a different perspective

The past two days we have been seeing the world from a slightly different perspective and realizing more about the problems and parts of the city. We went to an orphanage one day and then yesterday we split up into different groups to participate in different ministries in the poorer areas of the city. It was neat for each of us to see the ways that some of the Argentines love and care for their own people I went to an after school program run by a church in a poor area of the city. THey lack sufficient money to pay for the needs of their church, yet they still try to do everything that they can to help the people within their community. They have after school tutoring programs, drug rehabilitation programs, and services for the adults who cannot find jobs. The director and pastor of the church began to cry when he described the ministry to us, which was really special to see. It showed me that he is doing this because he loves his fellow countrymen and desires to see their lives improve.

We also had a mother of the plaza de mayo come and speak to us yesterday. Her 20 year old son was protesting some of the injustices in the country in 1975 and one night the government soldiers came and took him. He has now been missing for over thirty years. She, thus has been marching in the plaza every thursday since 1978. Her desire to see justice done to the people who commited the atrocities was evident, but yet she also had compassion and love for her own people and for the people of other countries who have experienced similar atrocities. We asked her about the shame she and other Argentines might feel about their country´s past. Her response was that it is not Argentines as a whole who should feel guilty, just like it is not the Germans as a whole who should feel guilty. Instead it is the Nazis and the corrupt government and the soldiers who are guilty. The rest were victims of atrocities. We are probably going to join them one thursday for one of their marches in the plaza.

It has been neat for me to see the ways that the people of Argentina are very anti-violence. They keep talking about justice, but also the need to preserve and fight for life. They indicate that the position of the church should be to fight for life and to always oppose those that seek to hurt or deprive people of their lives. Through this desire to fight for life I´ve been challenged by the way that many of them are choosing to identify themselves with the poor and marginalized of their country, to put aside their fears of the poorer neighborhoods, to become friends with them and to join them in their struggles. I look forward to seeing more of the ways they are involved in helping the poorer areas. Yet, it is also challenging to me because it reminds me of the ways that in the States we need to be doing more to help those in our communities even if we are afraid of them because they are different.

Our families come today and by this afternoon we will be living in their homes. I can´t wait, although i am a little nervous too. I hope all is well with you all and I miss you!