Ko’eju, Chacarita, Asunción
On the stretch of land between the Bay of Asunción and the pink parliament building is the famous Barrio Chacarita, where hundreds of poor families are living. Ko’eju is a Christian organisation offering vocational training and gatherings. We support a family with equipment to set up a micro-business that sells juice and organize a very short theatre workshop for the children.
| Name: | Ko’eju Asunción |
| Aim: | “To support empoverished families living in the Chacarita high-density area” |
| Since: | 2002 |
| Staff: | 12 staff members |
| People Reached: | reaching out to about 400 children, plus adults |
| Contact: | www.koeju.org patomanfredi@hotmail.com |
| Donation: | 900,000 guarani (188 USD), plus materials to start a micro-business |
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| Pigs live in the community stable |
On the narrow stretch of land between the fancy pink parliament building and the bay of Asunción, lies the shantytown of Chakarita, a collection of makeshift ironsheet dwellings, crumbled brick buildings with narrow muddy allayways cutting through them, dirty plains dotted by heaps of garbage, poles and roaming dogs and swine. There is the barrio Chino, a tiny area thus baptized because of its very narrow allyways. There is the soccer field facing towards the pink facade of the country’s democracy, where the residents of the slum often hang out, tossing and kicking around their ragged leather balls. And there are the many police officers walking back and forth along the edge of the slum – they hardly ever go in. They seem to be a symbolic buffer to seperate the Chakarita from the nation’s official face. The president’s palace is a stone’s throw away, and the Head of State would see the misery of the Chakarita when glancing out of his office window, even on a foggy day.
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| comedor |
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