The program of social inclusion that revolutionizes La Matanza

Sometimes the revolutions are silent. In one of the poorest and most violent corners of the conurbano, it has developed, without the phenomenon being captured by radar, an unprecedented social program in terms of volume and speed.

The great stage of this project promoted by the villeros priests is the feast of La Matanza, the most populated (2.5 million inhabitants) and deferred from the conurbano, historical fief of Peronism. The small stage, some of the villas that, like the Puerta de Hierro and St. Petersburg, in Isidro Casanova, have gained fame for being real drug malls. With March 17 and 17, they form what is called the "Bermuda Triangle".

He arrived there, a little over two years ago, from Father Nicolás Angelotti, whom no one calls by name. It's "the Tano". Or "Father Tano." The young man of 34 years, green eyes and pint of gallant cinema, former football player in the neighborhoods of River and San Lorenzo, what he discovered when he took over the small chapel of Notre-Dame de l ' Hope – Later, the parish of San José, to March 17, the diocese of San Justo was dark. Extreme poverty, dominance of drug trafficking, crime, wars between neighborhoods. "It was a marginal area, abandoned by the state and also by the Church, until Bishop Jorge Bergoglio began to get involved," he said.

He then applied what he had learned since he had helped Father Pepe Di Paola, the most famous priest of the village of Barracas, aged 21, at the age of 17 , then with Father Gustavo Carrara from 1 of Bajo Flores: a comprehensive plan that, with an epicenter in the parishes, covers all ages and virtually the entire life of the community. They call it "pastoral capillera".

Today, the map of the region has undergone a brutal transformation. In just two years, a two-team primary school (since March of next year, also high school, whose building is very advanced), children's gardens, day homes for children, a club with gym club, first aid room, soup kitchens, training centers for trades, farm for the rehabilitation of outbuildings, a neighborhood press chain and 12 homes, called Homes of Christ, for people in street situations, drug addicts, the elderly, sick and disabled.

"All this has been done with private contributions, in the first place, and the three levels of government 80% of the resources come from companies and individuals, and 20% from the state," said Bishop Monseigneur , bishop of San Justo. Eduardo Garcia His diocese, which has 1.8 million inhabitants, is one of the most delayed of the GBA. "The needs in these neighborhoods are huge, in the houses live up to four generations of the same family, and here the drug and the hitman are reigning, there are zombie boys and hired killers. years who kill for a salary of 3000 pesos. "

The harsh reality of the region is cried at the number of people attending the four dining rooms of the parish, one in each village. Every day, 4,000 rations of food are distributed by the Nation's Department of Social Development, the provincial government, the municipality, businesses and NGOs, such as the Food Bank.

RM, leader of a major private company, met Tano in 2017 during a play for the benefit of the program that was beginning to be rolled out in the parish of San José. "I was impressed by his charisma, then I went to La Matanza and when I saw that and what they had intended to do, I said : "You must help them. "He convinced the company and a group of friends, since become development engines.

Behind the multiplication of educational, cultural, sporting and social centers that are changing the face of neighborhoods which, in 60 years of existence (born as transitional housing centers), have lived only their degradation, there is a strategy of territorial deployment which Team of priests for the villas of urgency The villeros priests are very clear: be inside the communities, do it in part, touch everyone, bring solutions. "It is – they say – to change the three Cs of the street, the prison and the cemetery, which are the seat of abandonment, by the C of the chapel, the school and the club, which are the seat of life. "

Social Development Minister Carolina Stanley began working with the priests as he held the same position in the Government of Buenos Aires. "The model that is applied to La Matanza is very similar to that of 1-11-14, it is based on the push of a whole team, commanded in this case by Bishop Garcia. I have not seen an initiative like this, which has achieved so much results in such a short time, which is why we are helping them, and because it is also a historically forgotten and very poor region, "said Stanley, which closely follows the plan that animates the parish.

"San José is not an island," says Bishop Garcia. "We have 10 villero priests in the diocese, who work closely together and with the figure of Pope Francis as a great inspiration."

Agitated, they did not stop before directly involving the State: they sold parish lands, offices and trailers, permanent representations of ANSES, AFIP, Renaper, power judiciary, mediator and social development.

Another way to go was to go from the front. "We built the school and then we had the asphalt, the light, the water … This is no longer the land of anyone," said the parish priest's aide. of the parish.

But the program lacks its master stroke, which, they say, is about to be realized. Also at the initiative of the bishopric of San Justo and the parish of San José, in a property located on the Avenue Crovara, the government of Buenos Aires would build 1100 houses to accommodate all the families. currently in Puerta de Hierro and St. Petersburg. It would be the end of both colonies.

