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20 de septiembre, La Plata: 1200 jovenes salen a la calle para „limpiar Argentina“ September 20, La Plata: 1,200 youth turn to the streets
to “clean 20. September, La Plata: 1200 Jugendlichen gehen auf die Straße für ein sauberes Argentinien |
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”Limpia la Argentina, limpia tu actitud.” Clean Ein sauberes Argentinien, eine saubere Haltung… |
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Con la bandera del pais que queremos With the flag of the country that we love Mit der Fahne des Landes, das wir lieben und darum verändern wollen |
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Cierre de la acción con una fiesta grande The action closed with a big party Zum Abschluss der Reinigungsaktion gibt es eine tolle Party |
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Fiesta de primavera A real Spring Party Ein echtes Frühlingsfest |
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Una generación nueva... A new generation... Eine neue Generation...
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ARGENTINA, Ezequiel Hirsch. On September 20th, a group of youth, who belong to the Schoenstatt Boys’ and Girls’ Youth from La Plata, and members of a group called New Nation, carried out an activity with Father Kentenich as the prototype; it was a positive manifestation in which they demonstrated their authenticity. The activity was organized September 20th, the beginning of Spring, and the eve of Student’s day in Argentina with the motto, A YOUNG SPRING: Clean Argentina, Clean your attitude.
By the end of the activity there were 1,200 youth who wore the team shirt of the Argentinean soccer team symbolizing their desire of having a different country, a country where corruption would be conquered through honesty, where the disinterest for the homeland would change through commitment, where individualism would cede its place to unity.
The youth shouted to their country: We want an Argentina clean of corruption, clean of disinterest for the country and clean of individualism!
All of this was demonstrated through example:
We went out to clean the street. We joined hands for the same colors, blue and white, to sweep away the ‘laid back attitude’, the personal interest and all the divisions that sink our Argentina. We dream big; we dream about a better country. We know that we can accomplish it, said a youth.
The most important thing about a vision is the first step that is taken to make it real, it must be taken with confidence and with the commitment that it is worthwhile to do. "With Father Kentenich, we are before a personality who opened broad horizons, uniting them small steps," said Father Ángel Strada a few days before in Schoenstatt, on the eve of the 39th Anniversary of the death of Father Kentenich. The large vision and the small steps to carry them out: faithful to the Founder, the youth of the New Country showed how and what could be done: They went out to sweep the pathways with brooms, shovels, rakes; they removed papers from the posts, and they cleaned the graffiti, as a symbol of the Argentina that they want to build.
We dream about a better country and we know that we can accomplish it
The number of youth was so large that important media outlets were present during the activity: television stations with a wide audience, national newspapers, and federal radio stations joined the dream of a group of youth who were born of the Schoenstatt Movement. Moreover, it is now the dream of the youth of City Bell, to the north of the city of La Plata. It is a suburb, which is mostly residential.
New Nation has grown to more that seven thousand youth since it’s beginning in 2003. It is closing in on one of it’s objectives, which is to reach 10,000 youth by the year 2010, the bicentennial of the country, to demonstrate that it is the youth who have the responsibility and the challenge to change the culture.
"It was incredible to see all these youth vibrating with fervor for the dream of having a different Argentina. There was a moment when I became very emotional: when all of them concentrated themselves on the street and they were jumping, dancing [sic] singing, on the way to the square...at that moment I realized the magnitude of the activity, of its importance for society that one thousand youth want to change society…" a testimony from one of the organizers.
Upon arriving at the square, the thousand plus youth enjoyed the closing with some of the soccer players from the Gimnasi and Esgrima club, and there was a musical group along with some very touching words presented by Federico Epele, the general coordinator of the New Nation.
As a result, City Bell was clean on the outside, and decorated with a mural. Moreover, the youth who came to the activity were clean on the inside by adopting a punctual attitude. In doing so, this helped them realize that this is the way to build true change, first, by changing ourselves, and by embodying the change that we want to see in the country. With this phrase the participants returned home, with a very interesting challenge: CLEAN ARGENTINA, CLEAN YOUR ATTITUDE…
New Nation
The group New Nation emerged in 2003 as a response to the serious crisis that the country was experiencing: three members of the Boys’ Youth, Julián Iturrería, Francisco Zurita, and Juan Martín D’Agostino decided to use their Schoenstatt training to make a cultural change in certain habits that are a result of the attitude of each person.
This group, which is open to all the community, has the desire for a New Nation, and to achieve it they became aware of Argentinean bad habits. They had the motivation for change through individual and/or group resolutions, the commitment in daily life, and social responsibility for stressing the mission of the generation of the youth of today: the re-founding of Argentina.
Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA /amj
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Un proyecto de muchos, un sueño de todos A project of many, the dream of all Ein Projekt von vielen, der Traum von allen Fotos: Ezequiel Hirsch © 2007 |