Year 3, Volume 2: From Northern Ireland to Santa Fe

During this last month I had the chance, together with Nils Dickoff (German volunteer at HFHA), to be the local leader of a Global Village Team from Northern Ireland.

After weeks of careful planning, and a growing sense of expectation mixed with enthusiasm and nervousness, we finally received our volunteers! The team was made up of nine young women and four young men, including a married couple, all of whom could barely hide their excitement and eagerness to start building. The same day they arrived at the airport, the group had their welcome and orientation meeting at our National Office in Buenos Aires, travelled to Santa Fe and wasted no time in going to the construction site.

We shared a total of seven days building in Recreo together with the HFHA families, neighbours and builders. The team worked very hard, and was always willing to learn new tasks. The volunteers´ building skills improved day by day, and by the end of the sojourn all of them seemed almost like professional builders. I was specially impressed by one of the volunteers, Christopher, a 21 year old construction worker, who with infinite patience, humility and simplicity, taught and helped each of his teammates to accomplish the different tasks required.

The Bible says that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and with each passing day I was able to appreciate the truth of this statement. The beneficiary families constantly asked us to tell the volunteers how grateful and touched they were by their help. The families were interested in getting to know each of the volunteers, asked their names, what their country was like, and insisted on sharing a “mate” with “tortas fritas” or biscuits. The language difference imposed no obstacle for the conveyance of solidarity, care for others, and putting love into action.

But, not everything was work… We also had lots of fun! At the end of the first day the Santa Fe office organized a typical argentine “asado” or barbecue. We had folklore music and dancing, and the team taught us traditional Irish songs. The last day all of us played an exciting football match: families, builders, neighbours and volunteers formed a truly international team!

The team from Northern Ireland lived the experience of a lifetime, and took special memories back home. They were able to learn about Argentina, our customs and traditions. They became aware of the dire living conditions in which many poor argentine families live, but were also able to experience the satisfaction of truly making a difference. On a personal level, one of the greatest gifts left behind by this team is the certainty that the satisfaction felt by helping others transcends differences in culture, nationality or language, and is equally enhancing for everyone.

Thank you for this space.

Marcelo Ortelli

Department of Volunteers and Work Teams

National Office