by Brian Inkster
22. November 2009 17:28
It rained heavily overnight and was set to continue raining during the morning. Not to the extent of last week’s floods in Buenos Aires or the floods in the UK at the moment. However, wet enough to prevent us working outside this morning. The plan had been to work in the morning and go to the inauguration of the new room at the Concordia centre in the afternoon. The Concordia Foundation decided to bring the inauguration forward to 11am (perhaps to ensure people could get to it before the roads became even muddier than they already were).
So rather than a working morning we all arrived at the centre to see the room we had been painting yellow over the past few days with pictures on the walls and flowers set out around it. It was looking very nice indeed compared with the concrete shell we encountered at the beginning of the week.
The Director of the Concordia Foundation was here from Spain to preside over the inauguration of the room. There was singing, a reading, a blessing, more singing, a toast and food.
The room had been named “Bta. Prudencia Cañellas” after a Spanish Martyr. We were told that the room would be used for community projects: principally a project helping victims of domestic violence and another providing food for the elderly. It was clear that the Concordia Foundation were happy to use the space as a flexible one for the needs that the community have. They would be listening to the community and adapting the use according to those needs.
It was very gratifying to see that the work we had put in to finish the room helped in a small way to provide a facility that the whole community would benefit from for years to come.
The celebrations at the centre continued with dancing. This included a dance involving a ball held between the two dancers’ foreheads and another where you had to find a new partner when the broom was dropped by the only ‘dancer’ without a partner. If you didn’t find a partner then you picked up the broom and controlled when it was next dropped.
We had a great time socialising with our new ‘family’ from 22 De Enero but by mid afternoon it was time to move on to La Boca to see the Hábitat para la Humanidad Recovering Urban Homes Project.
See Day 7 in pictures: The inauguration
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