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I came many years ago
from my dear Santiago.

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When I was 11 years old,
I arrived here, in Buenos Aires.

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Because here lived a brother of mine,
Ramón was his name.

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And well, I arrived here
in search of Ramón.

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After loosing my mother, and my dad.

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My father had abandoned us,
and, well, we were just a few.

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There were 3 of us,
little Martin that was 13 years old,

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myself, 11 years old,
and Nilda, 7 years old.

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I arrived in Buenos Aires alone.

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Martín got up one morning
and said to me,

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"Gri, we're going to leave this place.

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You should go to Buenos Aires,

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and I'll go to Tobas to look for work.

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Some day, when we're older,
we'll meet again."

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Well, I had to leave Nilda in Añatuya,

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because we lived in the countryside,
uphill, in the timberyard.

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I did everything that Martin told me to,
and I sat on the train station,

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and I began to cry.

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Then the train arrived,
the Estrella del Norte,

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so I got up quickly, the only thing
I was carrying was a transparent bag,

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a little gossipy bag, as I call it,

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and in that little bag there was a dress

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with big flowers,
that my mom had made me.

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So, I got quickly on the train,
and I sat on the train's cargo wagon,

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and I arrived here in Buenos Aires,
after a 12-hour train ride.

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My idea was to get to José C. Paz,
where my brother lived.

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I thought that getting on
the train and arriving --

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That when the train stopped,
I'd be in José C. Paz.

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Not that I had arrived

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to the first and biggest train station
I had seen in my life,

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it was Retiro station.

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When I got to Retiro, after travelling
among the kid goats and chickens,

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because back then, people could send
live animals to Buenos Aires

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and the families would pick them up.

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I got off the train and said to myself,
"Ok, I'm here in José C.Paz,"

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I remember asking a man,
I can't recall whether it was a policeman,

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and he told me, "You have to get on
that train, and when you reach a big arch

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that says 'José C. Paz',
that's your stop."

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I got on board the other train,

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that left swiftly,
stopping in many stations.

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I remember that when it was just reaching
José C.Paz station, there was an arch,

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and he had told me "When you see the arch
saying José C. Paz, that's your stop."

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And I saw that the train kept going,
who knows where it was going to take me,

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so I did the best thing I could think of,
and jumped off the train.

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And well, that was the worst thing
that happened to me, because the next day,

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I woke up, without a single tooth,

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covered in gauze, because
I had broken my ribs,

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my little arms, my little knee,
I was very battered.

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The worst part was not having
any teeth left.

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But I did have my brother,
who was waiting there for me.

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At that time I believe that I didn't care
about not having any teeth or being sick

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and having two broken ribs,
it didn't matter.

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The most important part was
that my brother was there.

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As time went by, I met my husband,
Isidro, relationship from which

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we have many children of the heart.

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We've also done something quite important
in our lives, that has been

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placing the soup kitchen Los Piletones,
where at the time

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when we came from José C. Paz,

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the idea was not to put a soup kitchen,

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because we already had one,
given we had 10 kids --

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So, it wasn't to place a soup kitchen,
but instead work to raise our children,

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to provide them with an education,
so we had to work.

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Both of us worked,
and in spite of it all --

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Well, the important thing was
to raise our kids, like I said.

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But also, when we arrived in the slum,
we saw that there were a lot of needs.

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The need was that there were a lot of kids

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that went out to scavenge
with their parents,

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in a cart, some pulled,
some with horses,

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and I didn't like that, that parents
would take their kids scavenging.

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I remember Isidro came home one morning,
like always, with his cart and horse,

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and the kids, the little neighbors
would come help him unload the cart,

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and on that day, October 7, 1996,
he told me,

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"Magui, why don't you make some mate tea

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and heat up the biscuits
and make breakfast for the kids?"

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They were 15, plus my ten.

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Isidro didn't finish the sentence,
and I was already lighting the fire,

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on a big clay oven that we had,
and I was already making mate tea.

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And after the mate tea,
there came a big lunch,

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for the kids, for us, especially for me,
seeing the kids sitting at the table.

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And among them was José Silva,
that was one of the grandparents.

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Thus we began with our soup kitchen,

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in 1996, feeding 15 children
and a grandfather.

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Today we feed 1500 people,
and they're not just fed,

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they also receive medical care,
where people get pediatric help,

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clinical medicine, gyno, dentistry --
in out own medical center,

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where we provide for it
with donations from people.

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There is no city
or national involvement.

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We just keep it with the help
of private foundations,

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like UAI that works
in clinical medicine and pediatrics,

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Maimónides works
in dentistry and psychology.

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And then we also have a day-care center
for grandparents,

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a library, a computer room,

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a kindergarten with 110 kids,
that's where we spend most of our day,

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and knowing the families

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getting to know the little kids,
that need so much love, right?

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And last year, we built a carpentry,
always with the idea of generating work,

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people need to learn how to work,
not have everything handed to them.

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And we've built the carpentry
to give work to people,

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but especially, to teach a skill
to the young ones.

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We built the carpentry, and also,
we made a big sewing workshop

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where around 15 mothers
attend everyday, to learn.

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And the sewing workshop's been in place
for some years now, around 8 or 9 years.

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Around 500 moms went through the workshop

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and they learned how to handle
a sewing machine, dressmaking, sewing,

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and also, they take with them as a present
a set of complete patterns

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of all the clothes
that they can make at home.

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And now, we're working a lot because --

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Well, we're always working so much, right?

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But we're working to get the women
out of household violence

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so that they don't have to wonder,
"If I leave my husband, what would I do?"

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So we're teaching them
how to make jewelry,

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teaching them to keep their minds busy,
so they can generate their own work.

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So that they have an important job option,

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because I always say,

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with no offense intended,
but I always say that

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generating work and working,
is not a sin, on the contrary.

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It stimulates you because today,
what we least want to do is work,

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because we are given everything,
so we can't really create jobs for anyone.

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So, that's why, everyday
we create new things,

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and are constantly with our minds busy,

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and keeping the women busy,
so they too can have a job.

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Also, in the soup kitchen we have a bakery
where we make bread on a daily basis

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so that people can have, it's not sold,
but they receive it with meals,

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everyday.

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We have 30 women working with us,
that I always say that are exemplary,

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because they don't get paid
and work completely for free.

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They come in at 6:45 a.m., and leave
at 8 p.m., every single day.

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They're an amazing group of people,

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that are with us on a daily basis,
ensuring that the soup kitchen works

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everyday.

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It isn't easy tending to 1500 people
everyday and feeding them,

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and worrying that we have
what we need for breakfast

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worrying that we have everything
we need for dinner,

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worrying that we have everything
we need for lunch.

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And that anyone that comes within schedule

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or outside schedule,
has a hot meal at their disposal.

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So, I'm going to tell you
a story, to finish up.

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I always say
that solidarity is not taught.

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You're not born with it either.

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But you can learn it.

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I've learned everything
I know from my mother.

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I remember that when I was a kid

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my mom used to leave a served dish
at the center of the table

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like a centerpiece.

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And one day, I asked why did she leave
that food there if we couldn't eat it.

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So I asked her, "Mom, can we eat
that food?" and she said no.

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So I asked her why.

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And she answered,

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"If God were to come and ask you
for food, what would you give him?"

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So I always waited for God to come.

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One day, I came home running
from tending the kid goats

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and I saw a man eating the food.

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So I ran up to my mom and said,
"Mom, he isn't God".

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And so she asked me,
"Do you know God?" "No".

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"So then, he is God".

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Maybe that's why to anyone who comes
to the soup kitchen, everyday,

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we never ask them where they come from,

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because I always say that's God,
that's come to eat.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)