Part 2 of the Tourist 2 Townie Interview of the Cookie King

A couple of days ago Tourist 2 Townie posted part 1 of an interview with yours truly. Here is part 2.

In this one we talk about school for the little ones; literacy initiatives; John Cusack; Vin Diesel; having milk and cookies with President Obama and some of my hidden gems and pet peeves of Buenos Aires.

If you are curious I can expand on the things that I like about Argentina.

And yes, those ears are natural!

Can Girls Play Soccer?

The obvious answer to that question would be "Hell Yes!", but it's not so obvious an answer to some people.

In Argentina, and in particular the slums of Argentina, it is not such an easy question to answer.

I have been supporting Fundación Leer to help reach under-served children and promote a love of reading in them. One of our last events took place in Villa 31.

Recently another project aimed at helping young people in that community has come to my attention.

A fellow expat and her Argentine husband are filming a documentary about a group of girls who fight to play a sport they love, but is off limits to women in Argentina: Soccer.

This might sound crazy to most people, but in Argentina soccer is strictly a man's sport. I know this first hand, since I have tried to get my own kids interested in kicking the ball around only to be met by disinterest that has been soaked up by their surroundings.

When the filmakers started following the girls in 2008, only a dozen or so ventured onto the field. Now, there are more than 25!

The documentary shows how playing soccer has transformed their lives, as well as how difficult this transformation can be-girls have to battle parents and a society that see them only as future maids, criminals or teenage mothers.

For example, Chechu was one of the team's most promising players when she became pregnant at 15. However, her family was happy for her to become a mom, as in the Villa, it is considered a rite of passage for many girls.

She now lives outside of the slum with her boyfriend and his family, who do not approve of her playing soccer.

Will she make her own path, or end up becoming a statistic?

Will any of the other girls be able to fight the odds?

This documentary is not only about them, but by them as well. The experiences of these "slum soccer girls" will not only be documented by filmmakers, but the girls themselves will contribute through a video workshop where they will learn how to interview and do basic camera work.

You will get an uncensored view into their world and the girls will begin to take back the narrative of their own lives.

Below is a short 60 second clip on the movie.



So, can girls play soccer? Left to themselves they might not be able to. If you would like to help them click here.

Meanwhile, wouldn't it be nice if any of them could eventually end up being the next Mia Hamm? I mean, Pelé, Maradona, and Carlitos Tevez and quite a few others have come from slums....

Goals for Girls The Movie

Avant Premiere: Toy Story 3

See a movie and donate to a great cause all in one shot. It's Fundación Leer Avant Premiere time again and this time it's Toy Story 3. The movie will be shown dubbed (unfortunately for me) at the theaters in the Dot shopping mall.

Get your tickets before 1 of June for $30, after-wards they go up to $35.

Call 4777-1111 or write to amigos@leer.org.ar

The show starts at 6pm on Tuesday 15, June.

See you there!

Avant Premier Los Fantasmas de Scrooge

Fundación Leer has another avant premier. On the 24th of November, two days before the national release of the film, you can view it and donate to a charity all at the same time.

So if you would like to get tickets just write to amigos at leer dot org dot ar or you can call 4777-1111. In previous Fundación Leer premiers the movies have all been dubbed into Spanish so take that into consideration please.

Maraton Nacional de Lectura 2009

Last year more than 3,500,000 kids participated in the annual reading marathon. This year Fundacion Leer would like to reach even more kids.

This weekend there is bound to be coverage of the nationwide event in the newspapers and local media. Sugar & Spice is proud to lend a helping hand.

Reading Corner for 201 At Risk Argentine Kids

Click on picture above for larger clearer image.

I have written about Fundación Leer quite a bit before. Now they are taking part of the Global Open Challenge 2009 and specifically fund raising for a reading corner for 210 at risk children.

Click here to see pictures of the targeted community and learn more about how you can help.

Any small amount would help too, don't think that you are limited to the predetermined amounts on the page. You could give as little as $1.00 dollar.


