Current Projects
Land Rights and Organization
Despite the fact that the Argentine Constitution guarantees the Indians legal rights to the ownership of the lands they have traditionally occupied, in the Province of Salta we calculate that 95% of the Indian people lack ownership of the land they require for developing their own way of life.
Our work is directed to Indian groups (communities and organizations composed of several communities) that are seeking to have their land rights recognized by the Government and the authorities of Justice.
One of our main commitments in this field is support for the Indian organization "Lhaka Honhat" that represents some 40 Indian communities (7000 people) in the Pilcomayo area in their longstanding land claim. Amongst the actions we have supported in relation to this land claim, has been the training of Indians to use modern technology (GPS) to map the areas that their communities use for hunting, fishing, collecting honey, and gathering fruits and other products of the forest. The result of this action has been that each community has a digitalized map to support its land claim along with all the other communities.
In other cases, our support is required more in providing information on legal rights, land ownership, political and legal channels for presenting land claims, preparing documents, etc.
Natural Resource Management
This is a new programme that has grown out of a small project that provided a commercial outlet for wild honey collected in the forest. The Indian peoples are no longer isolated from the rest of society, although the conditions under which they live imply great disadvantage. Their possibilities of participating in the market economy tend to be limited to the small government subsidies some of them receive, extremely low paid occasional jobs, and the sale of their own products at much undervalued prices. The desire of the Indians to have greater access to market products, on the one hand, and the unscrupulous intervention of outsiders, on the other, has lead in some cases to the over and unsustainable exploitation of certain resources (for example, of the Quebracho and Palo Santo trees).
The aim of this programme is to develop a limited number of saleable forest products that will require long term management of the forest. In this way it is hoped to reaffirm the interdependent relation between the Indian communities and their environment and, at the same time, strengthen the Indian land claims on the basis of their dependence on, and good use of, the forest and its products.
Honey will continue to be one of these products, along with flour of the algarroba bean, the resin of the tree, along with a number of other possibilities. Chaco honey is greatly prized for its quality and work is being undertaken at present to secure its certification as a forest and ecologically sound product. Currently we are also involved in developing and providing a commercial outlet for certain handcrafted Indian products that are based on sustainable use of forest resources.
Indian Education
In many of the Indian communities there are now State-run schools, but in all of them the language spoken is Spanish and the style of teaching tends to inhibit rather than develop the Indians' capacities. In many schools there are also Indian auxiliary teachers, but who have received virtually no training and so they end up occupying a very secondary role, which only reinforces the all pervading prejudice that Indians are inferior beings.
Our programme has 3 basic goals: develop an educational approach which is appropriate for Indians, promote literacy in the Indian language, and by these means reaffirm and strengthen the Indian people's cultural identity. For the moment, we are only working in the Wichi Indian language, developing literacy and other reading materials in Wichí, training for Indians so that they can teach others.
We provide training for Indian auxiliary teachers so as to develop their own capabilities to teach and not simply do the menial jobs they are called upon to do for the white teachers.
As part or our work we have sponsored workshops at which the Indians discuss their own traditional education and we have been instrumental in supporting the creation of a Wichi Language Commission, which seeks to defend and promote the use of the Indian language at all levels of society.
Community Health
This programme has grown out of the longstanding concern of the Anglican missionaries for the physical, alongside the spiritual, health of the Indian people. At one time the only health care available to Indians was that provided by the missionary health service. However, today the State provides a basic health service throughout the country, although it inevitably has its limitations and shortcomings.
As with Education, one of the main shortcomings of the public health service has been its failure to adapt to the particular needs of the Indian peoples. A patient may speak no Spanish and the Doctor, or nurse, know nothing of the Indian language, let alone of Indian concepts of health and illness. This often leads to mutual distrust and Indians may become reticent in using the health service. Here is a problem of communication and ignorance.
One of the main objectives of Community Health Programme is therefore to increase access on the part of the Indians to the public health services. We seek to achieve this in a number of ways:
In relation to the last point, we have developed a course for professionals working in hospitals in the capital city of Salta, which will be run this year (2006).
With a view to promoting greater involvement and consideration of health issues in the Indian communities, we are planning to develop a community epidemiological project in conjunction with the health authorities.
We also coordinate, in conjunction with a local doctor, a small project that provides operations for patients suffering from cataracts.
