Earlier this week we were honored at the house of President Sarmiento. It was another event with lots of ceremony and press, and made us all realize how important our visit to San Juan is for the people here. The director of this historical place, which is now a museum, told us that when plans began for this trip, she “never thought it would really happen.”
The students stand with the director and a bust of President Sarmiento at his birthplace.
Just like Sarmiento’s vision for bringing American teachers to his country over 140 years ago, the idea of a group of students from Winona State traveling to San Juan to celebrate the bicentennial of his birth seemed too complicated for many people here to believe. Or maybe we just wouldn’t be interested, as they have perceived the situation in the past. Many people have told us that they hope we don’t wait another 140 years to come back. We have reassured them that we hope this is just the beginning to a lasting partnership between our town and theirs.
A link to the local newspaper’s article can be found here: http://www.diariodecuyo.com.ar/home/new_noticia.php?noticia_id=459663
-Vanessa Fernandez Greene