This blog post will provide a recap of the run up to our Habitat for Humanity Global Village Challenge and our time building in Buenos Aires. It will be a useful reference point for the 70 blog posts that have preceded this one.

This Blog and the inkstersgive.com website were officially launched on 23 September 2009 with thanks to corporate sponsor, Innovation Digital.

There is a link from the InkstersGive site to our JustGiving  page, and it was not long before the donations started rolling in. This included our first US donation from Richard Prickman of Bitcher & Prickman. However, he was not allowed to outdo his Partner, Beatrice Bitcher. There followed more donations from my Twitter followers including generous corporate sponsors: The Trial Warrior, Silverman Sherliker and Valentilaw. The generosity of Twitter followers was overwhelming as seen in Fundraising and the Power of Twitter and #FollowFriday for Just Giving.

We had asked for help to cover our hard hats with logos and were having good success. In addition to those corporate sponsors already mentioned we had Inksters, Page\Park, Harley Haddow and Theatreplan on board. They were to be joined by Barr Brady, Oce and Jeffrey Aitken.

We were getting plenty of attention in the legal and architectural press, all helping to raise awareness and encourage donations.

In amongst all this we started Spanish classes with a teacher from Argentina at Centro Español Loco. We were to go on to take 5 Spanish lessons in total. Our teacher ended up joining our La Bordona Tango class at Sloans.

I read a Chinese Poem from 700BC. Our T-Shirts were printed and offered for sale. We were all set to head to Argentina.

Nicola and I arrived in Argentina a couple of days ahead of the rest of our Group. This gave us a chance to acclimatise and recover from the jet lag before beginning building work. It also meant we experienced floods in Buenos Aires on our first day there.

When the rest of the Group (13 of us in total) arrived from the UK it was straight into Orientation and learning about the 22 de Enero neighbourhood that we would be working in.

Then building works commenced. By the end of day 4 which consisted of painting, digging holes and moving concrete fence posts I was very tired but equally elated. Our active filled days passed by quickly with a brick wall, yellow paint and a concrete column, not to mention a higher wall, more yellow paint and a bedroom extension.

We were also able to celebrate the work we had done with the community when we attended the inauguration of the room we painted yellow.

On a day where work was rained off we had the opportunity to visit the Recovering Urban Homes Project and learn of the other work Habitat for Humanity was doing within Buenos Aires. On the way Jas met Maradona in La Boca.

On day 8 and on day 9 we were given time off for rest and relaxation. This allowed us to see Buenos Aires and take in some Tango.

Then back to work and Nicola and I worked together one morning on Tito’s wall. Nicola spent most of her time in La Matanza building Tito’s wall and became a very accomplished bricklayer as a result. I moved around more to work on different projects such as building Miguel’s walls, moving earth at Alejandro’s property, moving rubble at Antoñin’s house, and building Germán’s tower. This gave me a good perspective on the different living conditions and family units that exist in 22 de Enero. It had been particularly gratifying to help the poorest of these families who were just starting out to build homes to replace the shacks they were living in.

Our time at La Matanza came to a close and we had to say farewell to 22 de Enero community. The families were truly grateful for the time we had spent with them and the work we had been able to do for them. Beba wrote a thank you note and Alejandro wrote that “if all the world helped like you, all the world would be better”. With tears in our eyes the bus took us out over the dirt track from 22 de Enero and back to Buenos Aires.

Then it was time to say farewell to Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina and have a “make your world a home” photograph taken.

Back in the UK I blogged that it was “over but not out”. Indeed with Tessa Shepperson making Habitat for Humanity her Charity of the month at Landlord-Law Blog and Armitage Associates becoming our Christmas Corporate Sponsor the fundraising continues. As 2009 comes to a close I will be considering how best we can retain links with our new friends in 22 de Enero and help them in 2010. In the meantime please help them this Christmas by giving at www.justgiving.com/argentina2009.

The Landlord-Law Blog from landlord and tenant solicitor, Tessa Shepperson, has very kindly made Habitat for Humanity their Charity of the Month (December 2009). In her blog post Tessa refers to our trip to Argentina and Inksters' support of the Charity.

Thank you Tessa for your support and for highlighting the work of Habitat for Humanity in this way.

