FIRST CHRISTMAS FAIR AT L' ARCHE

On Saturday, December 1 st , L' Arche opens the doors of the HOME and invites everyone to the First Christmas Fair, where the core members and neighbours with intellectual disabilities will show their handicrafts made at the L' Arche Workshop along the year. From candles to didactic wooden toys, postcards made from recycled paper, hand painted wooden boxes and handicrafts, among other things. What could be better than buying presents for Christmas and helping at the same time?

Furthermore, the fair is an excellent opportunity to invite family and friends to get to know our Home and enjoy a day full of surprises.

The fair will take place from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm . The money collected will be assigned to our Workshop' extension works, since in 2008 the space will be enlarged in order that more neighbours and people with disabilities will be able to keep on developing, learning and applying their talents through manual labours.

 

YOUNG SPACE: There's a place for you!

 

Would you like to share this smile? THERE'S A PLACE FOR YOU. Come join our team of assistants and volunteers and discover L' Arche from within.

 

¿Have you ever thought that all the tasks that are so easy for you to perform; they become true “achievements” for others?, or ¿That your company, even if it is for a few minutes, could mean a smile lasting a whole week for others?, or ¿That there is something more hidden behind of what the world currently offers, that truly could fill your heart? And, last but not least, ¿how many times when you “give a hand”, really feel that you were actually the one receiving? Helping is easy. Helping, in turn, helps you.

Currently, and thanks to many people' volunteered work, L' Arche in Argentina gives shelter to Osvaldo, Sandra and Maxi, three persons with intellectual disabilities who do not have a home of their own. Furthermore, we work with many intellectual disabled neighbours in the Boulogne area.

However, there are still many people with intellectual disabilities who live in poverty, rejection or abandonment. They have a lot to give, and they do not have the chance. L' Arche has a long way to go. That's why we need to “take on board” in our Arch so many more people. With your knowledge, your work, your time, your prayers or ¡your life!, we will be able to grow.

  Assistants

One of the most inspirational experiences offered by L' Arche is to be an assistant. This means to live in the Home during a certain period, learning to work in the Community, getting information and training in different areas, sharing your days with the core members and the assistants from other parts of the world, like France , Belgium , Nicaragua , United States , etc. at the same time you get to know a new community.

Please contact: comunidad@elarcaargentina.org

 

Helping while doing something you love, allows you to

•  Learn to do it better, at the time you live an enriching and rewarding experience. No matter if you are an artist, designer, engineer, architect, photographer, lawyer, housewife or high school student. We all have something to give.

•  Use your capacities and ideas to develop interesting and meaningful projects

•  Live different experiences while getting acquainted with new cultures, since L' Arche is an international organization.

•  Aid many people through your good will. It is an excellent way of taking responsibilities and obtaining qualifications, while helping to generate positive changes in our society.

•  Contribute to improve the lives of the people with intellectual disabilities who have passed through, and still are, many discriminatory situations from the society.

 

 

Argentina participated in L' Arche General Assembly, held in Santo Domingo

 

Early November, representatives from all the Communities of the Latin American and Caribbean Area, gathered at a General Assembly which meant a significant step towards the constitution of L' Arche in our area. During this meeting the participants approved and signed the Bylaws, they shared many experiences and offered very important lectures for our formation. Not even the hurricane Noël could prevent L' Arche from keeping a steady pace, staying afloat, everyone full of Latin energy.

Representatives from the Communities of Mexico, Honduras, Brazil , Argentina , Haiti and Dominican Republic were present and we all had the chance to show our own community and share our daily experiences within our community. Three core members took part in every activity developed by the assembly, and they seemed very happy. Due to its message “ Color Esperanza ” (The colour of Hope), a Diego Torres' song was chosen for the occasion: “Saber que se puede ” (To be sure that it is possible). Furthermore, we had the privilege to live several days in Santo Domingo 's Home, where 10 core members lived. We learned about their life stories, we cooked (sometimes with candle lights due to power failures), we shared photographs, videos and we laughed a lot. To see so many people united by a unique mission, was a huge testimony of hope and the life of L´Arche.

 

Open Days

 

Like every month, once again, L' Arche called to open days for all those who wished to share a time of reflection, experiences, concerns and projects, among mate and croissants. In this opportunity, Gael, a French assistant, shared his experience in L' Arche in Trosly, the place of origin, where Jean Vanier visited so many times. Julie, the assistant from Belgium , also told us about her beginnings in L' Arche and her work with old people. The videos of the Annual Fundraising Dinner and of the Sandrita's interview, with her testimony since she was taken in L' Arche, after being abandoned in the Psychiatric hospitals Montes de Oca and Tobar García were projected.

Also we talked about the importance of consolidating these gatherings, everybody's need to participate and to know each other, and be all in touch to keep informed on the life and news at the Home.

 

When the world says "Change, and I´ll love love you" , in L´Arche we say "Only if I love you, you can change"Jean Vanier