Weekend

Noelia explaining to us her group's definition of "community" at the beginning of the TOT 1 in Burela, Salta last September

I arrived in Cordoba this morning after an all-night bus trip. I went with a "full bed" bus which somehow appeared identical to the "semi-bed" I'd taken last September. Apparently there is yet a third category, "full bed 180 degrees" that I will have to try next. Let's just say it was a long night!

Tonight there is a meeting with the six of us that will be going to Burela, Salta, this weekend. The five people besides me are all from the Iglesia Jesucristo Rey here in Cordoba. I just heard some great news about this church: in spite of their intense time of transition (one of the two pastors suddenly resigned two months ago) and their lack of history of involvement in missions (only in the past year have they begun missions outreaches outside of their local area), they have just agreed to regular monthly financial support for Pastor Gabriel, the missions pastor in Burela, Salta!

Tomorrow night I travel to Metan, Salta by overnight semi-bed bus. This was the only kind that was available, and believe me, I checked! Then I take two smaller buses to get to the town of Apolinario Saravia, which is the nearest large village to Burela. Hopefully, Friday afternoon includes some sleep -- I'm still not sure where I'm staying -- and then we're doing training on Saturday. We will be continuing our lessons on the TOT1 as well as holding a workshop on family violence (see previous post). I'm very excited to go to these villages again to hear what has been happening over the past few months. My contacts there do not have internet access and so updates have been limited.

I will return sometime on Monday to Buenos Aires, hopefully getting to experience "full bed 180 degrees" on that trip!

Family Violence

Next week I will accompany a group from the Jesucristo Rey church in Cordoba to the province of Salta, where we will facilitate a workshop on family violence. With Maria Elena Mamarian's permission, we will be designing some lessons from her book Breaking the Silence: Prevention and treatment of family violence into LifeWind's LePSAS format -- Learner-centered, problem-posing, self-discovery, action-oriented, Spirit-guided. If you remember, in the villages of Burela and Apolinario Saravia in Salta last year they started talking about the serious and pervasive problem of violence in the home.

I just purchased the book today and started reading it. She frequently cites the World Health Organization and its research on this issue. Below is my translation of the anonymously written passage that starts the first chapter. Warning -- I was crying both while I read and translated it. Please pray that this workshop in Salta on Saturday, March 1, will be well-attended and be the beginning of lasting change for all in that community.

Today isn't my birthday or any other special day; we had our first disagreement last night and he said lots of cruel things to me that really offended me. But I know that he's sorry and he didn't mean those things because he sent me flowers today.

It's not our anniversary or any other special day today; last night he threw me against a wall and began to choke me. It seemed like a nightmare, but you wake up from a nightmare and know it's not real; I woke up this morning in pain and with bruises all over, but I know he's sorry because he sent me flowers today.

And it's not Valentine's Day or any other special day; last night he beat me and threatened to kill me; not even makeup or long sleeves could hide the cuts and bruises that he caused this time.

I couldn't go to work today, because I didn't want anyone to figure it out. But I know that he's sorry, because he sent me flowers today. And it wasn't even Mother's Day or any other special day. Last night, he beat me again, but this time it was much worse.

If I manage to leave him, what will I do? How can I provide for our kids by myself? What will happen if we run out of money? I'm so scared of him! But I depend on him so much that I'm afraid to leave him. But I know that he's sorry, because he sent me flowers today.

Today is a very special day. It's the day of my funeral. Last night he finally managed to kill me. He beat me to death. If only I had had the will and the strength to leave him....If I would have accepted professional help...today I wouldn't have received flowers.

Pop-culture

Pop culture happenings in Argentina in 2009:

The Dakar Rally, previously known as the Paris-Dakar, will move to Argentina and Chile in January 2009, starting and ending in Buenos Aires. Sadly, the reason it is moving here is due to Al Qaeda-linked killings of tourists in Mauritania.

Sandra Bullock to film Kiss and Tango in Buenos Aires in 2009.

Fun fact: both my street and the street my apartment faces are cobblestone, which makes for a lovely sound as the cars pass over it. A little trickier to walk on, but very cool.

Economic downturn

With the economic downturn of the U.S. making the international news almost every night, I thought I would write down some simple tips (not touching the big ones like a smaller house or cheaper, more fuel-efficient car) that I have used over the years to keep myself out of non-educational debt. Please note that these work even if you are busy – I was in medical school and residency and volunteering while doing these! For some of my friends, these are not radical at all -- they buy their clothes from thrift stores and grow their own vegetables and live very well. And I won't go into how most of the world lives since that tends to produce short-lived guilt rather than excitement for transformation.

