Bricks and Babies

March 10, 2009

Today, we diverted from our continous project to explore more of Buenos Aires. We started by visiting AMIA which is the head of all things Jewish in Argentina. We learned that they provide many free programs to the community for all ages. There was a monument (see pictures below) in the courtyard that we rotated around to see all the different images that represented different things in Jewish tradition. The monument was to memoralize those who perished in the bombing of the AMIA building in 1994. Inside the building we viewed a short film documenting the attack and the aftermath that eventually brought the community closer together out of the shared sympathy. It was very sad but it is comforting to see how strong and closer the community is now. Afterwards we visited with baby help which is a nonprofit org that takes care of babies during the day that come from poor families that cannot afford day care. The children were so cute and we just wanted to spend the whole day playing with them and feeding them. [ a baby almost vomited on me, but its ok!]

After lunch we went along with the nonprofit org LIFE to a large shanty town which is about 4.5 square miles and houses about 70,000 people living in extreme poverty. We were there to help out local families, children and work on the community center. I ended up applying cement to a newly laid brick wall for a soup kitchen run by a local family. I had the best time and really felt that i was making an impact. Sometimes i feel my efforts are futile… but now there is a sturdy wall that was not there before and i was a part of that. soo awesome (and now i know that i have a backup plan to be a brick layer if my education does not work out). The shanty town was unexpectadly eye opening. I felt like i was in a movie like ´war inc.´ or something. While there we were instructed to not speak much on the way to our destination in the slum street because we did not want to draw attention to the fact that we were foreigners. This was hard for me because i wanted to say hello to all the children and make them laugh. But of course safety is important.

For dinner we went to this fantastic restaurant on the water. Good food, awesome wine, delicious coffee, and everyone from UNC (and american and greensboro) were just enjoying each other. I was so happy and i had a great time. After dinner, I finally found my little chico selling flowers outside. I took a picture with him (then later lost my disposable camera) and gave him 2 pesos for the pic. Of course after that all the kids flooded me and my bad spanish. haha. This Argentinian keyboard is so difficult (different keys than in the US) so please forgive the lack of capitalization. i had a great time today and so excited for the rest of the week.

thanks for reading!
xoxo,
alex michael, UNC class of 2009
a.k.a. amike

Picture Description:
The foundation of the AMIA (Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina) was founded in 1894. In the 1920s, with the tremendous influx of Jewish immigration into the country, AMIA built a center for Jewish cultural and social activity. Tragically, this building was bombed in 1994 (85 dead), and has since been rebuilt in the same site. A beautiful statue (above) by Israeli artist, Yaacov Agam, stands in the courtyard as a memorial. The AMIA continues to serve as a center for cultural and community events and is the hub of Jewish organizational life in Buenos Aires