Barriletes

I thought I would start at the very beginning and explain how and why I became interested in volunteering.
I realized early into the second year that as much as I love school, I wasn't ready to go back straight after UWC. I then began to explore my options. Volunteering seemed interesting and I attended Pete's workshops on being a volunteer. He really made me think hard about whether it was something I wanted to do. It was stressed that this was not something to take lightly and that if I was applying I should be 100% committed. After discussing it with my parents and some of my friends that were interested in going, I decided that it was something that seemed very worthwile. I decided I wanted to go to Latin America because I think becoming fluent in another language is an added bonus to spending my time working for an organization. I researched many of the organizations and asked Pete about some of them. Originally I had applied for one in Peru, but then I was informed that the minimum age had been risen to 24. Being only 19, I had to again begin researching. I applied to Barriletes because it combines many things I like, children, journalism, learning about another culture, and attempting to help those in poverty. I have put on here what is said on Pete's volunteering pages because it is already explained very clearly.

What?
Barriletes (Kites) is a civil Association founded by professionals in the area of Communication, whose main objective is to instil a positive attitude towards working habits, fostering solidarity, and promoting active citizenship among street children and their families living under extreme poverty and/or enduring social exclusion. Barriletes issues a monthly magazine –street paper- whose production is the result of collective work, and its sale an alternative source of income for the participants. The organization is a path to other opportunities, for it motivates and leads all its members into educational, cultural, and recreational activities.As an organization of the civil society, Barriletes strives to exert its influence on public policies towards the generation of genuine work, the promotion and respect of The Universal Rights of Children and Adolescents, and the construction of a democratic society with social justice, cooperation and solidarity among all.
Where?
In Paraná, Argentina(6-hour drive from Buenos Aires)

Volunteers’ Tasks:
For the area of Communication (1) :Volunteer joins the Communication-Workshop and assists the team in the production of contents for the magazine, writing/editing articles, suggesting possible graphic designs, and doing/monitoring the photographic production. 10 hours per week.
For the Area of Social Work: (2):Volunteers join the staff of social-workers and street-agents to visit the children and their families, listen to their inquiries, spark their participation in beneficial activities other than the magazine, help them arrange timetables for the activities undertaken, coordinate collective conversational exchanges and support their development as contributing members of society. 10 hours per week.For the Area of Education and Expression (2):Volunteers must join the staff of communicators, educators and social promoters who coordinate different workshops (oral expression, computers, reading); helping them recruit members, organize activities, carry on recreational and cultural activities, as well as mentoring the youngsters in the acquisition of skills in the different fields of expression. 10 hours per week.
Now you all know as much as I do about the organization. I will definitely explain more when I find out myself.

I just wanted to also make a note of something. Recently I was discussing the idea of volunteering with a girl who had recently come back from a 3 month volunteer trip. She was in a very poor country and had seen many things that had deeply disturbed her. She was also very negative to the idea of volunteering after she had gone herself. She claimed that many countries were over-run with volunteers doing nothing, or just encouraging dependency in those countries. I just wanted to respond. I think it is true that some organizations do not always help people, the same way that aid does not always help, but there are many vital organizations out there who are doing a lot of good and although it may be depressing because even as I write this I know that I cannot "save the world" or "make a difference" by volunteering for just 6 months, yet I think each persons part will make a small little difference in the world. Even if you can only help one person, it seems to me worth it. Also, I realize that volunteering for me is also quite selfish in the fact that I will get to learn Spanish and I will get to see some of my friends along the way, but does this make what I am doing of less value because I will be gaining from the experience as a person? No, I think not. Perhaps someday when I am better educated I can make a true difference, not to a few individuals but to a much larger group of people.

Well anyway, who knows what I will think in 6 months? It is nice I could write this post and see how much my thoughts have changed after volunteering.

If anyone has any questions just ask. Thanks!

2 Weeks

Well I decided to start a blog just because it is much easier for me to communicate with my friends and family when I am in Argentina via this blog, rather than sending emails to update people on what is happening. I have no idea how much internet access I will have but I will try to update as much as I can.

Right now it is exactly two weeks before I take a plane to Buenos Aires. September 11th. That is the day. Yes, I know, a bit strange that I pick this day to fly on, but at the end of the school year Karl Oskar, Isabell, and I had decided that we wanted to leave around September 10th. Can you believe that tickets were 200 dollars cheaper on September 11th than September 10th?? It surprises me that people still don't like to fly on that day, even 6 years later. The funny part is that I am not even flying through the US. I go Edmonton to Toronto and from Toronto all the way to Santiago. From Santiago I take a 2 hour flight to Buenos Aires. I will arrive on September 12th in the afternoon.

From there I must take a 4 hour bus ride to the house of Bruna's daughter where Bruna and her husband Ernesto will be. They will drive me to Parana. All in all, it should be a solid two days of travel.

I am nervous right now. Mainly about the Spanish part. My reading and writing have improved a great deal but speaking and understanding is still very difficult for me.
However, my host mother Nancy seems extremely nice. I have been emailing with her a lot over the past two months. My Spanish teacher Graciela also seems like a lot of fun and I think the Spanish classes I take will be interesting and probably I will learn a lot in a short period of time. Finally, Bruna has been working tirelessley to make our preparations as smooth as possible. I am quite exicted to finally meet all these fantastic people. Not to mention learning about and working for the organization, Barriletes. Of course it won't hurt that I get to see Karl Oskar and Isabell again.

I am missing people from my college a lot right now. Mattie just left on Sunday after staying for a week. We had a lot of fun and I'm really glad she could come visit. During the weekdays I had to work so that was too bad. But on the weekend we went out with my friends (celebrated Jayce and Lindsey's birthdays).

This is my last week of work so that excites me! I want to ask my boss if it is possible for me to work here again next year as the summer student. I will do it tomorrow I think. I am also going to bake the Snikkarbua chocolate and cheescakes for Friday as I way to say thankyou to everyone at the office. It has actually been a pleasant place to work except for the fact that I find my job extremely boring and tedious.

Well I will probably be updating as September 11th draws closer, I need to go now.

Oh and btw, I am on page 100 of Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. I want to keep track of my progress on this book, as it is my first chapter book in Spanish.

Here is the current currency conversion for Canadian Dollars and Argentinian Pesos. It will be interesting to see how this changes over time.

1.00 CAD = 2.98 ARS

1.00 ARS = 0.335 CAD