This is a picture of some of the kids from the school that will benefit from the reading corner:


The following is a picture of some home made shelves holding some of the very few books that the school has.




The town they live in is called Uquía in the province of Jujuy. The link I provided to the town is actually a googlemap link if you would like to see just how small this town really is.

Please take a moment to visit the Global Giving site and if you can spare a little for these kids that would be wonderful.

If you would like to see the reading corner that Sugar & Spice created with Fundación Leer you could click here.

**** UPDATE *****
Having gone through the donation process, I wanted to let you know that the minimum donation is $10.00

Villa 31 (part 3 of 3)

To some extent, if you've seen one city slum, you've seen them all.

-Agnew, Spiro Theodore

This is the first time I use a quote that I do not agree with. Villa 31 is not really a slum, not at least how I have seen before. It is a makeshift city created by the people who have come to live there. In this case, it is a city within a city.

The school we went to on this day was most likely the nicest structure within this city. Compared to its surroundings it was a modern marvel and had 1,500 kids within its walls and tin roofs.

So, for half a day, Sugar & Spice closed up shop and went to the Villa 31 to set up a reading corner and stock it full of books. They say that pictures are worth a thousand words...




We could not venture out of the school with a camera in hand. The professional photographer, Caitlin Kelly, did that once and she was nearly separated from her camera for doing so. We did not want to run that risk. Besides, we were not there for sightseeing anyway, we had a much more important task at hand.

This is a peek at what our donations to Fundación Leer can do and have been doing. Rest assured that with every purchase of our cookies we set aside a percentage of our sales that go towards making sure that more and more kids have access to books.

In the future, I am toying with the possibility of inviting you, my dear readers and fans of Sugar & Spice, to participate with us, if you are interested in helping out directly. I guarantee the smiles and experiences shared that day will leave you hungry to help out even more and you will sleep like a baby that night for sure.

Villa 31 (part 2 of 3)

Later that night, after spending the afternoon decorating the reading corner for the school, I got to tuck my 7 year old into bed.

daughter: "I have an idea. When I grow up and have a business selling food, if a family comes that does not have any money, I will give it to them for free."

me: "That´s nice sweety. I have done that on occasion myself; but you don´t need to wait until you are older to help people. Today, you did something much better than giving people food."

She was looking at me, wondering what it was that she did that was so important.

me: "There are some kids that don´t know how much fun it is to read a book. Today you helped daddy decorate a reading corner and now there is a whole bunch of kids (1500 children attend that school) that will have a fun place dedicated to reading. I am so proud of you."

She went to sleep with a big smile on her face.

Villa 31 (part 1)

Sugar & Spice will be closed tomorrow because we are all going to the Villa 31. What is the Villa 31 you might ask?

Well, it is one of the city slums, and there are estimates of it having around 25,000 people living within it.

So why would we be going there?

We are going with Fundación Leer to build a reading corner for a school. I have asked a local expat photographer (very talented I might add) Cate Kelly to come with us.

This is the first time I get my employees involved in creating a reading corner with Fundación Leer.

In part two I hope to write about our experience and show you some wonderful pictures of a place not many of us ever get to see, and of experiences that hopefully more and more people will be interested in living themselves.

I invite you to come back to witness what happens.

Narnia Avant Premier

For those of you who live in Argentina you now have the opportunity to attend an avant premier, donate to charity, and receive a delicious cookie gift all at the same time.

On the 10th of June, Fundacion Leer will be hosting the avant premier of Prince Caspian. The tickets will cost $30 pesos and the proceeds will go to charity. At the end of the screening everyone will have a little bag from Sugar & Spice as a gift.




The screening will be at Atlas Recoleta ( Guido 1952) at 7pm. If you are interested in going you can purchase your tickets directly from Fundación Leer or at any of the Wanama store locations. You can call 4777-1111 for information or you can also write to them at:

entradas at leer.org

Please take note that the screening will be dubbed for this showing.

