Weekend and the Mission

Hi from Angela here! We have now been at our placement for almost a month, and homesickness is beginning to wear off a bit, blessedly. This past weekend, we had a brief vacation from our usual placements to accompany some of the young women from the church here to an ecumenical youth retreat in Misiones, a province to the east of El Chaco (where we are). Our journey there was scenic and beautiful--the area is known throughout Argentina for its red earth and agricultural beauty. It reminded me a bit of Wisconsin, with the red soil associated with Oklahoma. A really lovely bus ride.

This youth encounter of sorts involved four or five congregations from the IELU (the Lutheran church associated with the ELCA) and the IERP (a Protestant denomination of German origin). The host church had a beautiful Bible camp-retreat center-like facility, with sleeping rooms and a volleyball court and a massive grill. I really enjoyed getting to know youth leaders from across Northern Argentina and also getting to spend quality time with the chicas from our congregation here!

The retreat´s theme was human trafficking, which I have to admit I initally did not think was a very relevant topic to young people. But to my surprise, it is unfortunately a very relevant topic. Most of the young people knew at least that people from their neighborhood had been vulnerable to trafficking schemes. Underground webs here target both immigrants and native women in bad economic situations, as well as children, for sweatshop-style work, prostitution, and illegal underage work. Here (like in the US, I believe) they use immigrant status and bait-and-switch tactics (i.e. advertising for legitimate jobs, then taking documents and forcing people to illegitimate, demeaning work) to virtually enslave victims, cutting them off from access to authorities and their home communities. It is a very tragic situation, and very unfortunate that it hit so close to home for the people we are living with.

Besides making me realize the immediacy of human trafficking in the community where I now live, the retreat also made me reconsider the benefits of ecumenicalism. The IELU and the IERP were able to share resources towards common goals, making for a great event at which we did not need to focus on doctrinal differences but could moved towards shared understanding. I was really happy to be part of the event.

I also should probably update a little bit about my regular employment here! It seems that my assignments change somewhat every day, but I spend my time working with children ages 1-17ish at a community development center. Thus far, I have been playing a lot of Jenga and "house" and holding beautiful babies while trying desperately to understand the Spanish (or castellano) of the older children. But as my language skills are beginning to stabilize a bit, this week I plan to start leading some workshops on music, yoga, creative writing, and possibly other themes as the Spirit moves.

It is spring here, and beautiful. Yesterday was rainy, but not today, and the climate has been very pleasant. Flowering trees make every walk cheerful and colorful, and drinking mate outside is one of the great joys of life.

Our new friends from the weekend shared a great culinary joy of life with us, too: chipas. These small delights are cheese cooked in cornflour, I think, little puffs of deliciousness about the size of a Swedish meatball. I am not sure how to describe them, but I will do my best to learn how to make them!

Anyway, all is well with us. We really love to hear from home! Keep in touch, and God bless you every one!