The flight of an albatross

I hadn’t written about the Portiño since Summer, I think. I waited to know how was the evolution this year. I can write now it’s good and improving: the rookies of last year aren’t now rookies and they got the respect and love of the children. We have new volunteers that are doing a wonderful work with them. Lots of fresh ideas come from everybody and we try to run them. I have a personal target too: I want they learn to express themselves better on the paper.

The traditional Solidarity Party in the final November to get funds to projects with children of the OCV was a total success again. Adolfo, the veteran co-ordinator of the Bañobre project, is the main responsible of this success.

In December we took part with the people of the Portiño in a protest against racism against our loved town. The motto was “Portiño: 47 años de convivencia de payos y gitanos” (Portiño: 47 years of white and gipsy people living together).

And near to Christmas we celebrate a party with the children. Everybody, children, parents and volunteers got a fun time

Now we’ll try to finish these months with one activity outside the town…

I really love this game

I’m always grateful to God for every year we can work at Portiño trying to help to our children to go steps forward in their life. In the previous years this work was difficult because the lack of volunteers, so we maintanied the project in precarious conditions.

But luckily this year we gathered a great group again. Almudena returned from Barcelona and new youngs volunteers came into the group too. So we could work harder and we did more parties and extra activities carrying the children to meet the world outside Portiño

Almudena, Laura, Inés, Lucía, Ariana and Ismael, thanks to you for this maravellous year

Two days ago, Nemesio Fernandez Villa died at the age of 79. It was a sad new for Agarimo, the boys town he founded in Arteixo, near Coruña. But it was a very, very sad new for the Portiño, where he worked decades and founded the school where my group of volunteers currently teach to the children.

I would like to believe we do the 1/1000 part of the work he do.

In memorian, Father Villa,1929-2008

Today I wasn’t able to teach a child (12 years old) how to draw the altitude of a triangle. She could learn it. But she didn’t want do it. She preferred going away to talk with her friends about boys

Today I lived one of the best days since two years ago at Portiño. The school was in calm. We have a lot of children to work, but we were enough volunteers to dedicate much time to everybody. We learned, we played. Without shouts and runs. Without stress

It seems the OCV’s informative campaign had good results. I delayed two weeks to begin the activities waiting for new volunteers. Last week was the first time we went to Portiño. The group was formed with five new volunteers: Ariana, Laura, Lucía, Yanmei Li and Ismael , and me, and this week we received one more, Inés, and, very important, a veteran one, Almudena. Meanwhile, we wait for another veterans: Alberto, who is still in Venezuela in a cooperation project, and Silvia, improving her English in Malta.

These first two sessions have been a bit madness. The new people must adapt to the project. The children are very cheerful with the new people, so they are more mischievous than the usual . We have logistics problems: most of volunteers must take a bus to the other side of the city, then we must walk around 1.5 Km without sidewalks nor shelter under the rain. It is not important. We will be a great group with great new ideas to work, that’s the important thing actually

There is too much time I don’t write about the Portiño children project. The last months were intense. Yes, we still have an important lack of resources-human resources, and it seems it won’t improve wth the new generations of university students. But fortunately we ended the course with a nice group of volunteers that overcomed difficulties and maintained the project up. We went on helping the children with their educational problems, and we gave lot of fun for them, even we took them to a nice place in the city of Betanzos. In “El pasatiempo” there are game zones that Coruña council doesn’t create for our children. And as every year, the next month we will take them to an aquatic park.

So, there are reasons for a celebration. Tonight, guiness at Matthew’s, and crêpes and icecream at Le Petit Bretagne. Silvia, Tamara, Alberto, thank you folks for this shared time!!

On Tuesday we have the Christmas party in Portiño. Last year we couldn’t celebrate this because the lack of volunteers, but this quarter two new volunteers, Tamara and Carolina, joined to Iria, who began with me in the group, and Alberto, who began last year. Moreover, Ana, the former coordinator came to help us in this time, and, of course, to meet again with children. It was a pleasant afternoon in wich we played, danced and eat sandwitches and candies. Of course, we all ended sticky

These first months of the course were nice, but we have a lot of work to improve. We need more help. New volunteers, please!

Last tuesday was the first class day in Portiño. It was a shiny day, and children (around fourty) were so naughty that I’ve never saw in four years I’m in the project, I think.

Good new: there is a new volunteer in the group, she seems smart and mature, and I hope she will come again next week, she didn’t seem scared . Bad new: three volunteers left from last course because they are not in Coruña, so we are four volunteers. Good new: Ramonín (the president of the neighbourgs) still remains as president despite of he wanted to leave. Ramonín is a very important help in our daily work.

Bad news: some girls left the studies when they are thirdteen. Spanish government pushed thirdteen child into the high schools in a fucking change of scheme some years ago, so their families have the perfect excuse to retire the children from the studies two years before. Good news: some new children came, and they seem will to learn. They worked all evening and they asked me for some books from the library.

Final course party in Portiño. Long year, hard moments, lack of volunteers, changes.

But we had lots of good moments too, like today. We ate sandwitches and candys, we danced, we played in the square… We usually have three parties in a year, but we had concentrated all in one because difficulties.

Now, holidays to get energy to the next year

Don’t have time to think where I am and what I’m going to do. The number of children increased again in these weeks, but the number of volunteers is very low. And, it’s worst, I’m their leader because I’m the veteran :-/ God help us…

From Wednesday to Friday I have been in the “I Xornadas sobre Infravivenda e Chabolismo” (I conference about Infrahousing and Shanty Town) at the Sociology Faculty.

We could hear different points of view about the problem, and different actions to eradicate the marginality around our cities. Sociologists, architects, urbanists, medicine doctors, non-profit organisations, volunteers (yes, I took part too), teachers, politicians and, finally, the main actors: Gipsy representatives of several settlements in La Coruña city.

Furthermore the speech of Peñamoa, Las Rañas and Portiño women and men, I think the most interesting speech was the project of the city of Avilés, where with almost 20 years of work and eight euro millions, they integrated around 140 families taking labour, education, housing and social actions. They agreed with all local political and social forces, so they could work with calm. We can read the analyisis of the operation in the book “Erradicación del chabolismo e integración social de los gitanos en Aviles” by E. Agulló Tomás, Jorge Cabo Pérez (the speecher in Conference), M. Capa Tixeira, J. Rodríguez Suarez and C. Sánchez Velasco. This book was published by Oviedo University and Avilés Council.

Avilés project was included in Best Practices database. Another interesting project in the same sucess list was developed in Extremadura, where they took action especially in labour problems.

Very interesting for me was the speech of Delfina Núñez and Yolanda Zapata, two teachers of Social Services in Culleredo Council. They work in a project with children, and, part of the project is similar to our (amateur) work in Portiño. Maybe we will have professional help

And the worst of Conference: politicians. Mar Barcón, Socialist councillor in La Coruña, didn’t admit the fact they act against infrahouse only when there is urban pressure, and raged against the population of the settlements. Meanwhile, Encarna Otero, Galician nationalist parliament representative and member of the Galicia Government, promised they will improve (and said no more). I ask for gaming furniture to the children and sports court to the Portiño, and salubrious conditions in the School where we teach to the children, but they skirted the issue (and Regla Dávila, from Social Service of Council, laughed when I suggested we could organise an alcohol feast in the street to buy swings ).