3889 some options to help kids in Argentina
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 06:14:58 -0700
From: Yale Tango Club <yaletangoclub@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: some options to help kids in Argentina
Dear friends
Recently I requested info on this list about options to help kids in Argentina.
Several people sent me useful information, and several more asked me to share what info I came up with. So I paste the info below. At this point it's just info. I am including the manosXelsur link even though it doesn't seem to work - it might be a temporary problem.
I hope you'll want to do something.
Best regards
Tine
From Astrid in Japan:
I found the article below on the internet. This may be a little old, I am not sure, but El Indio is still involved in "Tango protesta" and his street chiildren project, I have been told.
Astrid
How to Help Others Through Tango
This article is based on an interview of Jose Garofalo in Buenos Aires by Gretchen Janssen. You can read the entire interview at www.firehousetango.com
Tango Protesta is a group of world-class tango dancers in Buenos Aires who have formed a cooperative to research and enhance the art of tango and explore its connections with the social and political experience in Argentina. They have made a conscious commitment to work through tango to further social and political justice.
1. They offer free classes for children of the streets (chicos de la calle).
2. They have helped to organize comedores populares (what we would call soup
kitchens) where people can receive food they otherwise could not pay for.
3. They offer classes in schools where there is no money for classes in the arts.
4. They participate in solidarity with the Madres de la Plaza (families of those who disappeared in The Dirty War) and workers seeking improved
conditions.
5. They present shows, which are a means to raise money for these goals.
The group was initially started by Indio and Paula Ferrio in Plaza Dorrego where they collected food for those who had been most seriously affected by the economic crisis of 2001. After a while they asked Jose Garofalo, one of the co-owners of Porteno y Bailarin, to join their effort. Later more people became involved and now the group is composed of six people--Indio, Paula Ferrio, Jose Garofalo, Veronica Litvak, Claudia Sanchez and Marina Svartzman.
How can we help support the work and goals of Tango Protesta?
The group accepts donations of money, technical expertise and other in-kind contributions. They need:
1. People to help in organizing events.
2. Technical help in designing their website
3. Money to produce shows, to pay for space for rehearsals, to offer scholarships for tango classes for students, street children, dancers, singers and other people who cannot afford to pay for classes, and for children in need of the basic necessities of life.
If you would like more information or to share in supporting this collective effort, please contact Gretchen Janssen at: gretchen.janssen@verizon.net. She will be taking contributions to Buenos Aires on her next trip in September.
Here are some suggested ways of raising money to support this worthy cause.
1. Here is an idea from Gretchen. She saves 25% of everything she spends on tango lessons and classes, and puts it into a pool for Tango Protesta. You don't have to put away 25 %. Any percentage will add up, 5%, 10% or 15%.
2. Tango organizers could charge an extra $3 once a month for milongas, workshops or group classes, and give this money to Tango Protesta to help individuals in need.
3. Tango organizers could charge for events that are ordinarily free. For example, charge $3 to attend an outdoor milonga in the park. This little bit of extra money adds up and can go a long way toward helping our brothers and sisters in Buenos Aires.
Look a what a small amount of money can buy in Buenos Aires:
1. $3 pays for food for one person for a day. That $B!G (Bs less than one Starbucks latte! If I skip my latte, I can pay for someone else for an entire day!
2. $22 pays for one person all week. $12 pays for a family of four for one day. $88 for a family of four for one week.
3. $20 pays for one student $B!G (Bs scholarship for a weekend workshop.
4. $60 pays for one pair of dance shoes for a student who cannot afford to buy them.
5. $150 pays to provide a class for street children who have no classes otherwise.
6. $600 pays the rental of space for rehearsals, teaching and shows for one month.
Gretchen Janssen is a tanguera, a psychotherapist, a pastor and author of the book, Women on the Move and of numerous articles on the challenges and opportunities of living overseas. You can reach her at: gretchen.janssen@verizon.net
Manos X el Sur.
Help for the Argentinean Children.
E-mail address : manosXelsur@yahoo.com
Web site; www.manosXelsur.org
Dear Tine,
We would like to invite you to become part of Milonga Para Los Niqos.
We raise money specifically through Tango (and to a lesser extent Latin dance) to directly aid children in Argentina. We keep our expenses to an absolute minimum by volunteering all of the administration. We escort the money to Argentina, where our partners there buy goods and services at the best prices and to ensure that nothing gets siphoned off. It has been a most gratifying experience for our (Brisbane, Australia) Tango community, many of whom visit the foster home and farm at Moreno, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Apart from the beautiful friendships, it is so gratifying to see, first hand, how much a small helping hand can achieve.
I will follow with a little more information and you can look at our (past the use-by) web site for more information up to last year . www.paralosninos.net We have a volunteer setting up a new site and CMS on my US based web-server.
If you would like to check my credentials, please contact Keith Elshaw in Montreal or my daughter-in-law in Ithaca, Heidi Moesch-Lowry (539 3391).
