La Boca, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires, is known for its colourful historic buildings, street cafes and free tango shows all in one or two blocks, always filled with excited tourists. It makes for a fun afternoon to walk around, take photos and sit down to a plate of pasta and a glass of Malbec and watch the tango for which Buenos Aires is famous. But with many touristy areas, there is a side to La Boca that the tourists do not see, and are in fact warned to stay away from in the evening. It happens to be an area where residents suffer from poverty and crime and a lack of access to services and economic opportunities. Many people here go hungry, are unemployed and feel that they have no way out.
Your donations will support the community action centre's many creative initiatives to provide opportunities and fulfill basic needs to community members. Their daily meal program serves 80 children, youth and adults a warm meal, cooked up by volunteers who also benefit from the community centre's programs. Other programs include computer skills training, a library, art lessons, self defense classes, community radio, and cooperative businesses that provide job opportunities such as a bakery, sewing cooperative, and a youth laundry that serves the city's hostels.
When "Los Pibes" community centre began 10 years ago, as just a community cafeteria to feed the hungry, it was born with the objective to one day disappear. "The idea that the cafeteria would disappear meant that the causes that gave birth to the centre would have disappeared: hunger, misery, unemployment, exclusion, and death as the only horizon for our people." But 10 years later the cafeteria is still fighting social injustices suffered by people of this community and is converted to a full service community centre to cover many more needs than just hunger.
