a week, she teaches classes ranging from Zumba, Spinning, Belly Dancing and fitness boot-camp at the East Gym. And while some students are thrilled to plan a small event, Gaffin-Cahn was charged with planning Shabbat 1500. The 22-year-old Gaffin- Cahn went to Kenya as part of her senior project. She created her own major, International Social Change; and minored in Africana Studies.
In commenting about her future she said: “I want to create sustainable social development. I want to help people in extreme poverty have jobs and prosper in their own world rather than being
dependent on other people and other countries.”
The women she worked with during her winter break have HIV and were pushed out of their communities even though they may have contracted the disease from their husbands. She noted that the mothers complained their children had lost scholarships for school and believe the reason was due to their HIV diagnosis.
The women sold crafts and during one Bible study session, they studied the Book of Ruth, she said.
The senior, who grew up in Newton, Mass said she first became interested in Africa because her mother works to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. She also credits her father, who travels the world to help countries implement fairlabor conditions for workers, for inspiring her to work for social change.
This was her second trip to Africa as she previously spent time at the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda. She lauded the founder, Anne Heyman, who built the center for orphans whose parents were killed in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 on the model of centers in Israel that were built for orphans whose parents were killed in the Holocaust.
Reflecting on her time at Binghamton, the senior, who is on the student executive board of Chabad of Binghamton, said one moment stands out.
“My best memory from my time at Binghamton will be of Shabbat 1500,” she said. “It took months of planning but it was definitely worth it. It was great to see so many people celebrate Shabbat dinner together.”
What would be her dream job?
“Running or working for an organization that bring Jewish or Israeli values to Africa,” she said. “There are a lot of parallels in that there is a focus on love of family and religion. Their love and appreciation for family is very raw because they don’t have many other material goods.”
Gaffin-Cahn added that she hoped people would not believe stereotypes in the media or be cynical about the African population.
“There might be people who look and say ‘oh I am so smart and I’m going to help Africans that are incapable of helping themselves,’” she said. “That’s not the way it is. Africans are very smart but lack resources we easily receive in America. And yeah, there are people that say that one person can’t make a difference. But people should have the mindset of making time in your life to take action to make the world a better place. Judaism teaches that if you save one life, it is like saving the world.”
Alan Zeitlin teaches English and Journalism at a Brooklyn public high school. As a freelance writer for the past 11 years, his articles have in The Jewish Week, The Journal News and other publications.