Orientation

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.