About Us
We work in the north of Argentina in the region called the "Chaco", part of which spreads across three Provinces, or States - Chaco, Formosa, and Salta. Most of our work is carried out in the Chaco region of the Province of Salta, among three different Indian peoples: the Wichi, Chorote and Toba. National statistics indicate that the area where we work has the highest levels of poverty in the country.
ASocIANA (an acronym for "Social Support of the Anglican Church of Northern Argentina") is the successor of a long history of commitment of the Anglican Church to the Indian peoples of this region and to their wellbeing. This history goes back to the first Anglican missionaries who came to live among the Wichi and Toba Indians at the beginning of the last century (1910)
One of the early missionaries, Richard Hunt, who learnt 4 different Indian languages and wrote dictionaries and grammars for the translation of the Bible, commented that the most important principle at the outset of their work was simply to establish personal friendships with the people and not judge what they did not understand. This sound and commonsensical advice marked the style of the relationship developed between the missionaries and the Indians, a style which we seek to continue today, though under very different circumstances.
We build on the foundations that others have laid, but we also make our own commitment. In the words of our Mission Statement:
"We respond to the calling of Jesus Christ to seek the Kingdom of God and His Justice, by walking alongside the Indian communities of the semiarid Chaco, in the processes that lead to their wellbeing, while we respect their own identity as a people and their own priorities".
Central to all our work is, alongside the Indian people, to confront unjust relations and situations with the objective of achieving justice. From a Christian perspective this means more than securing that rights be respected: it means seeking the transformation of unjust relations and, ultimately, bringing about reconciliation.
SAMS
ASOCIANA is a project supported by SAMS, the South American Mission Society, who work in partnership with the Anglican Dioceses of South America's Southern Cone.
SAMS began its work in the southern islands, then moved to the Chaco 100 years ago where its missionaries initiated a work among indigenous people which thrives today. That work extended to cities and towns in the 1960s with churches planted among mainstream Argentines (the criollos), and SAMS is involved in both Argentine dioceses.
How we work
In all our work we seek to combine personal and informal relations with the Indian people in their own communities, along with moments of more structured interchange, which may include meetings, training and advice sessions, accompanying leaders on official visits, and so on.
Our view is that it is the informed action of the Indians themselves that will bring about lasting change and our task is to support them develop their own capacities, knowledge and responses to specific situations and problems. In some cases this may mean providing material resources of one kind or another (for example, wells for drinking water, equipment for the radio station, building materials for a community centre), but always the idea and its implementation will largely depend on the Indian people and their own organization. In many other cases, more valuable than material resources is the provision of adequate and relevant information, along with its interpretation, that will permit Indians to take their own decisions and carry them through in practice.
