June 2009 Archives

Travelling to San Carlos de Bariloche brought me from the Cuyo region into the Patagonia region, comprising the provinces Neuquen, Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.

I was able to view of the endless Patagonian plains, where very few people live, before arriving in Bariloche. It is known as 'the Switzerland of Argentina' and is visited by one million tourists each year.

It is indeed a beautiful region and the centre of the town has many temptations: nice hotels, restaurants and shops for the rich tourists that mainly come from all over Latin America.

Thanks to Gustavo Gennuso, I get to see another side of Bariloche, a side that stays hidden from the tourists. Not far from the centre, Gustavo shows me poor neighbourhoods where people live in very small houses, often with up to ten people together.

"Unemployment is very high here, and level of education is low. People don´t have high hopes for a good future. There is a high incidence of alcoholism and violence within the families. With the Gente Nueva Foundation, we try to develop the poor communities of San Carlos de Bariloche." Gustavo tells me.

Gustavo is one of the founders of Fundación Gente Nueva, a foundation that establishes schools in Bariloche and aims to give poor young people a chance to work through different strategies: education and training, inclusion in the formal labour circuit and development of micro-enterprises.

One of the schools built and run by Fundación Gente Nueva in Bariloche

More about Fundación Gente Nueva - and how SolarAid might be able to get involved - in my next blog.

Carl

This is really a tribute to my friend Carl, who I worked with at SolarAid Malawi for over a year before he recently relocated to Argentina as Solar Enterprise Co-ordinator for SolarAid South America...

LEFT: Carl and I before he left for Argentina.

Carl is indisputably a workaholic and highly innovative. During his stay in Malawi, he managed to come up with very exciting micro-solar designs which are user-friendly and easy to assemble. When he thought of a new design, he never minded what time it showed on his wrist watch and went straight into business.

a Kadzuwa and Muuni micro-solar stall in Mzuzu. Products sold in this shop were designed by Carl van Zand

He ably imparted his technical knowledge to the local people. He has managed to train more than a hundred microsolar entrepreneurs. Most of these trainees have basic education which meant that technical training was a big challenge to accomplish. Carl was patient enough to see things through. He developed very simple training manuals which are easy to follow.

Carl has been a strong pillar of the Malawian project. Without pretence, his departure is regrettable but we take solace in the fact that the local people have absorbed his technical knowledge and are able to apply it practically. For Carl, leaving the Malawi project at this stage is like a dad leaving his baby when it has just started crawling. He came, he worked and he delivered. I hope that one day he will have a chance to come to Malawi again to see the fruits of his contribution. We will miss him very much and we wish him all the best in Argentina!


Carl van Zand (back) and Fred Migai of Kenya (standing on the right) with the first group of micro-solar trainees in Mzuzu