Digital News AFS Reconquista Local Chapter
You will reach your destination even if you travel very slowly Icelandic proverb
Number 15 March 2012
Sverrir Helgason is from Iceland and he lived his exchange experience for a year in Reconquista from February 2007 to January 2008. This picture shows him having mates at the tectonic faults: Eurasian Plate (to the East) and the North American Plate (to the West), which divide Iceland between two continents.
Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
AFS in Reconquista E-mail: rl.reconquista@afs.org -  1544-4471
Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
The 2nd FORMIVATE (Formative and Motivational AFS Camp) took place from Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th March in Río Ceballos, Córdoba. I had the pleasure to participate in this Camp which, as its name suggests in Spanish, aims to FORM and MOTIVATE volunteers from the AFS Southern Cone Region. About 45 volunteers from Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina participated in different sessions which trained us in the different areas the AFS programmes have. We could also share different ideas as regards how things are done in the different countries, talks, stories and experiences which may help us in the future to solve any problem or difficult situation. We also had some fun: we had an INTERCULTURAL NIGHT where each participant shared typical things such as traditional meals, presents, clothes and drinks. Ma. Virginia Loza
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Formivate 2012
Formivate: 2nd Camp (Formative and Motivational) for AFS volunteers from the Southern Cone Region (Argentina, Brasil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) We could also enjoy the cool water from a small waterfall, a tourist attraction near "La Estancita“ – where we were staying – surrounding FORMIVATE with pure nature. The mates (hot and cold ones) were present in the talks. The fire pit we shared at night and all our previous experiences helped shape this new adventure and friendship.
Reconquista was invited to the Board
By Sergio Sanchez, AFS Reconquista Local Chapter President
Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
The Asociación Civil AFS Programas Interculturales National Board is the ruling body for our Organisation. It is made up of 7 members who are volunteers chosen by the rest of volunteers who are in turn part of AFS. Since 2010, the National Board has invited different Local Chapters – presidents and volunteers – to the different meetings they normally have during the year. Last Saturday, 3rd March, Reconquista was invited to participate in the meeting together with Santa Fe and Parana’s Local Chapters, in the city of Santa Fe. Juan Medici - National CEO - and the different coordinators for the different areas at the office were also present at the meeting. As Local Chapter President, I talked about our present situation, the numbers for Sending and Hosting Programmes, and the different projects our local chapter has been carrying out for the last 2 years. We also expressed our intention to grow steadily, as we have been doing lately, with a greater emphasis on the relationship with other institutions and schools from all the cities and towns members of AFS Reconquista.
The National Board of Asociación Civil Interculturales has the following members: Chair: Secretary: Treasurer: Members:
AFS
Programas
Cecilia Alberdi (Rosario) José Manuel Buyatti (Reconquista) Patricia Marinovich (Montevideo, Uruguay) Juan Manuel Aguilera (Buenos Aires) Gladys Aguirre (Resistencia) Víctor Oporto (Santa Fe) Hugo Paez Padró (Mendoza)
The Board is partially renewed every year in a General Assembly, and each Member keeps the position for two years.
The other local chapters at the meeting also talked about their own realities and experiences, and the National Board told us how the organisation is projecting itself into the future, the challenges for the present year and the new projects which are part of the Organisation’s Strategic Plan, which was voted last year for all chapter Presidents. After the formal meeting, and into Santa Fe city’s nightlife, host volunteers, their neighbours from Paraná (Entre Ríos Province), National Board Members and Staff went to enjoy an asado in a well-known restaurant of the province’s capital city. It was a great night, spent with old friends and new ones who have just started to work for AFS Argentina & Uruguay, eager to help fulfil our collective dream of having a fearer and more peaceful world.
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Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
AFS Welcome dinner
9th March 2012
The party was at Club AtlĂŠtico Adelante Reconquista. It was a new edition of the now traditional AFS Welcome Dinner, which takes place twice a year to honour our guests to our Local Chapter. This is also meant to receive the new host families who venture to live this intercultural experience by opening their homes to an exchange student. Marie Kalwa (former exchange student in Reconquista - 2005) was our special guest together with her host family LarreaGoldaraz.
The AFS volunteers could not be absent from this celebration, and most of them went accompanied by their own families.
Marisa Goldaraz and Roberto Larrea and their daughter Marie (Germany)
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These are the eight exchange students part of AFS Reconquista
AFS RL Reconquista volunteers, at the party!
The new Host Families and their AFS children!
Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
The main guests were: ❶ Family Fabrissin-Ittig from Reconquista, who are welcome family to Danilo from Brazil. ❷ Family Fantin-Vicentin from Villa Ocampo, who are family to Aleena from Thailand. ❸ Family Flores from Calchaquí, who are family to Alexandria from the USA.
Alexandria, Aleena and Danilo showing the AFS Tshirts they had received as presents.
Every exchange student holds their flag-shaped cake proudly, next to their host families. They received the traditional AFS gifts: the AFS Mate and T-shirt. The three new students received their presents promising to send us a picture having mates once they are back in their home countries.