Fun fact: all of the below also double as environmental tips!

• Make your own food – if not from scratch, at least from an earlier part of the process:

1. Spaghetti sauce takes just as long to make as it takes to heat water and boil pasta!
2. Buy whole vegetables, not pre-cut packages
3. Shred your own cheese

• Buy used books (at thrift stores or on-line) rather than new or go to your local library
• Rent or go to movies on special occasions – borrow movies from your friends or read books, take a walk, volunteer, hang out with friends.
• Turn down the heat in winter, a/c down in summer (fans use much less electricity)
• Don't buy disposable products:

1. Use rags instead of paper towels
2. Use cloth napkins instead of paper ones (some people think these are gross, but you can buy enough to use new ones daily and not share!)

• Drink tap water – buy a filter or large containers of filtered water if it tastes too bad
• Save soda pop and other purchased beverages for special occasions
• Make coffee and tea at home (much cheaper and you’re not using a disposable cup)

Make wise choices with your money -- keep tithing and donating to charities and investing in savings, choosing instead to give up some of the comforts you have become accustomed to. And if the above sound extreme to you, be thankful that you have been blessed financially!

Caveats:

1. I am aware that I can be a little wacky. Some of you know that I ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches every workday for the three years I was in Arizona because it was cheap and easy and healthy. In my defense they were at least on yummy toasted whole-grain bread and accompanied by several pieces of delicious seasonal fruit!
2. The tips below might seem small if you are in a serious economic crisis. They do add up over time and, depending on your current lifestyle, could save you several hundred dollars per month.

My life, part 2

Mariela, the girl on on the left, asked for this picture to be taken with me but then put on a very serious face! The women seen in the background is Mariel, a member of the local community who lives part-time in the city and is going to run the clothing sale I'll mention at the end of this post.

Okay, the "job" part of my current life. If you get my newsletter, you saw in November the following description of my job: the CHE programs developed by LifeWind lead to individual and community transformation in all aspects of life: spiritual, physical, emotional, vocational. The job description for my role as CHE facilitator is in part to:

• Mentor local CHE programs in assigned areas to ensure sustainability and quality.
• Implement expansion of CHE programs in assigned area by initiating relationships with new workers, organizations, or churches which are interested in developing a holistic community development program.
• Correspond and meet regularly with the local CHE team leaders for mentoring, mutual guidance, spiritual encouragement, and continuing accountability.
• Plan and facilitate Vision Seminars and Training of Trainers (TOTs).

So, what does that mean right now? Well, I'm in Argentina because there are several groups and individuals that have been working in poor areas (rural and urban) and want to start more holistic development work. See my February 10 post on the work in el Delta for an example of such an invitation. LifeWind International is in nearly 80 countries, but up until now has not had any complete programs in Argentina or Uruguay. So I am here to walk alongside of the people that are ready to work for change in their communities.

What does that mean? In this phase, it means I meet with people, either in formal meetings or by accompanying them where they are working. The past two Saturdays I spent on the island in el Delta helping serve food to the kids, getting to know both the volunteers and the people in the community, and meeting about future projects. For example, they receive donations of clothing from Spain and in the past have given them away in the community. They recently recognized that it is better to sell things for a small amount of money both so that the goods are appreciated and to treat the recipients with dignity. We discussed some details of the upcoming sale, which was of course first approved by the Spanish donors!

In the photo below are Vanina and Alejandra in el Delta:

Transportation

Above are two boats that are similar to the one I'm on that will take me to the islands in the Delta.
You can see above that the boats are used to transport quite a bit of luggage along with the passengers. The group I go with brings food for the children and water for cooking and drinking.

The captain's chair -- he moves it forward once we start going, of course!

I am really glad not to have a car right now, for a lot of reasons. Most of you know that I love public transportation in general, and it has been really nice to be in a city again (the biggest one I've ever lived in!). Without a car I don't have to worry about parking, insurance, etc. Also, people here are talking a lot about the latest statistics on January 2008 car fatalities, and there's talk of the police getting more serious about enforcing traffic laws. The US State Department's website notes that:

Traffic accidents are the primary threat to life and limb in Argentina. Pedestrians and drivers should exercise caution. Drivers frequently ignore traffic laws and vehicles often travel at excessive speeds. The rate and toll of traffic accidents has been a topic of much media attention over the past year....[D]rivers in Argentina tend to be very aggressive, especially in the capital city of Buenos Aires, and frequently ignore traffic regulations.

