Sarah's Experience as a volunteer

Whenever I mention that I have volunteered in Argentina, people are often surprised to hear that I spent my time with an indigenous tribal community, far removed from the Argentine connotations of cosmopolitan cities; of the developed South America.  Before arriving in the community, I had been well informed by Redes Solidarias about the situation in the village.  I knew they had no electricity, no running water, no telephones, and much of my mental preparation was concerned with how I would adapt to the absence of these commodities.  However, when I arrived in the community,  far more challenging and rewarding, was becoming accustomed to their cultural pace and values, and through this making friends with such kind and spirited people.  The more insight I gained the more I appreciated the importance of charities such as Redes Solidarias, and the beneficial work that they do there.

Having spent a month in Buenos Aires, I felt like I had become accustomed to Argentine living.  I loved the cosmopolitan and bohemian lifestyle that Buenos Aires offered and thus concluded that I loved Argentina. However, the further our rickety bus went from Tartagal, the deeper we traveled into the sparse, dusty landscape of El Chaco and I realized I was immersed in an Argentina which entirely contrasted with everything I had experienced previously. As we approached La Estrella, young bare-footed, smiling faces appeared from nowhere and chased the bus into the village.  I had seen photos and heard stories about the community and their way of life, but I had not anticipated how culture shocked I would feel when I first arrived. The village was dry and dusty, and in amongst the scattered trees were traditional straw huts.  From them emerged indigenous women in brightly colored floral skirts, carrying babies in cloth across their front. With them came the men of the village, and flocks of beautiful children.  They smiled and were mesmerized by my every move as they chattered to one another in their traditional tribal languages. I had never met people so different from myself, and likewise they had never encountered anyone with such blue eyes and fair skin! It was incredible to believe that these tribal people were of the same nationality as the fashionable potenos I had been amongst a few days before. This was as much the real Argentina as anywhere.

Arriving with Mercedes from the charity meant that the people immediately trusted me and, although timid, they were eager to welcome me into their community. They were very attached to Mercedes and grateful for all the help and support she and the other charity workers had enabled.  Redes Solidarias aim to improve the quality of life for isolated, indigenous villages like La Estrella, and the community were proud to show me the various ways in which Redes Solidarias had successfully done this. Within education, they had provided a school, kindergartens and materials; within health they had given them a water pump with safe drinking water and better medical equipment and knowledge; within agriculture they have enabled the production of paprika and thus a means of income for the community; and soon they hoped to complete a workshop which enables the local women to produce and sell their woven products. My role as a volunteer was to provide creative and stimulating activities for the many children in La Estrella.  From the onset, Mercedes made it clear that their was a lot of flexibility to pursue any other voluntary tasks I felt necessary, and I really appreciated the freedom and potential to use my own initiative to do things such as help the health workers, create volley ball contests and other odd-jobs.  In the mornings I helped in the kindergarten as a classroom assistant. The children live in open huts and are unrestricted in their freedom to roam and explore the village and its surroundings, thus the greatest challenge of all was trying to confine eighteen 3-5 year olds in one classroom!  I mainly assisted in art based activities, and I also enjoyed watching the children learn and develop their understandings and their castellano. At lunch time Redes Solidarias provided the community with a meal, after which I would do an activity with the children.  Both Mercedes and the elderly locals had mentioned that as the community developed, it was important that the children maintained their wonderful culture and traditions.  For this reason I tried to plan activities that incorporated local stories, or used natural materials like sand, clay and leaves.  However, above all else, the children loved to draw and so towards the end of my stay we had a mask-making competition which was a great success! Despite living basic lives, the children in La Estrella are consistently happy with a lot of personality. There is little for them to do in the village and they seemed to really appreciate and enjoy having organized activities to pass the time with. I got so much pleasure from helping them draw and create, as well as just watching them chatter and laugh and sing in their tribal languages.

In the evenings I tended to spend my time with a girl called Maricia and her friends.   Maricia was only fourteen years old and 5 months pregnant and she was incredibly mature and caring.  She went out of her way to help me adapt to village ways and taught me how the women washed, cooked and made fires.  She was less timid than most of the women in the community and she would accompany me by my fire every night where we would exchange stories about our cultures.  Maricia definitely helped me feel more relaxed and involved in the community but there were inevitably times when I felt estranged from the culture and people.  Sometimes this was because of practicalities, like always having to cook on a fire, being unable to sleep because of animals, or the fact I was always filthy and unable to wash properly.  On other occasions it was difficult living in such a close-knit community where there was little sense of privacy, and sometimes I had to accept that there were cultural boundaries and perspectives which I could not understand. It was not always easy living in La Estrella and there were times when I felt overwhelmed by my circumstances however, in hindsight they pale in comparison to the incredible memories, people and culture I was briefly a part of.

On my last night in La Estrella Maricia and me sat by my fire and discussed the stars. In a community with no electricity and no pollution they seem to extend beyond the sky and dominate the whole village.  I explained that in my culture we were so busy looking ahead, I rarely stopped to think about the stars, or the river or the wind.  I felt so fortunate to have spent a month living and working with such a unique community and to have gained such insight into their culture, and consequently my own.  Although it was sad to say good bye I felt like I was leaving with far more than I had arrived. The children had enjoyed the attention and activities that we had shared over the past month, similarly, some of the older youths had improved their confidence through speaking to me and helping me, and people such as Maricia had benefited from learning about the perspectives of someone from outside the community of La Estrella. More than ever I realized how grateful and deserving the community was for all the great help provided by Redes Soldarias.  I left with enormous respect for both La Estrella, and equally for Redes Soldarias who utilized and strengthened the bridge between the developed Argentina and the indigenous communities of the North.  They had drastically improved the standard of living of communities like La Estrella, and through doing so they had culturally and spiritually enriched the lives of those as fortunate as myself, to experience and learn from their indigenous culture.