The property belongs to the national state, which would make it and the infrastructure would be under the responsibility of the municipality of La Matanza. "It will take time, but we hope it will be done," they say in the episcopate.

Study under the bullets

In a car that has been lent to him (he rides a bike), the Tano takes LA NACION to visit the Puerta de Hierro, a descent into the underworld of precariousness and marginality. In a difficult-to-pbad country street, which runs through long dark corridors, three boys of 11 or 12 at most greet and smile at him. "Great, Tano!" One of them raises his right hand, gives him a revolver and simulates that he points the car and shoots. "It's their way of playing that rebadures the priest.They have the habit of carrying weapons from a very young age."

Two years ago, a visit like this, but in St. Petersburg, produced a before and after in the life of Katherine Crichigno, a Boedo teacher who was called by the Tano for the purpose of Add to the educational project. Do not forget that he was impressed by the number of boys on the street, that is, unschooled, and by the surprise with which they were surprised to see her. "A lady, a lady!" Clinging to his apron, he was asked, "Sir, are you staying?" That decided him. There they needed it.

When Katherine, 45, married, two children accepted the offer to be the principal of the primary school and three gardens, the school did not exist yet. But in just over a year, the three-story building was built. Today, he shows it with pride. "In December of last year, we opened the pre-registration and in a few hours, the quota of 300 boys, 150 in the morning and 150 in the afternoon, from the first to the sixth year was already finished.This is the only school located in the villa. "

The teaching team of 25 teachers and a psychopedagogue, whose salaries are paid by the Government of Buenos Aires, has to deal with complex situations: disintegrated families, children without identity card or vaccinated or who, at age 12, can not read or write. "There are many emotional and material deficiencies." Last week, two of our students' homes were set on fire because they were heated with coal, "said Katherine, who still lives in Boedo. Each morning, the collective 180 is taken, which takes 1 hour Arrive at La Matanza.

This year, the inauguration of the St. Petersburg Garden has ended in the least expected way: a shooting at the door that forced teachers and boys to throw themselves under the tables. As usual, they had to design a protocol for these cases. "It's not just an educational project, but a social and pastoral project," says the director, "which is what I like, which makes me love working here." . "

Beside the school and gardens, which are free, are located at the counter what are called "casitas", day-care homes frequented by locals, who offer educational and recreational activities. The goal is for boys to be safe for at least 9 hours, confined and fed, away from the street. "The street is a drug," says a Tano collaborator.

Homework is done in clbad and the school provides them with all the material. They also work with robotics kits distributed by the province. And from 5 pm, they have activities on the sports field of the club.

In Puerta de Hierro, the pride of the neighborhood and the parish is to support a garden and a "little house" where 140 children attend a school. Until a little over a year ago, two transas (traffickers) were living.

"Do you see this boy?" Katherine asks while showing the schoolyard during recess.It is Tobias, in Grade 6. The other day, she told me that she was going to school. she was happy because she had nothing to do before and that she had the habit of throwing stones into the trains. " .

Connect with life

On a two-block property opposite the Puerta de Hierro, the San Jose Sports Club is, in mind, the most powerful and striking undertaking of the pastoral pastoral care. Until recently, it was an abandoned land, an open dumpsite. It opened last year and includes an indoor sports center with stands, a large football field, five girls (one synthetic grbad), a basketball court, two quinchos and five grills. And six clbadrooms for trade schools are almost complete.

A famous wasteland has become a pole of attraction for four neighborhoods in which 60% of the population is under 21 years old. "The club is open to the entire community and other schools in the area," says Nidia González, a 32-year-old catechist and club coordinator. About 1000 boys aged 4 to 18 and their families spend there every week. "The neighborhoods that were once facing now are learning to live together," they say in the parish.

In addition to football, basketball, taekwondo, volleyball and boxing, there is dance, jazz, folklore, singing, guitar, violin, orchestra, theater , skateboarding and acrobatics. And workshops for young people (the River Foundation is responsible for football). "If the sport is related to the art, it's a connection with life, dealing with crime and drugs, which is a culture of death," Nidia said.

Extended families

Father Tano has a small office attached to the parish. There, always dressed in field bombs, slippers and a shirt with a cure collar, he becomes a kind of off-road social worker: at every moment, a person comes to work, food, illness , addictions, a son who's gone, a beating husband … "It's life here, I always say that life has to be embraced as it comes in. Then resources are sought after, and not l & rsquo; "Inverse," he says.