Follow Tessa Shepperson on Twitter

Our Habitat for Humanity Global Village Challenge in Argentina is over in so far as our physical participation in the build project is concerned but it is far from completed. Having, experienced first hand the plight of the residents of 22 de Enero and their genuine warmth and gratitude we will be continuing to do what we can from afar to assist them. Our fundraising will continue at www.justgiving.com/argentina2009. If you have not already made a donation then please consider doing so. Every penny counts and with the exchange rate between the AR$ and the UK£ being about 6:1 even a modest donation will make a big difference to the lives of people in real need.

I will continue to blog about our experiences in Buenos Aires. Even although I have brought this blog up to date to the point of our farewell with the families and our farewell with the Habitat staff there are still topics and experiences that I have not had the chance to cover. I will do so over forthcoming weeks. Furthermore, I hope to receive updates from Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina on progress made on the projects we were working on. When I do I will update this blog accordingly.

I will also be reflecting on our experiences and considering other ways that we can maintain a link with Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina and in particular the residents of 22 de Nero. I will blog further on this in due course. So please keep visiting this blog and the Inksters Give Website for updates.

Thank you for your continuing support.

The Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina staff

The Habitat for Humanity Global Village Challenge Argentina 2009 team

Read: Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina farewell

Following our farewell lunch with the families of 22 de Enero we had, that evening, a farewell dinner with the staff of Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina at their National office.

Before we ate we met with the national and local directors to evaluate our time at 22 de Enero with a series of constructive comments for the benefit of all concerned. We were the first Global Village Challenge Team in Buenos Aires and both we and Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina had much to learn from one and other. Our work at 22 de Enero on incremental improvements rather than the construction of a whole house was also a departure from the norm and an experience that Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina were keen to get feedback on.

Then it was barbeque time on the roof terrace of the office and a chance for us to socialise with the Habitat staff including some important back of office staff we had not met on site at 22 de Enero.

We looked at things that other volunteers had done to continue their involvement with Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina following a build project. I had already been thinking about this whilst building and certainly intend having a continuing relationship with Habitat in Argentina and their work at 22 de Enero in particular. I will return to this on future blog posts or at www.inkstersgive.com.

The evening finished with Juan selling us Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina merchandise.

See also: Make your world a home

All good things must come to an end and sadly our build days are now over…

Our last morning saw a hive of activity on all the sites as team GB rushed to complete tasks in hand before we all – UK volunteers, Habitat for Humanity staff and stakeholder families – congregated at Concordia for a communal lunch and farewell gathering.

There was opportunity for everyone to express their thoughts and thanks. From initial scepticism from the local community 2 weeks ago – why on earth would crazy foreigners want to come and work with them, and for nothing! – there was now a growing interest in the work of Habitat for Humanity and a realisation that working together as a ‘team’ seemingly difficult tasks can be made that much easier.

All of the families expressed their thanks to the volunteers and invited then back to La Matanza in the future as their guests with no work required!

All of the families had expressed their thanks on a series of cards cut out in hand shapes presented to each member of the Team GB. And many also wrote individual notes of gratitude.

The whole experience leaves so much more than the physical evidence of our intervention in the 22 de Enero Community – all involved have left with a renewed sense of humanity, and the realisation that, despite geographical and circumstantial differences,  we are all not so very different and should assist one another. It has been very humbling to see how people can retain dignity in very difficult circumstances, and the cultural experience has been amazing. I would heartily recommend volunteering to everyone.

See also: Day 12: Farewell with the families in pictures

Following the inauguration of the new room at the Concordia Foundation's centre we travelled to La Boca to learn about the Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina Recovering Homes Project.

There are 87,000 homeless families in Buenos Aires and 100,000 properties that are uninhabited or under utilised.

This statistic has led Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina to design a project which intends to grant access for low income families to their own housing, by acquiring these unused or under utilised properties through donations and then renovating/rebuilding them.

Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina has recently bought a building in La Boca in order to get this project off the ground. With a studio-construction company already chosen to manage the project, the only step left is to demolish the existing building and start construction of the new one. This will provide rented accommodation and it would appear that Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina may be pioneering social housing provision of this type in Buenos Aires. I was surprised that this was the case being so used to the existence of Housing Associations in England and in Scotland.

We saw the exhibition on Boarding Houses in La Boca with pictures, information and the recreation of a 'typical' squatter or informal rental room.

You can help the work that Hábitat para la Humanidad are doing in Argentina by Just Giving.

Our second day of the Global Village Challenge began with further orientation by the local Habitat for Humanity office in Buenos Aires. We were given information about 22 de Enero (22nd of January) neighbourhood that we would soon be working in.

