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The first thing that comes to mind when they ask me about the situation of the
indigenous people is that they're far, they're very far
and not just distance-wise: they're also cut off from the world
from civilization
they have very little access to everything we're used to having every day
you have to imagine a place that's
very very far from society, very hard to reach
they've just started getting water, some places don't have electricity
their economic situation is desperate
imagine a place completely
excluded from society
well, this started
in 2006. I joined a medical mission travelling to Salta
giving medical aid
I went on one of these trips and when
I saw the place
I realized that I wanted to come back and help in some way
Santa Victoria Este has
a population of around 4000, and the communities have
between 50 and 100 families, they're very small places
and each community has
its own primary school
kids come here and, every day, from age 4
they're speaking their native language
and we have to teach them how to speak spanish
and it's hard
usually, these schools just cover the basic primary education
and when they finish, well, the kids' challenge is how to keep studying
for all of us, the normal thing would be to complete primary school, and move on to secondary
kids over there... they don't have any high schools to attend nearby
so, DALE TU MANO ("Give a hand") was born
knowing how hard it was for kids to attend high school
the distance
the cost
what we decided to offer the kids was a strong support
so they could be motivated to go ahead and keep studying and finish
high school
to give them a scholarship program, in which Dale tu Mano gives them school uniforms,
supplies,
private tutors, so they can have
academic assistance, and also a follow up
student by student, through a counselor
my name is María Díaz. I'm 20 years old
my name's Filiberto
I'm Apolonia Toledo
my name is Benitez, Elías
just as I finished primary school, that's when you first got here
I wasn't thinking of...coming here
even my mom
wouldn't let me come here
I don't know why
I told her that
I need to go to school
it's hard for
an indigenous kid
because their parents
didn't have the chance to go to high school, so the motivation they get
from home
is also quite small
school
should be the centre
of all these communities in Santa victoria este... Alright? The centre
the only thing that can
make a community improve and grow
as they always say, you shouldn't give someone a fish, you should teach him how to fish it himself
and the truth is
teaching them how to fish is this, is giving them education
so they can
save themselves
we have a lot of needs
and that's why it's important to me...to study, to go through high school
to finish
and that's why I go
I want to study
so I can help my family
be someone... in life
honestly, I
don't like studying, but I do it anyway because
I need to learn, and
I need to get a job
usually
they'd enroll and then drop out... but now, I see
they've gone the whole way from the first year to the last, and that's very
significant... and valuable, to us. -Starting from
I don't know, 2, 3 years ago,
when the organization started helping
these kids
I've noticed
much more interest in studying even further
-afterwards, I want to be a kindergarten teacher. -policeman
I'd love to be a police officer
-Yeah, I want to be a teacher -An agronomy teacher
the final goal of this program is for the kids to finish high school, and once they've finished
we want them to have access
to a higher degree
to be able to
get better, more dignified work, to be able to
truly go back to where he comes from
and be someone his community can be proud of
bottomline, my dream for them is education
education so they can get ahead
education so they can inspire their communities, education so,
as a nurse, they can cure their sick
as a teacher
they can educate the kids from their community
that's the most important thing, what they need most, more than food, more than houses,
more than water pumps, that's what they need most
so I think that
with education, that's how we can save them -Luckily,
I have all of you
to help me and support me with my studying
to the sponsors
I want to thank them so much, and to ask them to keep going, to keep helping
someday you'll see the results
of all this you're doing now
to our sponsors
I want to say thanks
because they've helped with so many things
all our new binders
all our pens
that we take to school
every time I'd take out a bunch of pens, everyone would be like
"Hey Apo, where did you get all those pens?"
"Well" I'd say
"I have sponsors in Buenos Aires"
thanks to them. thanks a lot
thanks for everything, for what you do
and I hope that
you keep helping us
to get a degree
I know that
it's not easy getting here
you come from very far
thank you.