With this criterion, at the speed of lightning, the Houses of Christ grow and multiply: houses distributed by the four villages hosting homeless people, mainly from the street, the prison or hospitals. Mostly addicted to the paco. There are already 12, in which 280 people live. And every day, 8 to 10 extra people are added, forcing to open new homes. "There are no quotas, because the reality is urgent and we do not want to leave anyone in the street," they explain in the parish.

Designed as "extended families", these houses, which are simple bought and reconditioned villas, offer roof, bed, clothes, food, support and badistance of health professionals, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, children and adults. 39 workshops and teachers of physical education. Expelled people or who have nowhere to live. Also for people with disabilities. "It's the most beautiful job of the parish, the most evangelist," says Tano. In each house, there are between 20 and 30 residents, plus others under ambulatory regime.

Ángel Nieva (35) arrived at a Hogar de Cristo 3 years ago, in villa 1-11-14. "My life has been lost, I've been drugged since I was a child and imprisoned for eight years for robbery in Ezeiza, Devotee and Marcos Paz, and saved me, it gave me a place in the world."

Already reestablished, in 2017, when El Tano moved to La Matanza, he decided to accompany him. Today, it is part of the home care system. "I accompany them constantly, because there are always difficulties, complicated situations."

In each home, there are two or three fixed companions, usually former residents already recovered. And a madrasa: a neighbor who oversees the running of the house and who lacks nothing, from soap and towels to blankets and food. Andrea Flores (a 74 year old girl) is a madrbada of Cristo Don Orione's Hogar, located in the 17 district of Marzo. "When I lost my son Pedro Antonio to Cromagnon, I thought I would never be able to recover, I remembered crying." But they [los residentes del hogar] They are now my children. I love them and I take care of them as children. "

According to Nieva, households periodically organize "charity evenings" during which they go round to look for people on the street, sick or under the influence of drug use. "We usually go to the Justo Villegas station of the so-called" paco train "because it is common to find people who have been stabbed or shot in confrontations with transas." They also go to prisons and hospitals.

Attached to a Hogar de Cristo located in the parish of San José, El Tano lives in a simple and private room. When the sun goes down, it is destroyed. From an early age, he cycled from here to there and had to deal with dramas that are his daily bread. He says his only secret is to work and pray. "Every morning, when I wake up, I put myself in the hands of God, without his help I would be gone."

————— OR —————

From schools and dining halls to art, health and sports

In just over two years, the parish of San José, in the city of March 17 (La Matanza), has deployed a comprehensive program directly involving some 7,000 people from four historically forgotten neighborhoods.

San José Elementary School (March 17). It opened this year for 300 boys (two teams). He has first to sixth grade and is free. This is the only school inside the villa

Secondary education. It is under construction next to the primary. It will be operational next March, with 300 students

School for adults. 150 attend and operate in the elementary building

eaters There are four and they distribute 4000 servings of food a day

Media FM radio, newspaper, website and YouTube channel

Gardens Four, one in each village (Iron Gate, St. Petersburg, March 17 and 17) and a total of 1300 children attend. This is the first time that there are gardens in the neighborhoods

Small houses Day homes, attached to gardens and schools. They work contractually so that boys have at least 9 hours of confinement and food and are not in the street.

Houses of Christ. There are 12 houses housing 280 people in the street, drug addicts, the elderly, the sick and the disabled, badisted by companions and professionals.

Closed. Intended for the intensive treatment of drug addicts

San Jose Sports Club. It operates on three sites, but the main one is a two-acre sports field located on Crovara Avenue, which includes an indoor sports center, quinchos grounds, football and basketball courts, workshops and artistic and cultural activities. 1000 boys and their families go there every week. This is open to the community

Trades training center. For more than 16 years, designed to facilitate professional integration. Courses in carpentry, electricity, plumbing, hairdressing and bakery are given. 450 children will attend and have their last seat next to the sports center, where six clbadrooms are under construction

explorers Movement for young people (150) aged 14 to 21 years old. Through various activities (courses, camps, conferences, sports), we try to generate "positive leaders"

Youth of San José. For children aged 15 and over, in which is inculcated "the mysticism of service and solidarity": from the accompaniment of the elderly to the organization of paths

First aid room It is located in Puerta de Hierro

chapels There are four: the parish San José (responsible, March 17) and chapels Mother of the People (Puerta de Hierro), the Virgin Pilgrim (St. Petersburg) and the Virgin of Itati (March 17)

IN ADDITION