I went to Berisso yesterday, a city of 80,000 on the outskirts of the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires, La Plata. Above you see Paulinho, Aryany, and Reberson, three Brazilians who have intentionally moved to a slum in Berisso, seeking its transformation. Here they are in Reberson and Aryany's house. We were going over the map they'd made of the community and discussing how they can continue to get to know the people in the neighborhood, especially the adults. They already know most of the children, that's a lot easier!Reberson is planning to start medical school next year (here they do a combination of undergrad with medical school, so it would be the start of university for him). You can see on the table the $10 otoscope that he bought at a market, we were trying to see how it worked.
Well, Aryany went off to school and Reberson "made lunch." (Meaning, he went down the street and bought pizza and baked it in the oven.) Here you see the way Brazilians eat pizza, which Reberson told me he thought was American! Paulinho is adding ketchup...
And Reberson is adding mayonnaise. Actually, he ended up adding mayo, ketchup, and mustard to his pizza.It's kind of chilly in their house so we kept our coats on. Aryany just moved to Argentina in December after marrying Reberson, and it's been difficult for her to adjust to the cold. Her poor fingers are swollen and red from being too chilled. But they are both 1) young and 2) filled with love for the people there. They have such a hope for the people in that community. I love this part of my job, where I get to meet with people who share this vision of the Kingdom of God, and I get to encourage them, help them define the vision they have for their communities, and teach them tools to hopefully achieve that vision.
This is a house that Mision Puente was renting until the owners came back. It's right next door to Reberson and Aryany's place. "El Quincho" means the type of building you see below, and is the name of their church.
This is the church, built behind the house you saw above. They started construction nearly two years ago, and short-term teams from Brazil come frequently to add to it.
What a pretty house! Reberson and Aryany were supposed to live in the house next door, and had done some pretty major renovations to it. Thankfully they've now finished most of the inside work on their current house (read: plumbing and gas) and in the last few weeks they painted and added the window boxes!
Reberson standing in his front yard, with the neighborhood behind him. You can see some of the drainage issues they are facing -- last year they tried to get the neighbors involved in working on this issue since it affects them all. It didn't work so well. Next year hopefully they will have a committee of locally-recognized leaders and perhaps they will have success?
Waiting in line for the bus that you see pulling in at the La Plata terminal. I got a seat this time!