Fundacion Leer Reading Marathon 2008

I have written about Fundacion Leer before. Last year they ran their Reading Marathon 2007 and now they have started their subscriptions for 2008. Things are looking great for them in Argentina, while things are not so great for Reading is Fundamental in the United States. Click -here- to find out what is happening to them.

The event will take place on the 3rd of October. What exactly is this event? This is a nation wide effort that culminates on the 3rd of October in reading groups throughout the country. The idea is to dedicate a few hours of the day to reading. The groups are made up of children, teachers, parents and volunteers. Whole comunities come together to read to children, listen to stories and poems, and to help foster a love for books and reading in children.

Last year, Fundacion Leer reached 2.3 million kids and 159,447 adults in Argentina. This year they want to reach even more.

I have been involved with Fundacion Leer since I arrived in 1999. At first I donated my time and now my company supports them financially through donations. This I have done because I have been moved by what I have seen.

Now I invite you to see for yourselves a little about what Fundacion Leer does. I have never been able to actually witness these events and not be moved.

The first video takes place in the province of Misiones




The second video was put together by EMpower, another company that supports Fundación Leer. When the end credits roll you can stop viewing even though the counter will indicate that there is more, it just starts over.




Fundacion Leer´s blog Post on this year´s event
Fundacion Leer´s award winning web-site

I hope you you feel strongly enough to want to do something, as I did when I watched these kids receive their very first books for the first time. Please get involved. Making kids hungry for reading will only help empower them. Education is only a cost if it is not given out, it is an investment towards the future.

Fundacion Leer Reading Marathon 2007

A while back, I wrote about Fundacion Leer (Reading is Fundamental Argentina) and their reading marathon, which took place on the 5th of October. I promised that I would write the results of this year´s events and so as promised here are the results:

• 2,401,099 children participated in the marathon
• 162,158 adults from over 8,000 institutions volunteered and helped those kids develop a love for books and reading on that day.

Mind you, these are kids that live in homes where the only book the family does own, most likely, is that same book those children chose to be their very own that day.

"Wow" does not even begin describe what I think, but it is the only thing I can think of saying when I think about it.

Vení que te cuento

This past weekend was the first of four reading events organized by Fundacion Leer. They normally organize events in communities outside the city. This new series is aimed at approaching the local urban community. They are actually mini-versions of their full blown out events that they hold at little towns and communities throughout the country. So what was the first event like?

I walked into the basement of the bookstore and it was decorated like it was Halloween. It was very cute. The theme was scary stories. The kids would look around as they started coming down the stairs holding on to their mother´s hand. They wanted to touch the paper ghosts, skeletons, plastic spiders and spiderwebs decorating the room.

Story time creeped up and the storyteller thanked everyone for coming and organized everyone into a circle on the floor. She lit a candle, as a nod to pre-light bulb days of storytelling and reading, and started her scary story. The children were all quite, captivated by the story unfolding before them and in their imagination. After the happy ending the organizers brought out black paper that was already cut into the shape of a haunted house. They also brought out glue, scissors, crayons, etc. All the kids loved this part and some parents even got into it as well.

Afterwards, the children gathered around the storyteller one more time. This time the storyteller had some parting gifts for the little ones. Each child received a free book and a giant Sugar and Spice Chocolate Chip cookie (with no nuts). As you can imagine, there were lots of smiles, laughter and even some dancing. My own daughter broke out into a dance with her new book in one hand a giant cookie in the other.

If you are around Buenos Aires on the weekends and you have kids you might check this out for them. The next events are:

"There´s a Monster in My Closet"
Libreria Santa Fe
Santa Fe 2376
Recoleta
29 September at 4pm

"The Monkey That Speaks"
Boutique del Libro
Thames 1762
Palermo SoHo
6 October at 4pm

"One That We All Know - Classics of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"
Libreria Hernandez
Av. Corrientes 1436
Downtown
13 October at 4:30pm

Reading is Fundamental Argentina

One of the non-profits that I am involved in is the local license of Reading is Fundamental. Their main goal in life is to promote literacy and they target children specifically. They have made a huge impact here in Argentina and I can´t say enough wonderful things about them. They go to the most needy communities and they get everyone involved behind their efforts to flourish a love for books and reading in the hearts of the children. Once you see this in action you can not help but be touched.

