EIL Intercultural Learning

Patrcia Burke is the winner of the EIL Travel Awards 2007 to Argentina. She spent there 12 weeks on programme fighting HIV/AIDS and drug addiction.

My first impressions of Argentina were that it is a very beautiful country. It is a country that has everything. Fantastic scenery, good food, lots of culture and various activities on offer something to suit everyone. But when you go just a few yards from all of this beauty there are people living in a completely different world in both Buenos Aires and Tucuman. I remember getting on the Subway in Buenos Aires and getting off somewhere else and it was like two different worlds rich and poor.

The population in Argentina is very big in comparison to Ireland. In San Miguel de Tucuman where I was on placement, the population in the whole province is 3 million and to the Argentines this is a fairly small. There are millions of people living in poverty with no running water, no toilets and very bad conditions because of this and so many people living so close together in one house AIDS, HIV and other infections are on the uprise.

Everywhere you go there are people sorting through the bins, this is their job. The most upsetting thing for me one day was walking through the town where I was on placement and there was a little boy about 7 or 8 eating from the bins, this was his food for the day, heartbreaking. This is very common. Everywhere I went with my work and to the poorest neighbourhoods I visited I was always received well and the children were always so happy to see me, so warm, open and interested, it was lovely.

The Argentines have had many struggles economically, this too is very sad and frustrating which seem to be continuing but this has not by any means deterred their generosity. The Argentines shared everything with me their food, their culture, opened their hearts, spoke about problems, helped me to learn the language and had patience with me when I couldn't speak their language.

The experience has made me more aware of the struggles of people in other countries, How we waste resources here like water, food, electricity etc. Here we are very rich economically and all things considered we have a good standard of living. Then because of this we have lost a lot such as the importance of people, family, friends, relaxation etc compared to Argentina where family and people are very important, life is a lot less organised and relaxed and it is common to see women knitting while waiting in queues. Obviously this is just a taster of my experience as their have been so many different experiences over the last 3 months. My volunteer experience has been fantastic even though at times difficult but it has been so rewarding. I have learned so much about myself, our culture and thier culture, and way of life of the Argetnines.

Patricia Burke