The Clarin (an Argentine paper) agrees -- there are double the traffic fatalities (percentage-wise) in Argentina compared to the U.S., and 2007 surpassed 2006. Most of the Argentines I know here are really frustrated by the situation. The upside of the death-talk is that compared to other South American countries the homicide rate here is much lower: 1/4 that of Venezuela and Columbia, 1/3 of Brazil, and 1/2 that of Ecuador.

So with that and many other reasons I am glad to use public transportation! One just has to be careful crossing the street, since despite the large numbers of pedestrians I see here, cars always have the right-of-way (de facto, at least).

A snapshot of my day, or how I got to a meeting: I walked five blocks to the bus stop, then waited for my bus until a woman came along and told us that the line was on strike today. (She'd waited 1 1/2 hours!) So, since I had no idea how else to get to my destination, I went to a telephone center and called the church. Thankfully, the woman who answered the phone lives near me and knew of three other bus lines. So, I walked 1/2 a block to another bus stop (stops in busy areas are for one or two bus lines only, and so each line's stop can be 30 feet apart or so from the previous one -- this works well since the buses run so frequently and several arrive at once). Then it was a quick 20-minute ride and a four block walk to the church office. And I was still 15 minutes early!

My life, part 1

I’ve been asked recently what I do all day. Well, I’ve been here for just over three weeks, and I’m starting to figure it out….

First, just living here takes a little more time than I'm used to – obviously not nearly so much as in a rural area or less-developed country, but like what I lived in Southern Europe (Italy and Spain). For example, it's so wonderful that the fruits and vegetables are all very fresh, but that then means they do not last as long and so need to be purchased every few days. I’m finding my way around the shopping here, but since the area of town I live in is a bit wealthier than others, it’s also pricier, and so I go a few blocks from the train station/bus stop now for my main grocery shopping.

Right now I’m washing a few of my clothes by hand. They sell great front-loading machines here, but I don't have one yet and the laundromat near me has some pretty vicious machines, plus clothes get dirty really quickly here -- perhaps because it's such a big city, or maybe it's something in the air. Buenos Aires is known as a place where houses must be cleaned frequently -- I came across this passage from Julio Cortázar, an Argentine author, in his short story Casa tomada (Taken House ), last night and had to smile since I've heard something similar, though less poetic, from several porteños (people from Buenos Aires). I've quoted the passage and added my rough translation below:

Buenos Aires será una ciudad limpia, pero eso lo debe a sus habitantes y no a otra cosa. Hay demasiada tierra en el aire, apenas sopla una ráfaga se palpa el polvo en los mármoles de las consolas y entre los rombos de las carpetas de macramé; da trabajo sacarlo bien con plumero, vuela y se suspende en el aire, un momento después se deposita de nuevo en los muebles y los pianos.

Buenos Aires may be a clean city, but this is due to its inhabitants and not to anything else. There is too much dirt in the air, just one small burst of breeze and the dust settles in the marble of the furniture and in between the patterns on the macraméed carpets; it’s quite a task to remove it well with a feather duster, it flies and is suspended in the air, and a moment later settles again on the furniture and the pianos.

Okay, in an upcoming post I'll talk about the part of my life that you would recognize as my job!

Beverages

Fun facts about beverages:

Mate is a green caffeinated tea which is incredibly popular here (and in neighboring Paraguay, Uruguay, and southern Brazil. It may be drunk alone (as I have become accustomed to do every morning while I read the Bible) but is most commonly drunk in fellowship with family or close friends. One fills a gourd with the mate tea leaves (yerba) and then adds hot water and a straw with a filter(la bombilla). It is drunk by one person, refilled by the designated pourer (the cebedor), and then given to another person. You only say "thank you" when you are returning the mate gourd and you don't want them to pass you anymore.

The 500g bag of yerba you see in the photo above costs less than a dollar. The box of tea bags that you see is "mate cocido." I've had the great nutritional value of this variety explained to me, but I didn't understand it enough to remember it. One frequently is offered mate cocido at teatime, when it is usually drunk with milk and sugar.

