Why Salta?
There are obviously strong emotional ties with Salta as this is where David met his untimely death and where his brother Gareth and his family
live. As explained on the
Our Inspiration page David wanted to help peoples on his travels far less fortunate than himself.
However the choice of Salta as a target for our efforts is far from emotional. Hannah Cross, one of our trustees, explains why the Foundation
is addressing a real problem
Salta
Salta is a fantastic tourist and traveller destination. Salta sits in the foot hills of the Andes mountains with a desert like climate.
Within the city there are many historic and cultural sites. Around this beautiful part of Argentina there are are really beautiful landscapes,
local indigenous culture and numerous adventure opportunities.
The summers are hot and the winters cold but bright in the day and very cold at night. The rainy season runs from January to March.
We would recommend that you visit Salta.
As with many tourist locations that are many harsh realities that the tourists do not see, though.
Families live on plots in shanty towns on the edges of Salta with no sanitation, light or other services in the hope that they can keep
the land and finally build a home of some kind. Young people who live here
still go to school until the age of 18.
Families often start on the land with a tent or cloth shelter for the first year or so, moving on to tin or mud
as and when they can afford it.
Many schools are falling apart and have little in the way of facilities and equipment.
Despite the conditions they live in parents send their children to school in clean white coats
( a cheap uniform) and with a decent bag to carry books. They wish their children to do well.
Despite these aspirations many young people are sent out to work during the time they should be in school, to help make ends meet.
The right to education
Many people in developed countries consider entry
into higher education as their right. In the poorer countries of the
global south, however, university is an almost impossible ambition
for the majority of young people. Acceptance of this vast difference
in opportunity is also an acceptance of the growing gap between rich
and poor. Education is the key to individual progress, and is also
important for the development of families, communities and societies.
A lack of it maintains a structure of inequality, injustice and
poverty. Poorer countries lose their greatest resource – people
– as they emigrate to earn a living, or stay and fail to reach
their full potential. Higher education develops the human talent
needed to address these challenges. It halts the reproduction of
poverty and dependence on help from wealthy countries. Without access
to quality education, it is not possible for individuals and their
families to escape from hardship which continues through generations
and severely restricts life choices. Under Article 26 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
"Everyone
has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the
elementary and fundamental stages… Technical and professional
education shall be made generally available and higher education
shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Education
shall be directed to the full development of the human personality
and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms… Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of
education that shall be given to their children.” (United
Nations, 1948).
Higher education and poverty in Argentina
Poverty
and unemployment rates fell in Argentina in the years following the
economic crisis of 2001,
but the north has been excluded from this growth. Half a million
people – about a fifth of the population - live in the
critical region
that includes Jujuy, Salta, Catamarca, Tucumán, Santiago del
Estero, Chaco, Misiones, Formosa and Corrientes. More than 60 percent
of the population in these nine provinces lives below the poverty
line, far above the 44 percent national average.
Latin American government policies recognise the importance of higher
education and aim for equal access. Equal access requires a system of
student grants,
but in 2007 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO) found few cases of these grants in practice.
Argentina has a 97 percent
literacy rate
and schooling is compulsory for ten years. Almost half of the
population between the ages of 20 and 29 has access to
higher education
but this access only benefits 1-15 percent of indigenous groups. In
the Jujuy and Salta provinces, under 6 percent of the Ava Guaraní
and Kolla people aged 15 years and over attend university.
The
serious problem of equality and inclusion in Argentinian education is
not only that of access. It is estimated that only about 15 percent
of those who enter university graduate. The
socio-economic problems
of poorer students oblige the majority to work for 35-40 hours per
week, often with a
lack of vocational guidance.
Improving access and guidance through university can help to address
the poverty which affected over half of the population after the 2001
crisis, and is
expected to increase
again as a result of the 2008 global economic downturn. It is this
poverty that caused David Mather, in Salta, to question the gulf
between his life and theirs. Helping individuals to
realise their ambition has long-term and far-reaching potential.
Links
