This is my last entry before we will all be writing from the Global Media Forum in Bonn (Germany). I was shocked to hear that Hellgurd’s entries will not be published any more due to the severe threats he received. It made me go back to the very beginning of the project and look at Hellgurd’s video presentation. He speaks of music as a universal language that can bridge the differences among people.

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Last time, I wrote about a co-worker and activist named Juan. Now I want to turn to my life-long friend Victoria. As I said before, she couldn’t be more different than Juan: She disagrees with the political party in charge of the administration, and sees no point in political action. She is, however, very much involved with her church community, and, in particular, with Manos a la Obra (which means ‘Shoulders to the wheel!’), a project that was started by a college preaching group in Mendoza (a province in the west of Argentina). Since 2008, it has also been held in San Isidro, the neighborhood in the Greater Buenos Aires Area where Vicky lives. The movement draws inspiration from the Christian faith, and it tries to alleviate the effects of extreme poverty.

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As I’ve described before, people get involved in different ways to take action and face emergency situations, and education in the most humble communities in Argentina is definitely one such situation.

When I think of civil action, two people come to my mind: my coworker, Juan; and my life long friend, Victoria. I’ll describe each in different entries. They couldn’t be more different from one another. And yet, their concerns lead them both to advocate for more social inclusion.

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I read Maria’s first blog entry, and some of her words resounded heavily with me. In her post, she explains why she changed jobs: “Truth is, at the NGO, I encounter different realities than my own, I can work in programs that aim at social inclusion and better quality education – actions that imply a commitment to society from the perspective of the fellow other.”

Her post reminds me of my work with Givewatts – an organization that brings clean, renewable and safe energy to people like Peter Ochieng, a young man in a video I was just editing.

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