Mate variations:

• with or without sugar or artificial sweetener
• terere: with iced juice instead of hot water
• add herbs to the tea leaves
• fill a grapefruit peel with the tea instead of a gourd
• with hot milk instead of water
  

I have been told that it is rude to refuse mate when it is offered since it is a sign of someone wanting to be in fellowship with you. If you don't want to drink the mate, you should say something in advance before it is offered, such as, "I never drink mate after this hour because it keeps me awake," or, "I have stomach acid problems right now."

Other popular beverages are:

• wine, with or without ice
• sparkling water mixed with red wine
• diet citrus sodas
• sparkling water, sold cheaply in containers that retain the "sparkle" (the water comes out by pressing on a spout)
• a cool bitter herbal drink mix which is mixed with sparkling water (see below photo)
  

I have eaten meals with many different families now, and often all of the above (except for mate) are on the table during a meal.

El Delta

A flower growing in the mud

Yesterday I went to an island called Las Rosas, which is in the delta of the Rio de la Plata. To get there I hopped on the train (six blocks from my house) to the opposite end of the line from downtown, then I took a boat about 45 minutes, then walked through mud barefoot to my destination. Why barefoot? Well, this area gets flooded frequently, sometimes every few days, and therefore the houses are all on stilts. Two days before my arrival the water was up to the level of the third step of the houses, and so the day I went the ground was still muddy. Okay, but still, why barefoot? Well, I didn't have rubber boots like my companions, and my flip-flops kept getting stuck in the mud. So barefoot was the method suggested to me, and it turned out to be much easier and rather fun! (And yes, I know that in some parts of the world this is the perfect way to get some fun parasites, but I was assured it is not so in this area.)
Besides, for the most part the kids we met there go barefoot. Here's some proof -- my feet and a boy's foot and an adorable kitten:


A church in the La Lucila neighborhood of Buenos Aires has been coming to this area for years. One of the church members came to our training (TOT1) last September, and since has become one of the pastors of the church. The entire church is now talking about changing to their work in the Delta from relief and "betterment" to development. They currently do mostly relief work, providing lunch for the children of the surrounding area:
They provide milk and an afternoon snack:
They also do some betterment work, such as tutoring. Yesterday there was no tutoring since the kids are still on summer break, but a youth group had come out and taught a Bible story (Joseph, his dreams, and his family difficulties) and had the kids do a project.
They tell me that the children are promoted from grade to grade regardless of performance, and many of them cannot read well. Similar to Baradero, this area has a lot of family violence (I got to hear some) and alcoholism. Below you can see the building that the church constructed four years ago to be the church on Thursday nights and the tutoring and feeding center on Saturdays. In the front you can see the creek, or canal, which is what floods. It is so skinny that you are seeing the width of it in that photo. Nonetheless, boats use the canal when there is adequate water and so all bridges built must be very tall. There are significant problems with people getting around in the area as there are very few bridges.
I can't remember the name of the boy below since we only talked briefly. I do remember two of his sisters, Laura and Mariela (just to prove that I do remember some!) quite well since we worked on an alphabet project together. He brought these two puppies out to show me. His neighbor's dog had six puppies in all, three dark and three light.
Below is the family I went with, Pastor Daniel, his wife Monica, and their youngest son Mateo. Monica is a kindergarten teacher and is thus very skilled to lead the tutoring. They go out to El Delta every week, and Daniel often goes on Thursdays to lead the church service. They are also responsible for organizing the other volunteers who come once or twice a month, and every-other-month special events like the youth group that came yesterday. Amazing.

Apartment

It's so nice to be in a place where I understand enough of the language to (usually) understand the jokes! The other day I was with a group of people, most of whom were in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. One of the men said: I'm missing a prostate, a hernia, and a gallbladder, but I'm not about to go looking for them! Tee-hee!

Here are some pictures of the apartment I'm renting. It's been so great to have a furnished place to start out in! This is the apartment of a friend's brother-in-law, and the kitchen has dishes and cooking utensils, the wardrobes have sheets and towels, and the office/hallway has a speedy internet connection. I am so thankful to have this place for now since the typical apartment lease is for two years and I'm still not sure which is the most strategic city for me to live in. Additionally, I would have to buy not only furniture but likely kitchen appliances for an apartment, and that is a big commitment in time, energy, and money to make right away.

