This was my third trip to Argentina. Flight delays meant that we lost a complete day on the way. When we finally arrived and settled in, we were able to see how things had improved since our last visit. Our hosts, Alfredo and Hilda, showed us around the dairy, which we had painted two years ago, and it was good to see it in full working order. We also saw one of the children’s homes, now fully furnished and much improved.
The trip was not all work. On the Thursday we were taken to a ranch. Our day included horse riding; a lovely meal, and seeing a display of tango dancing in which we had to participate! From here Alfredo and Hilda invited us back to their house before going on to Church. The Friday saw us travelling to Iguacu Falls, which are absolutely breathtaking. Our group had a chance to take a boat ride right into the falls and get totally soaked! We were then transferred onto an open truck for a ride through the forest back to the entrance of the nature park.
We flew from Iguacu back to Buenos Aires and then straight out to Salta. On the Monday morning Chris Wallis from Asociana told us about what was happening at the time with the native Wichi “Indian” community. We and set off in the minibus and over the next two days we did a fair bit of travelling up to Chaco to visit several Wichi villages and the Pilcomayo River. The journey was very long and very dusty. At one point, the mini bus had to stop as you could not see inside because of the dust. It took about four hours to get to San Victoria where the radio station is to be placed. The radio mast is already in place.
We then travelled on to two other villages, but our mini bus got firmly stuck in the sand. Hosea, our guide, was in his own truck with young ones. Some of us walked until Hosea came back to pick us up. We came to a village called Kilometre Dos, and we found that they need a new Church, which we have promised to finance. Hosea had to make two trips to get us back to where the minibus was parked. I was in the first group to arrive back at the minibus. It was late with not a soul about. There we were in the middle of nowhere; not a sound could be heard. There was no light pollution from street lights; the sky was just a mass of stars. “The heavens declare the glory of the Lord”. Psalm 19 v 1.
When the minibus got back to San Victoria we all had to share one room, sleeping in the dust covered clothes in which we had travelled. When we headed back to Tartagal, we made a stop at the Pilcomayo River. This river is a vital food source to the Wichi people. We also called in at various Wichi villages on the way back to Tartagal. At one village we encountered one of the many problems the Wichi people face. A fence had been put up across their land by the Criollos (white Argentineans). Later on that day, a few of us went to Tres Quebradas to see the school which had been built the last time we were in Argentina.
We had a few days in Salta to relax in our hotel, before setting back off for Hogar to prepare for children’s festival. Once back there, it was down to work. The first two days were spent sanding down and painting windows and doors of one of the houses. The festival took place on the Saturday, which was our last full day. There were lots of activities including: bouncy castles; stalls and face painting. At the end there was an outreach event where the people heard the gospel.
On Sunday we were all packed and ready for home. There were lots of tears as we left.
