Felicitaciones 1 Advent

Tarija e Promutar.

Las chapaquitas

Finally I arrived in Tarija. The city is really nice, with beautiful squares surrounded by palm trees and blooming roses. The people crowded the streets that smell of empanadas and saltegnas. We are full of Tarija and the Carnival is one of the most famous of Bolivia, after the one Oruru. Today is the Feast de las comadres, and women dress in the costume Chapaco , with short skirts and colorful shawls with floral embroidery, hat, and the inevitable long braids that characterize women and the Bolivian crowd the squares and streets, dancing in small groups. This evening I will celebrate with some friends here that carry me to dance the traditional dances ... it will be funny!
Tuesday I started working at Promutar. The impact was a po'forte because I've found to handle this class of children of various ages all alone, because by the time the association has no money to pay staff. The person running Promutar, Dogna Albina, is a very intelligent woman with a huge heart. I'm talking a lot with her to be able to better understand the internal politics of Promutar and what they expect from me. During this year Albina would be able to make a list of working children not attending school and therefore will never have access to education ... if not in projects such as Promutar. This list should be submitted to the institutions of Tarija in the hope that ... ... perhaps utopian whether to take on these children and ensure their access to education equal to that of their peers. To compile this list we're going to talk to people in poorer neighborhoods, getting in touch with the families of working children and trying to establish with them a relationship that lasts. Vamos a ver , as they say here!

Mercado Central

It is not always easy for me to confront these people with these kids, that they have their very special ... the dignity that we children of the rich West can not even imagine. When I look into your eyes Nicol, who worked 14 years as a servant in a family, I think of my 14 years, and all the comforts and privileges that I had and still have. And inside of me made you open a chasm of pain, resentment, humiliation, gratitude and relief ... because yes, I can not deny it, I think that in Italy a house clean and plastered with running water and a family that I have never done anything I missed a great relief. When I enter in this mood I feel very confused ... I wonder if my stay here will really something or if it is simply a kind of self-gratification, which is needed to bridge the sense of guilt that arise from the perception that I have all the luck than many others around the world ...
But notice the tedious ramblings ...
I'm starting to know a bit of very nice people, every day I feel part of this strange reality, other than where I grew up, and speeding on micro crammed with people through the streets of Tarija, shopping at mercado campesino where contracts with cholitas, boil water to make it drinkable, drinking terrible coffee roasted to Copacabana and then ignore it when men whistle at me in the street instead of lightning ... gestures become a new daily, which is slowly making me so happy!