Pastor's+Story

By The Revd. Mario Ágreda
 * Living and growing up in Argentina **

**// Born in the USA (Unknown South America) //** Being born in South America is, maybe, something a bit strange and odd for people in North America. We even carry the same surname: America, but living widely different realities. Language, history, political system, etc., are some of the aspects that separates our experiences. As a matter of fact, Argentina has been somewhat different from other parts of the subcontinent for many years, which is no longer true right now. We/ve got an unfortunate start, because in our conquest by the Spaniard “conquistadores” our aboriginal population was displaced, and from the 1870's was virtually extinct through a sustained war for the land. And so our culture was a European one for centuries. We were a country populated mainly by Spanish and Italian migrants, with other minorities like the British, German, French, Jewish, Syrian-Lebanese, Armenian, etc. But from the 1950's onwards the vast majority of the migrants came from our neighbours, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and Peru. And so our culture is experiencing changes and developing a different shape. The country is pretty big. Continental Argentina is a little bigger than India, 1400 km wide and 3600 km long, so its climate varies from subtropical jungle and deserts in the north, to pre-arctic steppe in the south, with a nice and wide prairie in the centre of the country called “the Pampas”. Buenos Aires, the capital city, is there, and here is where I live and grew up. **// The blessings //** This is an exciting city to live in! Being a city of 14 million people including the suburban area, it has many different opportunities in cultural, business, religious, sports and almost any field you are interested in. Many of the renowned writers in Spanish language in the last 2 centuries lived here. And our local University was heralded 4 Nobel Prizes in the past. And my University was state funded, so you can get a degree without having to pay a lot for it, though is a long and hard effort to cope with. As you can imagine, food and traditions is also quite varied, but not so at home, because many people work the whole of the day and have less and less time and skill to dedicate to cooking. Food is regularly very good, and is not especially expensive comparing it with other places in the world. // Asados // (charcoal barbecue) in particular are world renowned! Natural resources abound. Easy access to drinkable water is a blessing for many people here, but it's becoming more difficult every day because of abuse and lack of proper control. Sports are a passion here. Particularly soccer football, but not exclusively: basketball, rugby football, hockey, rowing, polo, volleyball and many others are widely followed and practiced here. Even though I played rugby and hockey, almost every child is a consummated soccer player! Argentina is also a nice place for traveling. When I was a child, we went to the beach almost every summer. It's nice to enjoy an ice cream in the warm afternoon by the ocean! But we use to go to the mountains, because the weather is nice, and the air is good for our health. With the new highways, it's easier now than in the past. **// The harsh points //** My country has been one with little or no political stability in its history. We've undergone a // coup // // d'etat // in the 1970-80's, but this left deep scars in our society. Populist governments gave some help to the impoverished masses of the country, but also plant the seed of structural corruption in many instances there. The financial situation is not stellar, but we're helped by the international situation in this particular moment. People in a big city like this can be overly self-centered and materialistic. This hedonistic lifestyle is of no help to build peace and harmony in society. Unemployment is pretty high: there is a lot of young people without expectations and plans for the future. This leads to a sort of nihilism, cynicism and futility in an important sector of our population. Drugs and alcohol can be very popular in this groups too. All these symptoms leads to a steep rise in crime and insecurity, and that's something with which we as s society fight almost on a  daily basis. **// Conclusions //** So growing up here gave me an interesting mix of a multicultural society and cosmopolitan worldview. I love this city and this country, and I pray that the present difficulties can be overcome in the future = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =