MAMA

Wednesday-Friday each week, I work at a comedor & community center in José León Suarez. A town in Gran Buenos Aires. The comedor is a part of the organization MAMA (Mis Alumnos Más Amigos). MAMA was founded in 1983 to help families in need. MAMA now has 2 comedores that assist with needs regarding food, clothing, health, and school.

I am at the comedor 9am-3pm three days a week. The man who is in charge of the comedor where I work is Beto. He lives close to where I live, so he picks me up every morning at 8:45. If he's going to be late, he sends me a text message, but usually he's right on time. It's about a 15 minute drive to the comedor. Beto has been very helpful in teaching me about the culture here and he has been very patient in helping me with the language!

The comedor has about 5 ladies from the surrounding barrio who are the cooks. These ladies are always in the kitchen working when I arrive in the mornings. They cook huge pots/trays of delicious food. At 11:00, people from the barrio start coming in to eat. It's mostly children who eat there, but they bring containers that the cooks fill with food for the children to take home to their families. I have learned that most of the children have sibling groups of 5 or more. They are always surprised when I tell them I only have 1 brother and no sisters. (Their jaws literally drop.)

Before 11:00, there aren't usually many children around the comedor. There are about 4 children under 5-years-old who are children of the cooks and I often play games with them. For the first hour, most mornings, I sit in Beto's office talking. He teaches me about the culture here and I tell him about different things in the US.

I eat lunch with the children and then play games with them. I constantly have children coming up to me asking me to play a game with them. I had to start having them write their name and the game they wanted to play on a list for me because they were asking me to do things while I was in the middle of a game with another child. I am really enjoying my time with the children and am quickly becoming attached to them. I know it's going to be VERY difficult when I leave.

I am slowly learning the backgrounds of the children and I realized that I am working with the children that I worked with in the States while at DSS. Just from a different angle.

I'm continuing to learn more about how MAMA operates through my morning conversations with Beto. I have also had the opportunity to meet the social worker who comes to the comedor twice a week. She and I exchanged some information comparing her work with what I did with DSS - very similar. I'm excited to learn more from her as time goes on.