EDUCATIONAL NOMADIC PROJECT IN THE PARAGUAYAN CHACO

 

As we hitch-hike around the world we visit schools in oder to share stories of cultural exchange and hospitality. (Learn how to support the project here) In the Paraguayan Chaco we visited school "Nuevo Amanecer". The school is attended by children from seven different nationalities: churupíes, nivaclé, angaité, paraguayans and even some poor German Mennonites.

 

We then headed to Mariscal Estigarribia, where we also visited schools "Nuestra Señora del Chaco". Above you can see the headmaster preparing a traditional dress for the Bicentenary celebrations.

Different aspects of Mariscal Estigarribia. Above: the militar quarter. Below: Nivaclé natives.

EDUCATIONAL NOMADIC PROJECT IN SANTA FE AND FORMOSA

Lecturing in "Escuela Superior de Comercio nº46" in Santa Fe, in a rather rainy day. We honestly expected the boys to be bothered by our presence, since the absence of one of their teachers meant they could have gone home earlier, but everything went smooth and they became interested as soon as they noticed our subject was travelling, not chemistry!

 

As nomadic bees we followed Parana river upstream to reach Formosa, where we showed our pictures and told our story in the Escuela nº2, a tidy public school.

Learn here how to support our round the world hitch-hiking jouney aimed at education and literature!

EDUCATIONAL EVENTS AT PUERTO DESEADO AND SAN JULIAN

Again we carried on our educational meetings. In the picture you can see us at "Conociendo Nuestra Casa Foundation" in Puerto Deseado. The event was actually fostered by our driver. He was so enthusiastic about us visiting his town that he arranged everything!

Marcos Oliva Day is a local heroe and active sailor and adventurer, he was member of the party that located Swift pirate ship, sunk in the 1700s.

We eventually reached San Julián, where we show our pictures and talked about the hospitality of our world in the local Universidad de la Patagonia Austral.

This project is carried on together with the People's Health Movement and thanks to the donations of readers. All funds proceeding from the sale of e-books and books go directly to our quixotic effort.

EDUCATIONAL NOMADIC PROJECT: CONFERENCE FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AT LA EMILIA, ARGENTINA

Carrying on with the Educational Nomadic Project Laura and I visited La Emilia, where we talked for over 200 kids from the town's public schools. We have been very busy since we are beginning our Argentina-Greenland hitch-hiking trip next week. But we made a little gap in our agenda to reach this town. School teachers told me there had once existed a carpet factory in town. Having walked up and down the Middle East and considering the warmth welcome we recieved in la Emilia I imagined that were there once was a carpet factory there must be hospitality still around...

We were also delighted to meet Alberto, the director of the local Museum of Paleontology, and Alejandro and his girlfriend, local journalists who had helped us to bring the event there.

.

The Educational Nomadic project is coordinated with the People's Health Movement (PHM) and supported by donations from readers.

EDUCATIONAL NOMADIC PROJECT AT SAN NICOLAS

Laura and I organized yet another educational event at the Escuela de Eduación Media Número 7, at San Nicolás, Buenos Aires province, Argentina. We felt really welcomed. The entire school worked like a big family...

In public schools students give you the impression that they really appreciate that you arre there, bringing activities, contents, ideas, etc.

It's rally rewarding to have the chance to acceed the educational system core, be allowed into classrooms and then tell kids: "You know, as soon as you finish high school it's really easy to get a back pack and go out to see the world regardless you are planning to study afterwards or not". I was lucky enough to have a professor who awakened a sense of freedom within me. Now I am the provider for other. It's nice to be on the other side.

We were even granted diplomas certified the accomplishment of the conference.

EDUCATIONAL NOMADIC PROJECT AT VILLA LUGANO

While we get ready and keep organizing our Argentina to Greenland hitch-hiking expedition we continue executing our nomadic educational project. Last week we visited Villa Lugano, a poor Buenos Aires district where many families previously living in the railway tracks were relocated.

After the slideshow of pictures the coordinator told the kids to draw the picture they had liked the most.

For some reason kids kept drawing hitch-hikers.

Two little girls show proudly their hitch-hiking designs. The activity was rather directed to use photography to portray hospitality, and there were indeed several pictures showing the different type of vehicles we travel in. For the kids of this poor district, however, cars left a deeper print in their perception.

EDUCATIONAL NOMADIC EVENT AT ÑAURENDA, BOLIVIA

The Educational Nomadic Project involves a conference based on a photo slide displaying episodes of hospitality received while hith-hiking around the world in the last 5 years. These events are free of charge and avaiable for all the visited communities. The events are possible thanks to the People's Health Movement, who has donated the pocket projector.

Marino, the chief of the Guarani community helped to organize the event and ordered two assistants to clear the area of the football pitch. They hanged a white curtain bended over the arc and that was the screen!

Thanks to all of you for the donations that keep me traveling and organizing these educational events.

EDUCATIONAL NOMADIC EVENT AT ANGUALASTO, SAN JUAN

The educational nomadic project is designed as a bridge among the cultures I walk across in my round the world hitch-hiking expedition. Last week the event took pace at Angualasto, a tiny mudbrick town in San Juan province, Argentina. As an exchange, the guys mentioned their difficulty to attend the only high-school in the region, which is 20 kilomeers away. Tourism also threatens them. If the toen becomes touristic, people from San Juan city may buy all facilities and sotres and new generations will face real high real state prices...

EDUCATIONAL NOMADIC PROJECT FOR THE HUARPE COMMUNITY

As a part of the Educational Nomadic Project, I presented a photographic slide and conference about my hitch-hiking round the wolrd trip, exclusively tailored for the Huarpe community. Accent was set on issues such as land struggles, agriculture, etc. This events are organized thanks to the aid of the People´s Health Movement (PHM) and to the donations of committed readers worldwide. There will soon be details on how to support the project.

THE PEOPLE'S HEALTH MOVEMENT DONATES A POCKET PROJECTOR

The People’s Health Movement is an organism with presence in more than 90 countries around the world. Its aim is to claim for the accomplishment of “Health for all now” intending health as a broad concept that includes the access to culture and aesthetic expression.
.
Last year, the PHM and I accorded to articulate our skills and resources in the context of my coming travel project: Argentina to Alaska by Americycle (and hitch-hiking, of course). The trip, taking some 18 months comprehends at least two defined cultural projects. The first contemplates the organization of free educational events in schools, villages and communities. These events will focus in inter-cultural understanding, by means of story telling and photo exhibitions. Sharing the episodes of hospitality and everyday life of distant cultures, I hope to foster tolerance and peace. To assist this challenge, the PHM has recently donated a wonderful pocket projector. It will allow me organize conferences for kids and adults regardless their school or institutions owns a projector or not.

Another dimension of my coming expedition is to document the mining conflicts and their social and environmental impact. Transnational mining companies have settle all across the Andes, extracting gold, uranium and other minerals by hazardous methods that poison community water and increase cancer risk. The projector will be a good tool to display documentaries on the subject in each visited community.

Also this week, I finally purchased the paniers (70 lts) for the Americycle (I will show you the picture when the assambling process finishes). La Maga (my 80 lts backpack) will go in the front. Its decided. No way I can leave La Maga behind, after hitching with her from Ireland to Thailand....