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Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
The Sending families also said Yes! to the party Four of the five families whose children are abroad came to the party to share their children’s experience as well as their own. They are:
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Franco Lorenzini’s brother and mum
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Franco Reniero’s parents and brother
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❶ Franco Lorenzini’s family, who is in Finland since August 2011 and up to June 2012. ❷María Laura Buyatti’s family, who is in Germany also since August 2011 and up to June 2012. ❸ Franco Reniero’s family, who has travelled to New Zealand for a semester from February 2012 until June 2012. ❹ María Eugenia Mina’s family, who is in Costa Rica from February 2012 until January 2013 in a year exchange programme. María Laura Buyatti and Franco Lorenzini sent their greetings in a letter, aimed at the new exchange students and their host families who were happy to receive encouraging words from those who are brave enough to go abroad themselves. Mara Torossian’s family, who is in Germany for a year until January 2013, could not attend because they had something already planned. Anyway, we all remember them and our student Mara. All the Argentinian exchange students had their own personalised cake, with the flag of their host country and who was held by their families for the pictures. Each family shared some minutes of experience when they talked about how they are doing without their children, and how the latter are living their time abroad.
María Laura Buyatti’s parents
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Ma. Euguenia Mina’s parents and sister
They are all hoping to see them back, though they are really happy their own children can have the chance to live this life-changing experience.
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Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
Our Host Families Four out of five host families, who are part of the AFS network from since August 2011, also came to say hello and tell us about their exchange experience.
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They are: ❶ Family Sosa-Luna, host family to Augusta (Denmark). ❷ Family Stechina-Baez, host family to Tine (Germany). ❸ Family Regonat-Menichelli, host family to Carlo (Italy). ❹ Jóhanna (Iceland) and her contact person, Sergio Sanchez. Her family, Redigonda-Rodriguez could not travel from Calchaquí this time. ❺ Family Pellegrini-Villalba, host family to Bára (Faroe Islands)
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They are all in the middle of their intercultural exchange experience, and they shared with us and the other families their feelings and emotions. Each family had their own cake which represented the flag of the country their AFS children are from. It was really moving to see them all so happy.
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Ma. Laura Buyatti and Franco Lorenzini, from Germany and Finland Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
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greet the new exchange students and their host families
Visit from Germany
Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
Marie Kalwa came to visit friends and family in Reconquista
Marie Kalwa was an exchange student in our Local
Chapter from February 2005 until January 2006. She stayed with the Larrea-Goldaraz family, and since then has come back many times to ensure the bonds she made back in 2005 are still strong as she had left them. She came to visit one more time in February 2012.
Marie will stay in our community for the next month, but not only on holidays with family and friends but also to take an internship at Reconquista’s Hospital. She is in her forth year at Medicine School RWTH Aachen University in Aquisgrån, Germany. She is planning to visit some friends and also to travel to those places in our country she has not met yet.
From left to right: Gonzalo, Marie, Marisa Goldaraz and Roberto Larrea
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For us this was a very convincing experience and it corresponds very much with our philosophy; to believe in people more than depending systems, rules and regulations.
Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
“Being parents to and AFS student – a very positive experience” By Berit and Mogens, Augusta’s natural parents
The first meeting with AFS was a very positive meeting with “a family” of open and friendly people.
One and half year ago our daughter Augusta Kirkeby expressed a strong interest in becoming an exchanges student. Or more precisely, it started with a less specific wish about learning the Spanish language and visiting another country. This is a small story about the experiences and considerations of her parents – from the wish of a teenager to the real thing in Argentina. Believing in a system open and friendly people The first step was to find out how such a wish could be realized. What was possible and who could assist. Very quickly it became clear to us that quite a few institutions and organizations are operating in the field of youth exchanges. Organizations with appealing names, colorful websites with nice pictures and happy stories gave the impression that a lot of organizations were ready to help. Having no practical experiences with any of the organizations offering exchange programs, we decided to meet with representatives from three organizations. All were very helpful and friendly, but we nevertheless we felt a difference. The first meetings with representatives from AFS were very positive and both our daughter and we felt that the people we met, were not representing AFS – they were AFS and proud to be so. In other words, we immediately got the positive feeling that AFS is an idea – not a business – but an idea based on a network of open and friendly people.
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Technical procedures and paper work
With this positive’ human injection’ as the first AFS experience the case was clear and luckily also AFS felt comfortable with “the girl with the wish to learn Spanish and visit another culture”. Very quickly and through an open dialogue with a former exchange student, Argentina became the big and rather unknown country for the experience ahead. So far, both the parents and the future exchange student was smile all over.
