SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA, Bolivia.
On August 21, Marta Orsini presented a publication titled "Systematization of Madre India Project" at the auditorium of Madre India Center, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
The "Madre India" Project emerged as a response to the needs of the residents of Carlos Laborde neighborhood, who in 1993 promoted the building of Victoria Díez School for the formal education of their children. The Teresian Association (TA) is responsible for the advice, management and operation of this school. Currently the center is used to attend to different needs.
Those attending the presentation were about seventy, including principals and teachers from several public schools in the area, the President and members of the neighborhood and school boards, teacher and other staff of the Center, priests of the Parish, members of the Teresian Association of Santa Cruz, and many neighbors and friends, many of them participants and beneficiaries of the activities of Madre India Center in the 16 years of its existence.
The event was chaired by the Director of the TA in Bolivia, Ana María García, who was accompanied by Monsignor Nicolás Castellanos, Bishop Emeritus of Palencia (Spain) and President of “Hombres Nuevos” Foundation.
The School Director, Alejandra Cortez, welcomed the participants and thanked Marta Orsini for her work. The author then gave a summary of the publication. She outlined the stages of the project and its activities since it was founded in 1996, two years after the start of Victoria Díez School, until December 2013. The book presents data, statistics, documentation, and lively stories of people who have participated in the Madre India Project since its inception.
Monsignor Castellanos, after recognizing the school's activities and the work of Marta Orisini as "a believing woman, a Teresian, cutting edge intellectual in Bolivia," said a few words about "transformative education" as a dynamic concept of education and of comprehensive education, with emphasis on the formation of freedom.
At the end, Ana Maria Garcia said: "It is a time of gratitude to God for the life that has been, which will remain large, because it has facilitated the presence of people who have accompanied and accompany the journey of children, youth, parents, seniors participating in the Madre India Center. She also recognized members of the Teresian Association (Asunción Fernández, Esperanza Gorriz, Tess Sedullo, Alejandra Cortez). They have been responsible for coordinating, encouraging, and developing the project to promote human values in the neighborhood from the charism of TA. Here Poveda’s good idea is planted in a fertile land with willing hands and hearts to make it grow."
She also stressed the words of St. Pedro Poveda, "we all must cooperate, here there is not only one person and the others are just troupe” to indicate, "this service was not performed or is performed individually, but collaboratively.”
"The work of systematization allows us to demonstrate that some common dreams have become a reality thanks to a joint effort," said Ana Maria Garcia. She added that they will continue learning, adjust and plan accordingly for the future of the school and of Carlos Laborde neighborhood. “I am sure that in the course of these years we find God’s hand and ever presence. On behalf of the Teresian Association, which I represent today, I thank everyone for believing in education, for accompanying in a silent manner this group of women who, led by the Spirit, have contributed and contribute their best, joining forces with others, to social transformation through education in dialogue with cultures, "she concluded.
After the academic event, the youth group of Madre India Ballet offered a typical Bolivian dance.
Amparo Arribas
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia