Fiesta Latina—fundraising dance night!

Photographer : Philippe Tarbouriech

What did I do?

As my first ‘action’ I chose to attend ‘Fiesta Latina’—a Latin dance night organised by a localcharity called Groundwork, which aims to raise money for homeless children in Latin America. I found out about it because the charity was founded by someone I know.

Why did I choose this?

I chose this action for a few reasons—the first admittedly being a desperate need to move— feet, body and soul! I love to dance, but I very rarely go out dancing. I was happy to pay my $20 at the door for this event because I knew the music would be great and the money was going to a good cause—even if I didn’t feel that informed about the issues at the time! The charity night gave me an opportunity to find out more about the difficulties faced by young people in Latin America.

What happened?
We nearly didn’t end up going—we got lost on the way and almost bailed out. I thought I knew where it was, but a lack of planning and wandering around in circles almost made us give up! We ended up jumping in a taxi, so the night ended up much more expensive than I’d planned,but I certainly didn’t regret going. The music and dancing was fantastic and because they had over catered we ended up walking away with bags full of free empanadas!

The night left me an increased understanding of the difficulties faced in a part of the world so different to my own, but also a new appreciation for an impressively tasty food!

What did I learn?

Usually when I find out about this sort of stuff through friends I don’t act—mostly because I can’t afford it, but also because I don’t have much confidence inviting friends to events. I don’t like feeling responsible if they don’t enjoy themselves or if the event doesn’t turn out to be as good as I’d hoped! My apprehension about inviting people to this charity night made me aware of that fear, which was an interesting observation to make about myself.

One of the first things I learnt was that my geography needs serious work! I discovered I didn’t actually know which countries classified as Centra lAmerica and which as South America. So I set out on a quest of discovery…

What I discovered

The facts

• The term ‘Latin America’ generally refers to all the independent countries south of North America—from Mexico all the way down to Argentina and Chile—where Latin-based languages—Spanish, Portugese and French—are spoken.
• All the countries between Mexico and Panama (inclusive), including Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, are known as part of Central America.
• The Caribbean Islands are part of Latin America.
• South America includes all the countries on the same island as Brazil—from Colombia down!

For a much clearer and more detailed understanding of the geography, culture and demographics of Latin America, I really recommend checking out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America.

I learnt that almost half the population is under 15 years of age, but that the literacy levels across the region are only about 65%.

Indigenous/native poverty ranges from 43 to 96% of the population, depending on the country, and the indigenous people have less access to education and health care.

The education system is very limited, and many children are only educated to a level similar to our year 3.

Approximately 80% of people in Nicaragua alone, and 26% of people across Latin America, live on less that $2 US a day—despite often working very hard to earn money. This poverty particularly affects indigenous people. It is this poverty and inequality that groups like the Groundwork Foundation are trying to combat.

At the fundraiser I discovered more about the sorts of programs they support—training, educating and empowering the young people of Latin America and providing them with skills that may improve their future prospects.

As a result of this experience, although I know my knowledge is still very limited, I feel I know and understand so much more—geographically, culturally etc—than I did before attending the event.

Going to the charity dance event provided me with the stimulus and inspiration to go out and educate myself more about that corner of the world.

For that reason alone—despite the actual enjoyment of the night—I’m so glad to have attended! I’ve found that self education can be one of the most powerful actions possible—a step to expanding your world understanding—which helps you to put other things in life into better perspective.

In that way, your step in reading any of the pages on this site is already a process of taking action! I’ve discovered that it’s perfectly valid to take action on an issue you might only understand superficially, because doing that can lead to a much better understanding.

Outcome and impact for the community?

It gave us the opportunity to explore new parts of our world and community, and have a great dance to some funky music. Also, being there made me realise that my social and community network is much larger than I thought, while introducing my friends made me aware of the role I play in connecting other people—a really beautiful feeling. It also highlighted the difference that a group of committed people can make to others in a needy community—and that helping others doesn’t always have to be hard work!

The fundraiser raised around $3000, which enables the Groundwork Foundation to support numerous causes—both in Latin America and Australia. It’s likely that this money will be split in four directions:

• Books for a Better World
• Working in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Peru, establishing libraries in remote communities and providing education scholarships to impoverished children.
• A remote school (El Supi) and community dental centre (Los Taques)
• Providing low cost dental care and education for children & families in a remote corner of Venezauela —the Peninsula de Paraguana, Falcon.

How do I know this?

Macalester College, Map of Latin America, http://www.macalester.edu/research/economics/image...

Population Reference Bureau 2005, 2005 world population data sheet, http://www.prb.org/pdf05/05WorldDataSheet_Eng.pdf

Wikipedia Free Encylopedia, Latin America, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America.

World Bank, Poverty in Latin America, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES...

To find out more about the work of the Groundwork Foundation, volunteer or attend their next event, check out http://www.groundworkfoundation.org