FSD Project – Resource Directory

Shortly after arriving and assessing the needs at the comedor and panadería I realized how much I missed having a resource network of friends and family.  Had I been at home, my dad, brother and various friends, I am sure would have been available and ready to help with the construction needs of the comedor.  However, I am thousands of miles away and that is not an option.  How am I supposed to find people who are willing and able to help those less fortunate…in Argentina?  (Of course, this is before I realized and felt comfortable asking Claudio for help.)

 

At the same time my host mother, who is slightly pushy, but very giving, repeatedly offered to give knitting classes to the comedor.  She herself knits, sews, crochets, and other various sorts of “manualedades” or handcrafts.  She also sells her products as her own microenterprise.  She had apparently learned that “talleres” or workshops were common projects of interns and wanted the comedor to start a knitting business.  However, seeing as they can’t quite get the panadería up and running, it is probably best they stick with one thing at a time.  However, her repeated offering for this and multiple things (every time I mention a need she has an idea of how to help – apparent in her immediately buying a can opener for the comedor after I told her they didn’t have one.)  It occurred to me that what the interns and program lacked was an extensive directory of resources that interns could use to tap while they are here.  Most internships are short-term and the interns are not here long enough to find the appropriate and most cost- and time-effective way of helping. 

 

My second project for my FSD internship will be to create a directory of resources for use by FSD interns.  It is still in the process of design, but I believe it will be an excel database that has contact information for individuals who are willing to volunteer there time with various projects.  The directory would include people that want to teach workshops on hand crafts or cooking; volunteer manual labor; organize projects for kids; or teach computer classes, etc.  I will probably also include all the organization that currently partner with FSD.  My plan is to put together a request letter that people can fill out and return that includes the type of service they would like to volunteer.  I will then enter it into the database I have designed and make it available to future interns.  The trick is to write a letter that best explains the need in order to collect the type of individuals needed and to design a database that can “stand the test of time” and include categories for future needs.  The goals is to have a well designed database that can be updated in the future as interns meet more people that may be of help and add them.  Currently I am still in the process of designing the database and writing the letter.  My goal is to facilitate connections between FSD interns and useful Argentine resources to make the most beneficial outcome to the organizations and people in need.

Weekend, June 12 – 13, 2008 – El Tigre

My intern group minus me...

 

Saturday morning we boarded “El Tren de la Costa”, the touristy train that goes from the center of Buenos Aires to El Tigre, ending at the “Parque de Diversiones”, largest Argentine amusement park.  There are nine stops along the way that offer a variety of activities.  Our boarding passes allowed us to partake in as many of the stops as we wished.  I stuck with the group of six interns that started at the same time as me and we got off any the first four stops.  The first stop only offered a cute café, so we started to hop back on the train and try the next stop.  The second stop was at a park with a nice view of the river and another café, so we stopped and had coffee before continuing the trip.  The fourth stop was a “fería de antiguos” or an antique fair.  The sidewalks were lined with stalls with varying antique artifacts – interesting to breeze through, but not really my forte.  The next stop was San Isidro, which had the most activity going.  There were various restaurants (this is where we decided to eat lunch – it was already 2pm!), shops, and a hug artisan fair, including various live entertainment.  We stayed at San Isidro until almost five o’clock and then hopped back on the train and went straight to El Tigre.  Each train ride was absolutely packed and we ended up standing for most of it, but since each leg of the trip was so short it wasn’t really a big deal.

 

Once in El Tigre, we looked for hostel, which actually ended up being a fairly nice hostel.  We then went to the famous “Puerto de Frutos” which is actually just another artisan fair.  The thing about artisan fairs, is once you have seen one, you have basically seen them all.  I think I have had a good taste of what Argentine has to offer in terms of “authentic handmade” souvenirs. (You should all know that I only bought a $2 pair of earrings and some olive oil.)  That night we went back to the hostel and had a short “taller” or workshop, talking about what needed to be done before leaving the country (the first group of summer interns will be leaving in two weeks.)  Marcela (FSD director) and her friend made us pasta for dinner.  I crashed early.  I had a head cold which is no fun at all and was not in the mood for hanging out.

 

Sunday we went on a boat trip.  The area of El Tigre is surrounding by various interlocking rivers, creating islands all over the area.  Apparently, people live on these islands, they have some normal amenities including electricity, telephone, gas (via propane tanks) and water (filtered from river for use, potable water must be bought.)  It was pretty interesting to see, there is no vehicle access to the islands, they must be reached by boat.  However there are schools, churches and stores, including “floating” medics, supermarkets, and boat “omnibuses”.  Children also get picked up by a boat to take them to school.  It was pretty interesting.

 

We had a typical Argentine “asado” or grill out on Sunday afternoon at a park on one of the islands.  The meal consisted of meat, meat and more meat (and a little salad and some bread.)  We started out with carne empanadas, and then each were given a chorizo (sausage) and morcilla (blood sausage – which I tried but do not think I like.)  We were then give the “main course” which was meat with bones (they eat so much meat here, I am not sure what the English equivalent is), seconds of meat with bones and then meat without bones.  Luckily we had ice cream for dessert!  I am a little sick of the meat here…I can handle a little, but a meal that consists of four types of meat is not exactly my favorite.