Then we were hit by the bureaucratic hammer – called the paper work! From friendly communication and human AFS relations the reality became documents, data and documentation. We were of course aware of that documentation is necessary, but it was quite a contrast where everything so far had been with and about people. Now it was about papers – a lot of papers. But also papers can have human stories. Here is one from the process of collecting documents. One of the documents the student has to deliver is the certificate from the police. Entering a police station for the first time in her life our daughter presented her request and the police officer asked for what purpose she needed such document. When the answer was to becoming exchange student the police officer started a longer conversation about his own experience as exchange student in Canada 40 years ago ending with a polite “enjoy your stay - it can be an experience for life”. That’s service from a police officer!
Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
Back to the real thing - Hola from Avellaneda Having finished our part of the paper work is was another piece of paper – a letter from the future host family - that brought us back to real thing – the connection between people. We remember the first letter from our daughters host family as very positive and quite emotional. Now it was not any longer a country – a huge country – now it suddenly became real people with names living in a town called Avellaneda. A family who were ready and committed to open their doors and to host our daughter as part of their family. This was somehow amazing and we felt very thankful that the family of Andrea Luna and Jorge Sosa was expecting our daughter. Thank you to our daughter’s host family, to contact persons, to AFS for giving our daughter the possibility to a unique life experience. We send our best wishes to AFS Reconquista and to Andrea, Jorge and sons and to the friends of Augusta who made this experience for her – and us - possible. This is the real power of connecting people! Thank you.
Augusta and her
Argentinian family, in a family trip to Córdoba (Argentina)
Berit and Mogens, Birkerød, Denmark
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Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
So different… but so alike By Andrea Luna, host mother to Augusta Kirkeby (Denmark) So different... But so alike... I decided to open my story with this phrase because after being Augusta’s mum for 6 months, I found out that, even though we share no blood, we can think and feel almost the same things. At first it was difficult, logically. It was normal because our languages are so different, but we could communicate through signs and gestures, which sometimes were not enough. With lots of love and patience, things started to work out. Communicating with ‘Juampi’, our son, was much easier for Augusta. They spoke in English at the beginning, but after a while we had to make them stop doing so or Spanish will never come to her. For the younger ones, Nahuel, Mateo and Tadeo, it was fun listening Augusta saying her first words in our language. Sometimes they would come out different to want she meant and sometimes words did not come out at all. Later, normal life came back at home, school with friends, nights out, and the family trips we have enjoyed together. We always have fun learning from Augusta, and teaching her about us and our country. Now we can say that we have one daughter, that daughter nature - but not life - denied me. This experience makes us enjoy simple things, learn, share and value all we have. Our family accepts Augusta as part of it, and she loves us the way we are... So different and so alike at the same time. We see now that love can overcome any ideology and borders as well. To finish, we just have to say thanks to AFS, for their support and for allowing simple families like ours live such special moments, which will remain in our memories and hearts for ever.
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My intercultural experience
Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures
By Carlo Mazzoleni (AFS Italy) It’s been six months I am in Argentina and I cannot believe how fast it has been. It seems to me that it was yesterday when I said farewell to my natural family, my friends, my town, and I went up that plane which was going to take me to a new life. I was really excited when I arrived, but I did not really know what was waiting for me. I did not know much about Argentina, actually, so I decided to live in it without much though – just like an Argentinian would do! Everybody had told me it was a beautiful country with nice friendly people, and after six months here I can say those people had not lied to me at all. My “new” parents took me in as their own child, and all the family is warm, friendly and they did everything for me to be at home.
A bit more complicated was my first day at school. Nobody knew in my classroom that an exchange boy would be joining them, and it would be their first time as well. When I entered the classroom for the first time, and after the headmaster had introduced me to the group, I saw 23 faces staring a me as if I was an alien. I did not know what to do, or say, and I thought How am I going to make friends if they do not talk to me??? I sat down and started getting ready. Five minutes later, everybody was talking to me and asking things. They told me their names, or invited me to go out. I could not understand much, but it was easy to make friends.
Carlo and his Argentinian family at the Paraná River
Everything is perfect now, and I know it will be awful leaving home. However, it is an amazing experience and I know I will come back to Argentina some day. Thanks AFS for making all these possible!
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The AFS mate in Iceland In this issue’s front page we can see Sverrir Helgason (he was an AFS Iceland exchange student in Reconquista) with a sign which reads “Bridge between two continents”.
It is right there where the Eurasian Plate (to the East) and the North American Plate (to the West) meet, allowing people to cross from one continent to the other (from America to Europe) by just going over a 25-steps bridge. In this page, we can see him with his mate in the gardens of Alþingi (the Icelandic Parliament) in Reykjavik. Þingvellir (which means “assembly plains”), about 50 kilometres from Reykjavík, is where the first colonists founded their first parliament meeting place called "Alþing" in 930. This is up to today the oldest Parliament in the world.
AFS Reconquista Contacts José Manuel Buyatti 1544-4471 María Elena Landi 421350 Claudia Lanteri 424507 Sergio Sanchez 1545-7527 E-mail: rl.reconquista@afs.org www.afs.org.ar AFS RL RECONQUISTA
Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures