"Un auténtico y concreto regalo de la Mater"

Jornada Nacional de Instructores de la Campaña de la Soja en el Santuario de la Solidaridad, Córdoba

Eva García en una de sus clases de cocinar Eva García in one of her cooking classes Eva García bei einem ihrer Kochkurse
Producto de soja Product of soy beans Sojaprodukt Foto: García © 2006
Parte del Equipo Fundador de la Campaña de la Soja: Jorge Zimmermacher, Eva García y Santiago Cerviño Part of the founding team of the Campaign of Soy: Jorge Zimmermacher, Eva García y Santiago Cerviño Teil des Gründungsteams der Soja-Kampagne: Jorge Zimmermacher, Eva García y Santiago Cerviño
Padre Guillermo Carmona – charla sobre Pensamiento Social Father Guillermo Carmona – conference on Social Thinking Pater Guillermo Carmona – Vortrag über soziales Denken
Sketch sobre aborígenes que descubren en la soja otra fuente de alimentos –  atrás el ganado agradecido! Skit on Indians discovering soy as new source of food – in the background, the grateful deer Sketch über Indios, die Soja als neue Nahrungsquelle entdecken – im Hintergrund das dankbare Wild
Equipos Fundador y de Chaco Founding Team with the team from Chaco Gründungsteam mit dem Team aus der Provinz Chaco Fotos: Ojeda-Valussi © 2006

ARGENTINA, Silvia and Alejandro Valussi. The first National Encounter of the Soy.. Bean Campaign took place in the Shrine of Solidarity in Córdoba. Leaders from 8 provinces of Argentina gathered with the participation of Father Guillermo Carmona, who celebrated the Holy Mass after presenting us with a talk about the thinking of the Founding Father in regard to solidarity. The Soy Bean Campaign is an initiative of the Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement that wants to make a cultural change in the nutrition of the families who have difficulty obtaining daily sustenance. The activity of this organization is spread in all of the country with the same speed that the unmet basic needs of thousands of Argentineans are spreading.

The participants arrived at Córdoba – in the center and the heart of Argentina – from distant and different points of Argentina: Tucumán, Catamarca, La Rioja, Salta, Buenos Aires, Corrientes, Chaco and of course Córdoba. Thez did not know each other personally, but there were many things that united them and that made it a joyful and warm encounter.

Jorge Zimmermacher enthusiastically welcomed all with a joy that came from an inflamed heart, and he transmitted the spirit of the Journey that could be summarized in two key words that Father Kentenich used for Schoenstatters, "Viritus Unitis" -"Uniting our strength".

Santiago Zerviño very seriously and soberly presented a historic review of Argentina with the objective of positioning the participants in the situation from which the Soy Campaign emerged. Through this presentation thez could see, unfortunately, that over time Argentina began to lose the culture of work.

The other face of the crisis called solidarity

The other face of the crisis in Argentina is called solidarity. That is how the beginning of the Soy Bean Campaign can be summarized. This is the attitude that the members a group of the Family Work from San Isidro had when they began to offer tothousands of women, children and the elderly the unmet nutritional needs, through an educational proposal oriented to the good use of the soy bean. "We want to provide our most needy brothers the nourishment for the soul and for the body. It is not so much about distributing soy bean throughout all the country, rather it about educating the people so that they will learn to use an inexpensive resource of excellent quality, and at the same that they learn about God and the Schoenstatt Family. It is about helping them to accomplish a better quality of life for themselves and of sharing work and prayer like an authentic family", synthesized Santiago J. Zervino, one of the creators and promoters of the initiative. The idea emerged "when the newspapers published that Spain donated 4,000 kg. of food to Argentina" and paradoxically "that same day six boats left Argentina carrying 40,000 tons of soy beans". Once the decision was made to begin with this project, Simmermacher, Poli and Zervinao consulted with the producers of the area of Coronel Suárez about the possibility of making an important donation of soy beans, which was immediately accepted since it was a project that originated from the Sachoenstatt Apostolic Movement, according to the producers. This is how the first ten tons were obtained to initiate the campaign. With the collaboration of the rest of the families of the group to which the trio that spearheaded the Soy Bean Campaign belong, to date more than 10 thousand kilograms in bags of 1 kilo have been distributed to 20 groups of the Family Work of Argentina that enlisted to participate in the campaign. The soy beans are bagged manually and it takes place in the regional centers of Coronel Suarez and Villa Ballester (Buenos Aires), General Pay (Córdoba) and Barranqueras Chaco).

Not to feed, rather to educate

The soy beans that are cleaned and divided travel from these locations by transport cargo to the different areas of the country, where a defined group of Schoenstatters, who are responsible for the project in these places, wait for its arrival. Each diocese tries to educate instructors so that they can teach the people how to prepare the meals. In each city or town where the soy beans are destined there are people from the Movement who are in charge of preparing the meetings for those who will receive the service, during the meeting there is time to create bonds, give shelter and to pray in a family atmosphere. In every encounter they try to also nourish the hearts of the participants and to make them feel the company of Our Mother of Schoenstatt, who is the Mother of Bread and Mother of Grace. They prefer to form groups of Mothers and instruct them instead of giving the soy beans directly to organized meal centers, because those give food that is already prepared, without educating. Therefore, it is clear that this apostolate is rooted with a pedagogical aspect. In this sense they explained that "a properly trained instructor- usually a missionary of the Rosary Campaign, a member of the Mothers’ Branch, or a person who is willing, gathers a group of pregnant women, with or without children, they distribute the little bags with a sufficient amount of soy beans for a week, and they instruct them how to make a certain recipe. Then while the soy beans are prepared, they pray the Rosary and talk about some spiritual subject. At the end of the encounter, they are asked to commit themselves to share what they learned with their families."

Allied with the Rosary Campaign

It is a wonderful experience of love of neighbor and it is a social challenge to which Schoenstatt responds with concrete action and solidarity. It is made possible by the Soy Bean Campaign allied with the Rosary Campaign and other Branches of the Movement.

Ely and Carlos Armayo, members of the Rosary Campaign of Córdoba, gave a historic outline of the Schoenstatt Movement and of the Covenant of Love with Mary. They showed deeds and events that originated and gave life to the Movement that welcomes the participants today and gives their lives meaning.

The social doctrine of the Church was presented by Jorge Zimmermacher, with a marked effort to unite heaven and earth. Of striving to be in solidarity and with firmness and with the determination to struggle for the common good so that all can all be truly responsible for everyone, which implies much more than isolated acts.

Melba and Pedro López, Diocesan Coordinators from Corrientes, introduced their audience to the subject of "To live in hope in difficult times" in an atmosphere of spirituality and personal reflection. They ended with a prayer with the phrase of the Father "With hope and joy and confident in the victory we go with Mary into the newest times" giving the Blessed Mother one of our weakness, willing to change it for love of Her and our loved ones.

With their minds and hearts filled with the contents of the presentations, with their notes in hand, all then silently went to the Shrine, to allow God the Father to speak to them.

Sharing experiences

After a succulent meal, which was elegantly served, and after a restorative rest, they saw a very well made Power Point presentation, which clearly and educationally presented the objectives of the Soy Bean Campaign. In another presentation, they saw photos of the different places where Eva Garcia was present and offered her cooking courses, combined with Schoenstatt pedagogy and prayer. The testimonies of those present enriched this task with concrete action that evidently, comes from a divine inspiration.

And as it was to be expected, Father Guillermo Carmona, who has guided this initiative since its beginnings, offered a very encouraging and challenging talk. He made reference to fragments of the social thinking of Father Kentenich and developed them into seven elements that are important to everybody: To awaken the conscience and social action – solidarity of destinies; The social as a weaving of attachments; To know how to use resources – to value them, to use them, and to share them; Participation – a fundamental attitude; the Family – without it there is no growth -; Education – the family as a point of departure; Work – the means for everyday sanctity; and he concluded with Authority – a true exercise of those who are carrying this project forward.

Father Guillermo’s talk led to workshops where all shared experiences, to then concentrate on an emphatic, dynamic and participative talk about Leadership by Benjamin Paz from Tucaman.

Putting it into practice: cooking with soy beans

While one group was in the kitchen where Eva had brought everything prepared with soy beans: tarts and pizzas. another group prepared sketches which gladdened the lives with sauciness, creativity and with a sense of humor, after a plentiful and tasty dinner,. There was also good musicthe sound of the Litoral, sung by Luis Escobar from Corrientes, and the sound of Buenos Aires with well tuned and heartfelt tangos sung by the most helpful gentleman of the journey, Pablo Rega.

Jars with soy beans

In the morning, after nourishing the body and of addressing their prayer to the Blessed Mother – in the words of Father Kentenich -, all gathered in groups led by Silvia and Alejandro Valussi, Leaders of Rosary Campaign of the Archdiocese of Chaco.

Besides sharing the joy and life that the Soy Bean Campaign generates, the team work resulted in the following conclusions and suggestions:

• To periodically have annual journeys in different places of the country.
• To continue Training new instructors.
• To remain loyal to the strength that originated the Soy Bean Campaign and to
• continue with the meetings of distribution of soy beans just as it was suggested
• at the beginning.
• To integrate more people into the Campaign, not only directed to needy people
• To form teams, where there are none, associating more people, generating life and
• a spirit of solidarity.

All were well attended to at all times by a first class "team of hosts" , composed by the family of Cora and Marcelo Lescano and their five children who very affectionately and joyfully accompanied them at all times, from very early in the morning until late at night.

There were also souvenirs for all the participants, little rosaries in different amounts from the community of Salta, and miniature jars filled with soy beans and with a picture of the MTA offered by the community of Chaco.

The Holy Mass offered by Father Marcelo Gallardo for all the community and all of us -along with the lunch which was tastefully served with the distinction of best restaurants of the country, were the highlights of the closing of the National Journey of the Soy Bean Campaign.

The participants arrived to the Shrine of Solidarity with much enthusiasm, and departed to return to their homes, inflamed through the "Viritus Unitis" of this journey.

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA