A person who tries to make a better world

By Gisela and Macarena

Juan Carr is a veterinary surgeon and biology teacher who founded, together with his wife and three friends, an NGO called “Red Solidaria”. This NGO tries to unite people who need something with people who can give something too.
When he was twenty-five years old, Juan Carr had cancer, which turned him into a more sensitive person and he started to help people who were in the same situation as him.
In 1995 he founded Red Solidaria. Their first experience was helping a child who needed a blood transfusion. They needed eight donors and 140 people answered the call.
At the beginning the NGO received lot of calls from people who needed help but nowadays Red Solidaria receives calls from people who want to give clothes, medicines and their time to help others.
Red Solidaria has also carried forward a project to promote reading in Argentina. Also, Missing Children is part of the NGO which tries to find lost children.
Juan Carr thinks that people show solidarity only with the environment or social problems, but it shouldn’t be like this. People must always help, all the time. His dream is to eradicate hunger in the world, or at least in Argentina.
Carr is an optimistic person, who in 2008 was nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Price, and who a lot of people consider a most trustworthy and enterprising man.

Caring and committed local actor

By Gianna

Do you know anybody who helps other people? Well, Lito Cruz is one of them. He is a famous actor and he was born in Berisso. Despite his work, he has time to help the people of his town.

When he was little, Lito lived in Nueva York Street with his family, when that place next to the port received the immigrants. The operation of the meat processing plants was very important there because it gave work to a lot of people. When the factories closed, the neighbourhood lost splendour.

Some time ago groups of neighbours joined to recover their neighbourhood. Among those people was Lito Cruz. He told the story of the Nueva York Street in front of the president. So they declared that Street a “National Monument”. For that reason Lito is committed to recover the Nueva York Street.

He had an interview with the headmasters of the Number 9 School and the Number 12 Secondary School. They talked about the project to recover that special place. About the plans of the neighbourhood, Cruz said that the provincial authorities are thinking about the work to do in the Nueva York Street, which includes home repairs, new lights and repair to sidewalks and streets.

“Now it is time for the people from Berisso, the town hall and the people from the schools to carry out this stage to recover our loved street,” said Lito. His dream and the other people’s dream is to see the Nueva York Street as a place full of life and a tourist and cultural centre, active with work.

With these things Lito Cruz, the famous actor who was born in Berisso, shows us his love for his town and the people who live here.

Photo: At The last Immigrants' Festival Lito was there, showing his love for Berisso.

Facundo Arana climbes Aconcagua

By Guillermina


The young actor once again collaborates with the community promoting blood donation.

Facundo Arana (40 years old) reached the top of Aconcagua on 3rd November to promote the theme “GIVING BLOOD SAVES LIVES”, once again as he did last year climbing the wall of a 30-storey building.

After climbing for a few days, the young Argentine actor, accompanied by a team of professionals, arrived at the summit of Aconcagua, the highest mountain of Argentina, to send a message to the community showing a flag with the inscription: GIVING BLOOD SAVES LIVES. He remains an example of a healthy man.

Facundo Arana recovered from leukemia when he was younger. Actor and athlete, he is now an example of a man committed to send important messages to the community.

Photo number 1: Showing the promotional posters "GIVING BLOOD SAVES LIVES"
Photo number 2: Facundo reached the summit of the Aconcagua.

Not only a great musician

By Facundo


Sir Paul Daniel Hewson, better known as Bono, is a member of the rock band U2 who was born in Dublin on May 10, 1960. But he is not only a famous singer, he is also committed to the humanitarian cause in Africa, and he´s in favor of the cancellation of the third world countries’ external debts. That´s why he was nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, 2006 and 2010.
Since 1999, he got involved, increasingly, in campaigning for the cancellation of the Third World debt. In May 2002, he led the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States on a tour through four African countries. That same year, Bono founded, along with Bobby Shriver and activists of the movement Juvilee 2000 “Drop the Debt”, the DATA organization whose aim is to warn of the bad debts that the continent has, as well as uncontrolled AIDS transmission and unjust commercial rules which harm its impoverished citizens.
He has supported or collaborated with organizations like International Amnesty, Free Burma, The Chernobyl Children´s Project, The One Campaign and Greenpeace.
He has been declared “European of the year” by the European Voice magazine in 2001 and Knight of the Legion d´Honneur in 2003; he was given the “Musicares” award for ”Person of the year” by the Grammy Academy in 2003; he was elected by the Time Magazine as “Man of the year” in 2005; he obtained the “Centenario Pablo Neruda” medal of Chile in 2004 and a prize from the German press for his social work in 2005, and he was appointed as a Knight of the Order of the British Empire on December 23, 2006 by the British Embassy in Dublin.

Prevention in Añatuya

By Ana Paula

“Haciendo Caminos” is a foundation which provides different programmes to assist families and prevent diseases.

Catalina Hornos is an Argentinian psychologist. She’s the president of “Haciendo Caminos”. She’s 26 years old and she was born in Buenos Aires, but she moved house to Añatuya to assist the suffering people and provide a personal solution to their problems.

Catalina studied in a traditional university in Buenos Aires. She found a reason and felt a commitment with one of the communities from Santiago del Estero.

In this foundation, a lot of children are assisted because they haven’t got the correct size and weight for their age. Moreover, Catalina Hornos and her team help families with occupations and workshops.

Today in Añatuya, in Santiago del Estero, a lot of mothers know how to feed their children and monitor their pregnancy thanks to “Haciendo Caminos”.

When U smile I smile

By Micaela


Shakira is a famous singer and dancer, and she is also the creator of a foundation called “PIES DESCALZOS” (“Bare Feet”). Shakira works with UNICEF. She is their dance teacher and she helps the people of Haiti too.
Maria Emma Mejia is the president of the foundation; she has donated 2300 pairs of trainers to the poor kids, together with Shakira. In 2008, they created the “Educational Institution” and “communicative centre” of the foundation. The TEAM are Maria Emma Mejia (chief Executive officer), Patricia Sierra (programmes director) and obviously, Shakira who is the creator of the foundation.
A public school in Barranquilla, built 2 years ago, has already achieved a high level of education according to the organization chiefs. The school in question is the “PIES DESCALZOS” Educational Institution. The majority of its students, children of reintegrated people or family members of displaced citizens and of low socioeconomic status, obtained above average scores on the recent “Saber 11” tests. One of them, NESTOR ALEJANDRO TORRES CHAMORRO, even achieved the 52th place score in the entire country.
Now Shakira is helping more children in Africa. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP THE WORLD?

Brazil’s son finishes his administration - by Raúl

A founder member of the Worker’s Party (PT- Partido dos Trabalhadores), he unsuccessfully ran for presidency three times, first in the 1989 election. Lula finally achieved victory in the 2002 poll and was named president on 1st January 2003.
In the 2006 election he was re-elected for a second term as President ending on January 2011.
His administration is among the most controversial and popular in the history of Brazil. His social programmes include: Bolsa Família and Fome Zero with additional provision of food and kitchen gas. Fame Zero has a government budget and accepts donations from the private sectors and international organizations. The Bolsa Família programme has been praised internationally for its achievements, despite internal criticism accusing it of having been turned into an electoral weapon.
Lula has played a prominent role in recent international relations developments, including the nuclear programme of Iran, global warming and Mercosur. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the most influential leaders of the world.
Lula, due to leave office on January 2011, the day when Dilma Rousseff will come to power, is presently rated the most popular Brazilian president of all times, reaching 80,5% population acceptance on his last months as a president.