Mission to "El Chaco Impenetrable"

From September 19^th – 30^th, the team of volunteers from the Remote Communities project bleached 26 homes in Juan José Castelli and Nueva Pompeya, towns in the Impenetrable Chaco. After the analysis in the August mission, the decision was made to bleach homes to prevent the Mal de Chagas disease.

The team of volunteers was made up of Samuel Alejandra Puricelli and Alejandra Dubos, with technical backgrounds, and Lindsey and William Donoghue, with social training. They bleached 14 homes in Castelli and 12 in Nueva Pompeya. To do this, they used manual pressure spraying equipment with a 7.5 -8 liter capacity. In the town of Juan José Castelli, they bleached houses that were surrounding the city and in sites, like Palo Flojal, close to the town center.

During the stay in Castelli, the volunteer team was supported by Gustavo Gallinder, from the organization ASADECICH, for logistics and to contact references from the area. Once in New Pompeii, the city offered support for transportation and accommodation for the team, along with a supply of lime.

Most interventions were in homes with "thatch" walls, ie of mud and straw. For internal bleaching plastics were used to protect the family's belongings. One of the biggest obstacles for the mission was the lack of water, a key element in the preparation of the bleach. "We needed ten to twenty liters of water to bleach a single home,” recount volunteers. In that area, water is scarce and usually reserved exclusively for community use.

While the bleaching provided as a housing solution was well received by the families, the state of the families was more complicated than expected. Tells Alejandra Dubos: "I was expecting hardship but not such a state of neglect; the reality unfortunately exceeded my expectations."

For Alejandra, and the rest of the team, the experience was very rewarding because it is always important to help people who are so isolated and living in precarious conditions, like the families of the towns they visited. However, much work still remains. And for this reason, and in order to continue the work they started, the project is looking for volunteers for a new mission that will take place between December 3^th to 12^th.

Interested persons may send their CV to voluntario@hpha.org.ar