Back in Argentina

Though in many ways it seems longer, it’s just over five weeks since we got back to Salta. We hit the ground running, and it’s been non stop since – reason for which we have not got round to updating our blog site.

We completed our round of church visits in the UK (and round of flu viruses), with our last Church visit in Southampton only 2 days before our departure. It was good to be able to renew friendships and meet new people. We felt very encouraged by people’s interest and support and are particularly grateful to our home group for their generosity in the provision of a house, car, computer and many other little items that make living a little easier whilst in the U.K.

The kids enjoyed meeting up with friends from Sunday school and youth group at St Paul’s Church in St. Albans. They also enjoyed an unusually heavy snowfall which allowed them to build the snowman they had wanted to build for some time now.

On the way back to Argentina we stopped off in Washington DC for 3 nights. We were able to visit a couple of museums, do some shopping and enjoy not having to run around for a bit! We had good flights, though had a nervous moment when we were told we had no seats on the flight from Washington down to Bs. As. We did get on eventually, once they upgraded a couple of passengers to make room for us in economy (there seemed to be a lack of justice in that arrangement!)

The children were very pleased to get back home and were keen to get meat back into their diets. They had one day to adapt to being back before heading off to school on the Monday after we arrived. Fortunately this year they all go to school in the morning (Carolina had to go to school in the afternoon last year). This has made things much easier in terms of logistics, cutting total time spent on school runs by half.

Work wise Andrew is adapting to his new part-time role with ASOCIANA. His focus for the time being is on the publication of a book containing data generated through a participatory research process with over 150 indigenous communities. He has also completed a visit to Colombia, to do some work for Compassion International. This trip took him to Bogotá and Apartadó, not far from the border with Panama. This was his first visit to that country and indeed his first piece of consultancy for Compassion.

Another area Andrew will now be concentrating on is in helping indigenous communities evaluate and respond to the environmental impact analysis (EIAs) that private companies have to submit to the government in order to obtain permission to clear forests for agriculture. These EIAs tend to be extremely poor in content, yet are presented in highly complex documents that local folk find intimidating and are unable to respond to.

We are pleased to report that we were able to contribute together with a group of other local organizations to putting a stop to a major project by an Argentine confectionary company to clear some 30 thousand hectares of land right on the border of the lands being claimed by Indinas along the Pilcomayo river.

Our land lady died suddenly last year, and as a result, the house we are currently renting is going up for sale. We are not sure how long the process might take, but have to be ready to move with relatively short notice. This is motivating us to get our own house finished as soon as we can, and within the funds that we can raise for that purpose. We may be able to move into the part that we have built so far, but would still be short of a kitchen, dining room and a few other key spaces one needs for comfortable living (e.g. somewhere to house the washing machine!).

This week we have two birthdays in the family: Tomas (2^nd April coinciding with the 25^th anniversary of the Falklands/Malvinas insvasion) and Carolina (5^th April). Tomas celebrated his sixteenth birthday with school mates, having a BBQ followed by a paint ball fight. Carolina who will be nine promises to be a much tamer affair, she’s opted for a bouncy castle!