Our vision is to hold a milonga in as many Tango communities around the world at the same time (or as near as we can) each year. We hold milongas in Brisbane and Sydney (hosted by www.patiodetango.com.au). I now have promises from organisers in Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and Perth, and a possibility of Stockholm (Sweden) for 2006. We would really love to get some support from the US.
Here is a little more explanation:
Four years ago, after the Argentine economic meltdown, we, together with a few friends, established Milonga Para Los Niqos (tm) to help children in poverty in Argentina. It has developed into Sociedad Para Los Niqos Inc. with the annual milonga as its centrepiece. The society is a registered charity in Australia and subject to annual government audit. The milonga runs in Brisbane and Sydney at the end of July. We currently distribute about AU$10,000 per year in Argentina and South & Central America. Our philosophy is simple and successful. We help people to help themselves.
All our work is voluntary. We have established a supply chain that ensures 99% of our assistance goes directly to our partners in Argentina and other parts of the South and Central America.
Since its inception our dream has been to organise the annual milonga in as many cities and towns around the world at around the same time each year.
It is a tangible way for Tango communities to "hold hands" and thank Argentina in a practical way for the gift of Tango that we all love so much. (It's a bit like a Tango version of Live Aid).
Now that we are four years old and we have some credibility, it is time to take the next step. Would you like to be so kind as to run Milonga Para Los Niqos in your area?
The rules are simple: Format to suit you and your community; Pay only Direct expenses; Organisers and entertainers must donate their time; We licence you to use the name Milonga Para Los Niqos.
It really takes only a small commitment to contribute beyond your imagination. I have recent photos of the development at the foster home on CD that I can send to you. When we adopted them they had no stove, no gas, broken windows, no light bulbs, no proper bedding. Else was fostering 7 children and feeding another 80 at week-ends. Now they have gas reticulation, an oven to bake bread, hot water for the first time, electric lights, glass in the windows, simple kitchen benches, new bedding..........it has made a huge difference to what they can achieve. I am also looking at what opportunities there might be to offer educational and training assistance to the children. We have similar stories from Mexico and Brazil, where we have also applied small amounts.
As you can see, we are passionate about out Tango and about reaching out to these children in meaningful ways.
I hope you will give consideration to helping us fulfil our dream.
Kind regards,
John Lowry
Sociedad Para Los Niqos Inc. (Qld)
The Tango Lesson
Brisbane, Australia
+61 7 3848 6121
First stop should be https://www.helpargentina.org/
But here are some options for you that I gleaned from a newsletter produced by the US embassy in BA. It might also be good to someone at the embassy, or even better, a representative of USAID down here. I work for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) at the Canadian Embassy in BA.
The Send a Child to School (SACS) program- In 1999, the Buenos Aires International Newcomers (BAIN) downtown group began a toy drive benefiting needy children in Buenos Aires. Two years later, as the needs of these children became obvious; the project evolved into the Send a Child to School (SACS) program. The annual Send a Child to School (SACS) project for the 2006 school year is now underway. This is a fundraising event to purchase school supplies for hundreds of impoverished villa-dwelling students in Greater Buenos Aires. These children cannot afford even the most basic supplies, such as pencils and paper, and often prefer to stay home rather than face the humiliation of not having the necessary supplies to participate in class. The cost of fully outfitting a child -with pencils, paper, rulers, backpacks, shoes and the white lab coats - is $75 pesos or US$25. The SACS project is a grassroots movement with 100% of monies donated going directly to the purchase of school supplies
that then go directly to each individual child. If you are interested in donating, then please contact Jacqueline Kostick at jaxhenry@hotmail.com
Todos Juntos -has set up the project, Sonrisa (smile), which is a dental project to educate the villas children in San Martin about the importance of teeth hygiene. They are currently in negotiations with the Municipilidad to set up a mobile dental clinic and provide training sessions & tooth brushes for everyone. BAIN would like to ask everyone to collect the toys that their kids accumulate from McDonalds & Burger King. BAIN will use them to hand out to these poor villas children as a little something for coming to the dentist after they have had treatment to encourage them to continue. Also any clothes & shoes for all ages, bedding & blankets would be greatly appreciated. Please drop these items off at the CLO office or contact Liz Cawley, Emilio Mitre 1268, Martinez. # 4792 3738.
"Deborah Bakker" <deb_bakker@yahoo.com>
Tine,
I saw your posting on Tango-L. While perhaps not directly addressing
your search for a foster child program, this web site provides a good
opportunity to help those in need in Argentina.
https://www.helpargentina.org
The tango community here in Washington supports this organization.
There was a benefit milonga (with auction of several donated items, including a round-trip ticket to BA) held recently at the Argentine Embassy for it.
I am glad to see your interest. It is only appropriate that we try to
give something back to such a wonderful place and a wonderful people who have given us such a beautiful gift as tango.
Thanks,
Bart
wmbsmith@hotmail.com
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