By: Charisse Hazlett

What events in your life have made you into the person you are now? Think about it. Was it when you graduated from your university? Was it the time you tied the knot with your significant other? Or was it when you actualized your ability to help others accomplish their goals and become autonomous.

Whatever your answer may be, one thing is always true, when you help others you learn more about yourself and inherently you develop into the person who you are today. Helping others help themselves is what volunteering is all about, and on International Volunteer Day, we each shared our stories of when we were able to help others.  The evening started with a great spread of Argentine food like chorizo with cheese on toast and Brahn beer. We all gathered at the Voluntario Global house and sat in a large circle to watch an inspiring videoby novelist Chimamanda Adichie. She spoke about how everybody has their own stories which makes you who you are. It is critical to learn about other culture´s stories in order to avoid judgement and misunderstandings but instead enhance understanding. After watching the video, we each went around the room and told our personal stories influenced by our own unique cultural background and discussed our feelings of purposefulness and sometimes despair while volunteering, and encouraged each other.

Jimena, the VG Volunteers Coordinator,  shared her story of how children have made a huge difference in her life. When she started volunteering, she was “a little frightened of children”, meaning she was not sure how to relate and interact with them. However, after working in the orphanages at Pimpom, her previous outlook had changed 100%. Her initial fears completely gone, she believes that the best way to change the current situation of a country, is to start teaching the children. “Children are the future of Argentina, we must begin by changing their lives”.

 In the end, everyone was able to debrief and bond over the experiences we have had as volunteers. We discussed our concerns and celebrated our accomplishments since being in Argentina. Then we wrote a personal word on the mirror that means "what it is to be a volunteer". All in all, International Volunteer Day at the VG house was a complete success and a great way to share life as a volunteer.

At Voluntario Global, volunteers can participate in which ever project they choose as much as they like. Initiative from the volunteers is always welcome, and this week one of our volunteers showed how to take initiative in classroom activities. Claire, from France, who works in the kindergarten Trevesuras, planned a special day for the kids at her kindergarten. She invited a lady to come to come over one afternoon with fragrance samples such as fruit, food and flowers for the kids to play a guess-the-scent-game. While preparing for the game, the hardest part was keeping the energetic and curious kids out of the room that the volunteers were using to prepare the game. The volunteer standing guard had a full time job trying to stop the kids eager to get past her. The volunteer set up tables with the food that matched some of the scents the kids would smell later.

This way they would have a chance to taste and smell the scent. Finally it was time to get the first team of kids lined up and blindfolded. It was not easy because as soon as the last kids were blindfolded, the first ones had already taken off their blindfolds. In the end, one by one the kids were let into the room that had been set up for the game. In the room, the kids sat down and tried to be discreet as they sneaked a peek from under their blindfolds. Identifying the different fragrances turned out to not be that easy for the kids, but everyone had a lot of fun as they were all calling out what they thought the scent might be. The lady with the fragrances was really good at helping them out and giving them clues. When it was time for the kids to taste the things they had smelled, they had a hard time sticking to only eating one like they were told. Since there were three more teams, this became a bit of a problem, so we quickly got them out to get ready for the next team – and learning from the first round, we removed the food from the table, and in the end we also gave up blindfolding them. Then it was the next group of kids turn to guess all the fragrances, and just like the first bunch, it was hard for them to sit still and not “discreetly” take a peek. Not everyone understood the game entirely; one kid kept saying ‘fideo’ (noodles) to everything, no matter if it was oranges or freesia. All in all the kids seemed to have a really great time playing the scent guessing game.  

Name: Tamara Rilya       Nationality: Israel

Occupation: Student   Volunteering Period: September 2012 – November 2012

-What made you want to apply to volunteer and in particular for the project in the health centre?

I’m going to start studying medicine, so that’s why I chose a medic specific project and I always wanted to volunteer in a different country to understand a different culture.

-How would you describe the project and your job and tasks?

