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!