Please take a moment to read the following and if you can find it within your hearts to help out a little it will go a very long way. I also promise to post the results here of the latest reading marathon. So if you are here in Argentina or even in the United States you can contribute. Also, if you have a blog and you decide to contribute please let me know. I am not part of RIF Argentina, which locally they are known as Fundación Leer. I am just a contributor donating proceeds from my sales and, whenever I can, my time as well.

ANNUAL “NATIONAL READING MARATHON” CAMPAIGN

Reading brings us together again on October 5th.
Together we can improve prospects and opportunities for children’s education in Argentina.
Your support can make a difference.

In 1997 Fundación Leer signed a license agreement with “Reading Is Fundamental, Inc” in the United States. Through this partnership, we are able to operate RIF programs in our country.

What is the 5th National Reading Marathon?

For the fifth year running Fundación Leer invites children and youngsters, with their families and the rest of the community to enjoy the magic and joy of reading for a day.

October 5th is the date set for thousands of children in schools, community centers, clubs, libraries, soup-kitchens, hospitals and health centers, to share multiple activities based on reading: narrations, theatre productions, workshops, reading in parks, amongst others.

Through this free and non-competitive initiative, we propose to create an awareness in the community as to the importance of awakening children´s interest in reading, and to afford all children equal and enriching opportunities for literacy.

Using “Enjoy Reading, share a book with a friend” as our motto for this year´s Marathon, we propose to highlight reading´s potential for developing relationships and communicating.

What is a Reading Corner?

Reading Corners are informal, happy areas, furnished with books, where children and youngsters are able to select their favorites, touch, leaf through and read them at will. They are created as literacy-promoting environments by the school community, aided by volunteers, and following experts’ guidelines. The Reading Corners offer the chance of bringing community members together, inviting them to be a part of the proposed literacy-promoting activities. The Reading Corners are created specifically as spaces for children and youngsters to read, based on the fact that reading is a key element in their personal development.

Why contribute?

The participating schools will take part in a draw for 200 new books to set up Reading Corners.

The winning establishments will receive new books and attend a training session run by Fundación Leer team for guidelines as to the creation of Reading Corners and ideas as to possible activities to carry out in the pursuit of motivating reading.

In this way, Fundación Leer proposes to motivate reading and promote literacy of children and youngsters nationwide, generating a long-term positive impact on their personal development, and easing their full insertion in society.

Your donation contributes to increasing the number of Reading Corners to be raffled at the close of the 5th edition of the National Reading Marathon.

How to contribute

In order of being able to receive donations from other parts of the world, Fundación Leer signed an alliance with Help Argentina. If you would like to contribute please enter the following link: http://www.helpargentina.org/spanish/ongs_success.php?id=71 and click “donate”.

What is your contribution worth?

US$ 12 equals 2 new books for a Reading Corner.

US$ 100 equals 18 new books for a Reading Corner.

US$ 500 equals 90 new books, making up a full Reading Corner.

US$ 1100 equals 200 new books, making up a full Reading Corner.

You may assign your contribution to a specific locality.

Should you carry out the donation of a full Reading Corner (200 new books), you will be able to specify which locality or area within Argentina it should be assigned to in the draw. In this way, the establishments in that locality not only participate in the general draw, but also increase their chances of winning a Reading Corner in this “exclusive” draw for their area.

To find out more about this possibility, please contact us at amigos@leer.org.ar

Some results from the 4th National Reading Marathon 2006 .

Participants:
1.719.284 children
5.511 establishments
120.684 adults (teachers, parents, community leaders, paediatricians, nurses, librarians)
23 provinces and the City of Buenos Aires
20 Declarations of Interest: from the National Ministry for Science and Technology, and from
15 Provinces and the City of Buenos Aires