 

We had the afternoon free, in which we went to the “El Tigre Museo de Arte” which is in the historical casino building, which was beautiful (can’t say I am much of a fan of the actual art, but the building was pretty cool.)  We then met back up at the hostel and headed home.

Monday, June 30, 2008: Starting off with family and work

I look pretty stupid next to her dressed up ready to return to school...

This weekend I met my host sister, Florencia.  Many of her friends live very far away from the school so they come to La Plata on the weekend, and Florencia’s parents act as surrogate parents for many of these students.  As a result, there are always young people around on the weekend, which is nice.  Florencia has a boyfriend, which makes her less available to hang out with me, but one of her friends, Stephanie took me downtown to run some errands.  Stephanie is very outgoing, so she is always talking (which is good because then I have to talk less) and she is also patient with explaining the things I miss in Spanish.  Another friend, Perla, said we should go out dancing sometime.  Unfortunately they all have short trips via ship in the coming weeks and no one will be returning to La Plata for several weeks and shortly after that they have two weeks of vacation in which many will return to their homes.  One girl, Patricia (Perla’s sister, but not in the naval academy), did invite me to her home in Missiones (northern province) near Iguazú Falls, which I believe is the largest natural waterfall in the world (per Claudio).  Patricia also said we could cross the border into Paraguay to go shopping because everything is cheaper there.  Unfortunately, I think it is against FSD regulation to leave the country…I am not sure what I am going to do about this yet.  (It is also 18 hours away which is another road bump…) 

 

 

 

I met my supervisor for the comedor today also.  Marta lives in the barrio Altos Hornos de San Lorenzo – which is also where I live.  However, she lives in an area that they refer to as “asentimiento”; the people that live there do not own they land.  After the 2001 economic crisis, many people came to the city (I am assuming to look for work or government help) and settled on this open land.  The houses are varying degrees of shacks.  Tin roofs and walls on concrete slabs seems to be the norm.  Marta is from northern Argentina (Missiones) but said that many of the people that live near here are from other countries – Bolivia, Paraguay, and maybe Uruguay also.  One house she pointed out she said a Yugoslavian woman lived there…I will have to get to the bottom of that, it seems like an awfully long way to come. 

 

The comedor where I will work is more impoverished than I had imagined.  All the interns had visited a comedor during our orientation week which appeared to be in a fairly normal looking neighborhood and it was housed in a solid infrastructure.  The people who came to eat looked like any other children in the neighborhood.  However, my comedor, La Estrategia de Caracol (I believe the translation is Strategy of the Snail, I am not exactly sure of the significance) is located in a fairly precarious looking building.  There are holes in the tin roof and the major wooden pillars that support the structure were salvaged from the first structure that was destroyed in a fire.  The bathroom is an outhouse in another tin shack.  The concrete floor has cracks and there are spaces between the walls and ceiling that need to be filled. 

 

After my first visit with Marta it appears as though the panadería, or the baking cooperative, has not been fully realized yet.  They have bought an industrial strength mixer, but it is sitting in Marta’s living room because the comedor is not secure enough to house such expensive equipment.  The price of flour is also sky-rocketing making it not cost effective to make and sell the bread. 

 

On Wednesday I will go to the comedor and help them transplant some plants in their garden (their first intern helped to create this garden) and I will get to meet all the women that help out at the comedor (members of the community who volunteer their time.)  After I meet everyone, I think I will then be in a position to stop by the comedor whenever I want.  I want to start talking to the women to find out the needs of their community and comedor and their interest in growing the panadería.  After learning of their needs, I will have to make a “work plan” for my internship.  Each intern has $200 available to realize a project and longer internships (which I think I qualify for) will have the opportunity to apply for additional grant moneys.  After my first visit with Marta it seems as though their major need is man power to make needed infrastructure changes to the comedor.  They already have most of the supplies, but Marta’s husband seems to be the only one available to make improvements and he has limited time.  I am not sure if this is because of lack of trust or confidence in using other man power, or just lack of available funds. 

 

The next couple of weeks I will spend getting to know the women of the comedor to realize a plan that will be meaningful and beneficial to the local community.

Orientation: June 21 thru June 27, 2008

Everything I brought to Argentina

I arrived in Argentina on Saturday.  My flight from Washington DC to Buenos Aires was ten hours, but it was an overnight flight and no one sat next to me so I was able to sleep for the majority of the flight.  When I arrived in Argentina, I had a little trouble finding my group but after wandering around the airport terminal for while I ran into someone from FSD. 

 

 

 

 

The first four nights I stayed in a hotel with the other interns.  I shared a room with two others — Kristen and Samiron.  The room we stayed in was small and plain, which seemed odd because it seemed like a fairly “upscale” hotel – prices were almost $80/night.  There were three single beds in the room and little floor space.  It was nice that we got to spend time together first before meeting our host families, but it was a little difficult to live out of suitcases for several days.

 

Orientation week consisted of various workshops where we learned about culture, customs, language, sustainable development, and what to expect in our internships.  On Tuesday evening we had a dinner where we all got to meet our host families.  My family was very nice and outgoing, however, the “party” ended abruptly when discussion regarding politics around the recent farmer’s strike took over the conversation.