[Nicola explains what her group's understanding was of the issues faced by 22 de Enero neighbourhood]

It is located in La Matanza municipality which is one of the poorest municipalities in Buenos Aires with a population of 1.1 million residents. 22 de Enero neighbourhood was formed through a land seizure. There was a neighbourhood resistance process in order to ensure that families were able to stay in this location. Different social organisations helped to sustain the land grab and the neighbourhood is now home to around 22,000 residents.

The ownership is complicated with the national, provincial and city governments all being involved. Whilst there is now an agreement in place giving the inhabitants of 22 de Enero security of tenure none of them have, as yet, obtained title to the land that they occupy (20 years or more after the occupation first began).

The settlement is located just 24km from the centre of Buenos Aires. However, it is removed from the main access routes, lacks means of public transportation and paved roads, and is essentially ‘disconnected’ from the metropolitan area. This leads to long and time consuming trips to the neighbourhood , some taking up to three hours round trip.

The state of sanitation is far below par, and the area suffers from a serious waste management problem. The neighbourhood lacks its own waste collection problem, and due to transportation difficulties the municipal waste collectors come into the neighbourhood sporadically at best. This causes a buildup of rubbish, turning parts of the neighbourhood literally into a rubbish dump. The water that the residents have access to is largely underground and away from the housing area, making it difficult to find potable water for family consumption.

When it rains the neighbourhood floods, making it difficult to enter or leave. This causes further problems in daily life (school, work, etc.) and in the development of the neighbourhood and its residents.

[Our group gathers for the first time at 22 de Enero neighbourhood]

In the afternoon we visited the neighbourhood as part of our orientation before building work would commence the following day. We visited the neighbourhood centre run by the Concordia Foundation where local children were receiving after school help. We then visited a family whose house consisted of one room for sleeping, living, cooking and working in. They had three sewing machines in the same space and they work all hours finishing garments to make a living. Their ambition is to add a bedroom onto the house to separate the sleeping/working/living elements of their home.

[Concordia Foundation Centre]

In the most serious cases, the houses are made of sheet metal and cardboard, and in the past few years many of the houses have been created through a process of informal construction from bricks and mortar. Also, around the neighbourhood small seizures have occurred where people have built unstable shanties, home to families in situations of extreme poverty.  The situation is made more difficult by a variety of factors, which make the issues of family development more complex through situations of overcrowding, violence between genders, and living alongside families from other cultures.

Our second day of orientation and in particular visiting  22 de Enero neighbourhood gave us an excellent insight into the problems faced by the community and the challenges we would encounter when the building works commenced the following day. We were now ready and excited to meet those challenges.

Nicola & I arrived in Buenos Aires a couple of days ahead of the rest of our Global Village Brigade. They arrived yesterday afternoon with the exception of two of the group whose flight from Edinburgh was cancelled due to the strong winds in the UK (as mentioned in yesterday's blog post on floods in Buenos Aires) meaning they missed the flight from London. They however caught up with us today.

We were introduced to the group over a lunch of empanadas brought to the hotel by Trevor (an international volunteer from San Francisco who will be with us during the challenge).

After lunch we went to the Habitat para la Humanidad office in Buenos Aires for orientation by the National Office. This involved introductions in Spanish and information on the Global Village Program in Argentina. We discovered that we were the 31st Global Village Team in Argentina but the very first one in Buenos Aires. We were therefore being seen as pioneers and the local team were very excited about us being here and had clearly made great efforts in preparing for our arrival.

At Habitat for Humanity Argentina they stress the importance of education and empowerment as a central factor to the success of their programs. Their workshops and development activities seek to strengthen the human capital of the communities in which they work, preparing families to seek out their own solutions to the problems in the community. In this way the program’s focus goes beyond the housing solution of a particular family, valuing the “Habitat” of the entire community. Ultimately, Habitat for Humanity Argentina acts as a bridge, a guide, and an accompaniment to the families and communities where they work.

In their welcome letter the local team pointed out that the very fact that we had travelled so far to help people we don’t know build their house is a powerful message.

This is something that is brought out in the video that we were shown:-

We were also taught the art of the Argentine kiss and how to drink Mate.

Go to the people.

Live with them,

Learn from them,

Love them.

Start with what they know,

Build with what they have.

But of the best leaders

When the work is done

The task accomplished

The people will say,

"We have done this ourselves."

Lao-Tzu (Chinese poem, 700 BC)

As published in the Habitat for Humanity Global Village Orientation Manual