May 25th was a holiday for Los Polvorines. All EnAcción members participated in the organization of the Peña Folklórica and celebrated the Revolution of May 1810. Around 150 people of all ages gathered to have lunch together, listen to music bands and dance.

The day began very early with the preparation of locro. The New Women group, who had got the ingredients some days before, started to prepare it very early in the morning. Over 100 locro portions were sold, besides choripanes and empanadas. Meanwhile, many youths and the Young Mothers group set up a stage, decorated the place with Argentinean flags, handed out rosettes and arranged the chairs.

After lunch, more people kept coming and the first band from the Music Workshop came on stage. Then, the kids from the Dance and Folk group played a performance which included typical dances and choreographies with spears. They were followed by ‘Los del Glaciar’ -a folk duet of two officers just arrived from a mission in Antarctica- and the Folk Adult Group who performed typical dances, wearing traditional costumes.

Later, every group brought puddings, cakes, pastafrolas and alfajores for the dessert table and the Seniors Group exhibited the products they make in the workshops. The day ended with a perfect performance by the renowned band named ‘Las Peñeras’. With everybody’s help, the place was tidied up in a few minutes.

Glossary / Dictionary:

Peña Folklórica: folk music gathering including typical dances, songs and food.
Locro: South American stew of meat, corn and other vegetables.
Choripanes: Argentine-style pork sausage sandwiches.
Empanadas: Argentine-style filled pastries.
Pastafrolas: Argentine-style quince pies.
Alfajores: candies typical of some South American countries. They consist of two round sweet biscuits generally joined together with a sweet spread.

The Children Program strenghtens its actions for the childhood

The Children Program continues focusing its efforts on the development of skills and values among the neighbourhood children. This Program's actions are based on the following main axles: education, containment, sports, recreation and health.

The health axle includes working with children in the fields of psychology, psychopedagogy and nutrition. A psychologist, psychopedagoge and the Program Cordinator, Silvina Marzorati nowadays is treating children who have been referred from courts or educational institutions, or with serious learning problems. Due to the long waiting list of children in need of assistance, an agreement with the National University of Luján (Universidad Nacional de Luján) has been reached, which allows students attending the university course on Social Work are designing a mechanism for admission of new professionals into the service as well as having interviews with them.

The Nutrition Service monitors the weight and height of the children of the families that take part in the workshops and receive the products delivered by the Families Program. When low weight cases are detected, the children and their mothers are invited to the monthly workshops intended to deal with this issue, at the end of which a food supplement of pumpkin, cheese, powder milk, lentils and eggs is handed over to them.

The education axle includes activities within EnAcción and also with schools. The Kids Library is taking its first steps: children are invited to gather to order the books and also, little by little, to understand what a library is about and how it works. Thanks to the continuous feedback with the schools nearby, in August workshops run by French volunteers will take place in Schools Nº 13 and 18. Before their arrival, an exchange of letters was organized between children from Argentine and French schools. Over 250 letters have already have been exchanged!

One of the activities carried out with perseverance by the sports and recreation axle is ‘El Campito’ playground, which for 6 years now has been gathering children every Sunday to play, run, draw and to have lunch at the closing of the day. Activities include art, sports and wit games to stimulate children’s skills. Eventually, they start taking on small responsibilities, cooperating with food distribution, improving their behaviour and relationship with each other.

Also within the same direction, the Summer Camp is attended by quite a large number of children and includes various activities. The Winter Camp is already being planned, and will be run by the group of French volunteers. The Dance and Folk group gathers every Saturday and at this group children learn to dance and perform choreographies.

The Soccer Club combines the Children Program with the Youth Program, because besides the teenager and adult divisions, this year the Infantile and Preinfantile divisions have also joined the Club.

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