Building Solidarity

Marisa is a social worker involved in a governmental educational project working with young people under the auspices of the Department of Welfare in Argentina. She is involved in a programme concerning community projects and local initiatives. Thirty people work with her as course tutors and co-ordinators. They come from very different backgrounds and professions and have different political outlooks. In this article she describes how they have been able to be more effective by setting out with each other their work values and aims which they share as a basis for working collectively.

Marisa Varela

Building Bridges

I am a social worker involved in a governmental educational project working with young people under the auspices of the Department of Welfare in Argentina. The programme itself has four different parts dealing with: political and social questions, communication and education, special problems and situations, and finally the part for which I am responsible, community projects and local initiatives.

There are in all thirty people involved as course tutors and co-cordinators. We come from very different backgrounds and professions and have different political outlooks. In spite of this we have, I think, been able to work together by setting out as the basis of our work values and aims which we can all share. Some of my work colleagues have had contact with Gospel-based experiences in their lives and, although they have never spoke about it, one can see the Christian influence in their attitude and sensitivity towards the young people they deal with.

At the outset, I decided to take the Christian ideal of the New Commandment as the basis of my work and indeed I tried to build all my relationships upon that ideal. This was not always easy in the office because there were many tensions due to a mixture of professional and political considerations. We tried to keep in mind that our role was really to be at the service of others, that is, the young people. That meant putting our personal interests to one side and discovering that it was far more important to be united and to build bridges in order to create a true “family'. We could not hope to be credible nor indeed teach anything to others if we ourselves were divided.

Overcoming Conflicts

Certainly there were difficulties. At a certain point, for example, a great crisis developed due to our own working conditions which had become a contentious issue. It was decided to approach the minister who was responsible for our area and it seemed that we were in agreement as to what were justifiable claims. But all was not as simple as it seemed because when I went to speak on behalf of my colleagues I discovered that some people had gone behind my back, so to speak, to make it clear that they were not in agreement with our grievances. They had done so with the aim of painting a good picture for themselves in terms of the authorities.

I must say that in this situation I felt very discouraged. It seemed that everything we had set out to build together, namely, to put our service of others before our own interests, had collapsed. Some of my colleagues encouraged me not to go any further, to get out of the whole thing altogether. It would have been easy to retire from the situation without even losing face. But I felt that I could not just leave things as they were because I had committed myself to building a united world. After a few days of tension and misunderstanding I recognised that this was a situation which required me to live out the measure of love that Jesus himself lived in his abandonment upon the cross. I said to myself: “Is this not what Jesus lived: anguish, aridity, the feeling he had failed and the sense of powerlessness? Is not every division an image of Him?"

What I experienced in that situation, as indeed on other occasions, was that, as Christians, we can keep going and have an impact upon the world through consuming within ourselves and thus transforming suffering and difficulties. In this way we can look at those who have wronged us with new eyes and so we can react in a constructive manner.

The Formation Of Young People

Over six thousand young people have participated in our courses. Each course can take about a hundred students at time. They come from all parts of the country. Generally they are youth leaders, some in the political field, while others come from local community or Church-based initiatives. Most groups come to Buenos Aires itself, while in other cases we ourselves have gone out to the regions.

Our methodology is taken from the tried and tested educational techniques which are based upon the experience of different Latin-American countries. The methods are well known. There is a lot of group work and this encourages greater participation by everyone. The aim is to build up an atmosphere where there can be a listening to one other. This creates a situation where true dialogue can take place. In this regard we have been able to establish some basic attitudes which we all adopt. Firstly, we try to appreciate the culture particular to each individual area so that the best in everyone can emerge. Secondly, we encourage an attitude of listening well and working in such a way that the people themselves become the principal agents in the search for solutions.

On one of our visits a local celebration dedicated to “mother earth" was taking place. It was a ceremony dating back to the indigenous population hundreds of years previously. The ritual took the form of thanking mother earth for the fruits of the earth by offering symbolic fruits to her. This took the form of placing seeds, fruits and meat in a hole dug in the earth. The people prostrated themselves and the ritual ended with music, dance and traditional songs.

This presented me with a great opportunity of using their celebration as a means to examine questions concerning their identity, their rights as a people etc. It was a great starting point and they in turn were interested in what I thought about their ritual. A common bond was established and this helped me to know and understand them. Due to what we lived with them and the relationships established, it was one of the most fruitful courses I ever took part in.

Another area we visited had a problem with irrigation. If this could be solved then they could have a sufficient harvest every year to feed their own people. They had tried to solve the problem themselves and had indeed sought the aid of others. But this was all to no avail. When we heard of their plight we worked out that it would take about 500 dollars to pay for what was needed. Their greatest difficulty was in fact how to present their case to the relevant authorities. We helped them with this and the necessary help was found. In another case, however, we discovered that despite having good land and good produce people in a certain area still lived in extreme poverty. This situation was due to the existence of middle-men who took the major part of their profits. Together we studied ways in which they could avoid this discrimination.

In another part of Southern Argentina many people had become unemployed because a Petrol industry had closed down. Even though the employees had been well compensated, there was a serious risk that many would be unable to get alternative employment. Working together at strengthening the community consciousness and by examining local possibilities, they were able to set up their own co-operative which produces bottled gas. We have also advised on getting the necessary infrastructures to organise businesses (e.g. telephone, light etc.). Other developments in the area have been the setting up of student welfare centers which are concerned with careers information etc.

Other programmes have been set up to combat alcoholism, which is a widespread problem amongst young people in our country. Drug addiction is another problem which we have tried to tackle and, of course, the whole question of AIDS. Our work has not just been limited to solving immediate problems or to motivating people to solve their own difficulties but it involves contacts which continue even after the immediate problems have been tackled.

New Structures And New Political Commitment

We are aware that our social action has to confront the problem of social structures. We are ever aware of the fact that when we go to particular places and see people being exploited and living in poverty we know that what we do in our work of promoting community-spirit is really not enough. The Latin-American Bishops themselves have analysed this problem many times and have pointed out that we have to go beyond the level of mere handouts and look at the causes of the situation of poverty itself (cf. Puebla and Santo Domingo). Indeed Sollicitudo Rei Socialis speaks strongly about “structural sin” as being a cause of extreme poverty.

So we cannot just remain at the level of social assistance and personal development. We have to find new economic structures for a better distribution of wealth and to promote more adequate legislative, judicial and health structures. But in order to achieve this, as well as professional competence, one needs to be involved in decision-making. That you acquire through politics. And that is why I feel called to get involved in politics. It is not just a passing whim or wish. I know well the costs and sacrifices involved in such a commitment. When you enter such a world you have to deal with the personal animosity of your political opposites, the fact of corruption which is very prevalent in our country and the indifference of most of the population who regard politics as “something dirty”. You risk also the loss of many of your personal friends.

So if I have chosen to enter politics it is because of my Christian convictions. It is a consequence of my choice of God. One thing that I have discovered in recent years is the need not to have my heart and life divided into “spiritual” moments in which I live totally for God and then other times when I work and struggle “in the world” according to its rules. I want to be totally God’s so as to be totally in the world. I have seen that to the extent that one is able to do this, others really see and respect it.

Time and time again, I have seen how important one's attitude is because it becomes “contagious” for others. My experience has been that it is possible to have good relationships with those who do not share your own political perspective. I have many friends in all the different political parties, and I want to show that it is possible to be in politics without being enemies.

Finally, another very important dimension for me in working in politics is that I try to build up unity. I could not undertake my commitment unless there I was rooted in a community which helps me to stay in the love which comes from God . It helps me to look for my inspiration for our actions in the Word of God lived out concretely.