Here's the view from the outside, my apartment is on the second floor on the left hand side of the cream-colored building. You can just barely see a window and a balcony through the trees. My door is the dark green one you see. The raised basket out front is where I can put my trash every night:

Here's another view, and my apartment's on the left of this picture, and my windows are nearly totally concealed. There is a hardware store below my apartment to the right.

Across the street is a homemade pasta store, but I haven't tried that yet. Just down the block is a bakery, with incredibly cheap breads and treats. The laundromat is four blocks away.

This is my living room, complete with balcony. This is where my phone is, and sometimes I have to close the patio doors because there's a bus stop just outside which gets very loud!

This is my super-huge kitchen:
This is my bedroom. Two of the walls are entirely covered with wardrobes, which keeps it super-neat:
This is the beautiful view looking slightly down from my bedroom window. You can see part of three different backyards (below me, below me and ahead a bit, and next door):

This is the hallway, which is also used as an office. If we talk on Skype, this is where I'm sitting. You can see the second (front) bedroom to the left, and the door to the staircase which leads outside on the right.

This is my patio, superb for drying clothes since it's full sun during the day.

Baradero 2

Above is the sign for the feeding center for the children of Baradero (the sign says "Happy Little Faces Feeding Center"). On Saturday we had a meeting with Marisa, Alejandro, and Roberto. Marisa and Alejandro have both been to the initial Training of Trainers (TOT 1 and 2), and so are familiar with the CHE concepts. They are currently doing relief work with the feeding center, but are looking forward to moving beyond that to development. Roberto has been interested in working with the youth on small construction projects, both to give them skills and to provide a good role model. In Baradero, according to what they tell me, most of the men drink to excess and most of the families experience physical violence in the home. There is also a lot of prostitution.

One of the exciting things this weekend was a conversation we had over mates with Juan Diego and Ines at their home on our walk through one of the barrios we are considering working in. He has approached several government officials about the small stream of water that their barrio receives. Apparently it will cost 45,000 pesos (15,000 US) to correct the problem, and it is not worth it for the 25 - 30 families that live there. But it is a constant problem for the barrio, and it makes it very difficult for people to wash their clothing and themselves. Two things struck me about this conversation: Juan Diego was very persistent, despite repeated rejection from different officials. Hopefully he will want to be included in the team that we form there. The second thing that struck me was the comment one of the officials made to him: What, do you want to help the whole barrio? As if that were something strange.

Juan Diego works on a farm, and gave us yummy Asian pears that he is currently harvesting. Mmmmm!

On Saturday evenings the adolescents come to the church for games and teaching. We discussed the topics they would like to address in the coming year (after the February hiatus for vacation) and violence in the home was a topic that affected them all.

It wasn't all seriousness, though -- here Mariposas is dressed up like a mummy!


Below are some of the church members on Sunday morning. The church meets in the former garage on the left and the feeding center is on the right.

Before we left town, there was more excellent food:
On the way back to Buenos Aires, I was musing about the varied landscape in Argentina. The country is the 8th largest in the world by area, and it varies widely from rainforest to desert to mountains to glaciers. On the way back to the city it looked a lot like rural Minnesota (mostly cornfields and soybeans) except for the occasional eucalyptus grove!

Baradero 1

I spent last weekend in the city of Baradero, which has about 35,000 inhabitants and is located 150 km from Buenos Aires. I went there with Horacio and Silvia, the couple from the Libertador church that plans to move there full-time in March. During the past year they have gone there every weekend to help with a feeding center for children, and Horacio has become the pastor of a small church there. We arrived Friday afternoon and had an outdoor meeting with the three women that run the feeding center. Below in the photo are Silvia (her side to the camera), Ines, Marisa, and Cristina.

In this photo you can see Alejandro, who is also helping in the community. You can also see the house that Silvia and Horacio have been renting there.
Ah, such a life of contrasts. The house had musty mattresses that felt like they were rolling me off the bed, we had to empty a bucket into the toilet to flush it, there a few gigant-o spiders and a multitude of different beetle species (that were apparently even more numerous before Silvia's Raid was put to use the last few weekends, also thankfully no tarantulas which she has seen there before) but look at how and where we ate! Lovely! Horacio made a delicious asado. Please note that my glass is not full of wine, it's part wine but mostly sparkling water. I have also decided there is a definite advantage to an uncomfortable bed -- no matter how tired I am in the morning my back won't let me stay in bed, so I am not tempted to linger. :-)