Our tasks vary from day to day as they would do in a normal hospital at home. We shadow the doctors and surgeons and go to different types of health clinics in the local area. We travel around 1 hour to 1hr 30 mins everyday dependent on the type of clinic we go to. Every day we discuss as a group of student doctors what we think the patients diagnoses are and after the doctor has spoken to the patients he explains to us whether we are right or wrong.

-What are some of the best moments around the project and what have you learnt?

I have loved being able to visit the surgery’s as this is an area of medicine that I am most interested in. Also, by meeting other doctors and nurses I have developed my understanding of medicine in different cultures, and can see how it varies to my country.

-Do you have any suggestions or recommendations to look forward to for any volunteers that will be taking part in the same project?

Bring your own scrubs and medical accessories such as gloves and stethoscopes,  you should look forward to experiencing medicine in a completely different way and meeting a lot of very helpful and welcoming doctors and nurses. http://www.voluntarioglobal.org/

By Charisse Hazlett and Ana de Velde Harsenhorst

 Starting in 1996, a group of mothers started meeting together in La Boca, Buenos Aires, to drink milk, eat bread, and share life. They came together to share the food that they had, and support each other in the poor living conditions they found themselves in. Quickly, the group grew and the women started meeting at their local community center now known as Los Pibes. Johan, a young man working at the community center, gave us a tour around the center, and showed that there are a lot of diverse activities going on at the community center now. Upon first entering the building, you will see the computer area. Here, young and old alike can take classes that teach everything from how to use the internet to how to manage Microsoft Office. For many living in La Boca, this is the first time access to the internet has been available. With this new resource, there are extraordinary opportunities for learning and growth in the community. Once a month, “Los Pibes” Food Bank receives food from the government to be equally shared amongst the families who work at the center. Also, ingredients such as rice, flour, sugar, milk and pasta are used to make the three meals served each day.

The sewing cooperative is a key part of the community center. Starting with only a few sewing machines, the people involved managed to begin a dignified job. After a while, they received many donations and now have twelve machines. The women working here are very happy and constantly chatting about politics, which is a crucial occupation in the community, while sewing “guardapolvos”, primary school uniforms. In the radio room, Los Pibes broadcasts a program everyday called “Romper el Cerco”. They talk about the problems in the neighborhood, along with showing the beauty of their neighborhood which is rarely done. In essence, the radio station gives a voice to the voiceless, while aiming to inspire the population. Students can receive additional emotional and intellectual support in after school tutoring and alternative school. The philosophy of Los Pibes is that education brings freedom and everyone has to have the opportunity to be free.

The social support amongst the neighbours at the community center Los Pibes is a crucial factor in their daily struggles. The solidarity helps them overcome some of their troubles and supports them in their quotidian fight against the poverty, especially for decent and worthy housing. The current housing of a lot of residents in La Boca is very problematic. People are living in very poor conditions, often forced to share tiny spaces with too many people. Motivated by these problems a group of people within Los Pibes started the Cooperativa de Vivienda “Los Pibes” (Housing Cooperative “Los Pibes”). They managed to buy, converse and construct twelve real estate properties and make it a home to 48 families associated with Los Pibes. On top of that, this Cooperative is now constructing housing for another 33 families. Important in the formation of this cooperative was the approval of two new laws in parliament (341 and 525), facilitating the formation of housing cooperatives. As Johan told us, “Even though there was a lot of resistance, we managed to get the law through, and it enabled us to organize ourselves and receive credits for the building and repairing of real estate. However, since the Major is head of the city government, the funds have been emptied and this has caused us great delays ”.

This is how the Cooperativa looks now (it will be inaugurated in 2013). Due to the fact that the Los Pibes housing cooperative is feeling disadvantaged in such a manner, they participated in a mobilization last Wednesday, the 14th of November, organized in La Boca, Buenos Aires. Together with other residents of La Boca, they came together in the streets with banners, flags and brooms (to swipe away the injustice), protesting against the current situation in the neighbourhood. They protested because they feel that the laws that were to benefit them regarding housing were left unfulfilled. Also, the amount of people that is being thrown out of their house is increasing and the rents keep going up. This is all partly caused because there is a great new interest in this part of the city. Large real estate companies are interested in investing in the buildings and building ground. This way, the ‘locals’ and original residents of the neighbourhood are being pressured, disadvantaged and even evicted.

