Each week day, 22 children living in Tijuana rise before the sun to catch a shuttle that takes them to school. Why wake so early? School isn’t just around the corner, or even in the next town over. Rather, these kids traverse 40 miles and one international border to arrive at Chabad Hebrew Academy in Poway, California.
The approximately one-and-a-half hour trip from Mexico, depending on traffic and border wait times, gets students in grades K-8 to CHA’s campus just in time for the start of 8 a.m. classes. After school, the students take the same shuttle home to Mexico, often not arriving until about 5 p.m.
For many of their young peers, this daily commute might feel burdensome, but having access to a quality Jewish education is worth the sacrifice for these children and their families.
“The commute definitely takes a toll on the students,” says Rabbi Mendel Polichenco, who runs the Chabad House in Tijuana.
Read More: @ crownheights.info
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