“The mayor is a business man, not a politician. He is not particularly interested in the well being of the residents; he just thinks about creating new business opportunities, which he can only do with his big real estate friends” says one of the demonstrators. So the peoples of La Boca took up their banners and brooms and occupied the streets to ask attention for the injustice that is being inflicted upon them. Now that this is done, it is time to talk about a plan for the future. Another meeting will be held today, the 22nd of November, hoping to find a solution to putting up a new plan and hoping some changes can be made to the housing plans in La Boca. http://www.voluntarioglobal.org/

"It was kind of a life decision I made", an interview with The Laundry Project Founder

Armin, the 26 years old co-founder of the Laundry Project, was waiting for me at the train station with his motor bike 'el pequeño bandido II'. He invited me to his hometown ‘Villa Soldati’, a small neighborhood in the South-West of Buenos Aires, where most of the teenagers of the Laundry project live. Villa Soldati is a small neighborhood with nine blocks, in each block there are more than one thousand people living within less than 120 sq meters. It is one of the poorest areas in Buenos Aires with its living standards characterized by substandard housing, squalor and little security. "Only ten years ago, it was not possible for cars to enter the villa", Armin explained.

The small paths that connect the houses are very characteristic for villas but also very dangerous. "If there was an emergency ambulances wouldn’t be able to enter and neither would the police" This lead to numerous problems in Villa Soldati, for both health and crime. But over the past 20 years Villa Soldati has developed through improved living conditions. As part of the improvement programs for slums in Buenos Aires the Argentinean government has regulated the building of new properties, with new builds and improved infrastructure. However living in a villa like Armin's hometown is complicated. In the same way that water and lights only work two out of every three days, only every second teenagers will finish secondary school.

For this reason various social organizations and volunteer groups try to support and improve the situation for the youth. It was in an after school center in Villa Soldati, where Valeria, the founder of Voluntario Global was teaching art, and the idea of the Laundry Project was born. The aim was to create a student-run cooperative which allows young men and women to gain valuable work experience while financing their studies. "It was an answer to a need", Armin explained. Back in 2009 when the cooperative was founded, only a few students finished secondary school, the rest felt obliged to support their families by working in low-skilled jobs and in bad working conditions.

When I asked Armin how the cooperative helped him the most, he answered that at first it helped him to finish secondary school, which as a result gave him a better education and more possibilities. In his years with Voluntario Global he finished secondary school and started studying at university. "I am now only missing six more subjects to receive my university degree."  But the Laundry Project is more than just the possibility to work in a secure and uplifting environment. "It helps in a different and more sustainable way", Armin tells.

In a cooperative like the Laundry Project the teenagers do gain work experience and are given the ability to finish their school, but more importantly is the life experience they gain. For most of the teenagers escaping from their poor life in the villas, becoming professional and earning a lot of money is the most important thing. But "It is more important for them to feel useful, to feel responsible and be part of something." Armin explains. Looking back at his own experiences he knows that in the end, to him, this is what counts the most. "With my qualifications and contacts it would be easy to get a better job and start working in a big company," he admits.

But this is not what he wants anymore. He has followed the growth of the Laundry Project from the beginning and knows how important projects like these are for young people. For him the Laundry Project is more than just a job. "It was a kind of life decision I made, a political vision." He enjoys working with the teenagers and wants to give them a helping hand."I want to pass on what I have learnt. I want to show them that it’s not only me who can get somewhere, it is them as well." The co-operative can be an example for other projects, but most of all, for the youth. "Because they see that it is possible, they are able to work together, to organize themselves and to improve their future!" Thank you, Armin! Y buena suerte!