Hosted by the Rotary Club of Buenos Aires (District 4890) (Argentina)
Sponsored by the Rotary Club of La Jolla &  Rotary District 5340 (San Diego)

Rotary World Peace Scholar Erin Corrigan with her host Rotarian, Carlos Decurgez at the Spring Rotary Luncheon

Hello Rotary San Diego!  I want to begin my correspondence with you with a big MUCHAS GRACIAS.  The Rotary World Peace Scholarship is a wonderful opportunity.  I wish to express my thanks to Rotary for its mission, not to mention its supportive programs and members.  I am truly indebted!

ROTARY WORLD PEACE SCHOLAR PROGRAM

The Rotary World Peace Scholar program in Argentina was inaugurated in April of 2003. There are 12 of us at the Rotary World Peace Center in Buenos Aires, and we have been studying full time for six months now.  We represent the United States, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Columbia, Panama, Ireland, and Austria.

Rotary World Peace Scholars onstage with former RI International President, Luis Vicente Giay

Rotary World Peace Scholars attending the symphony at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires

Rotary World Peace Scholars meeting with Ambassadors at the Ministry of the Exterior in Argentina

CLASSES

We have taken classes such as The International System, Conflict and Cooperation in the World Economy, International Relations Theory, International Cooperation / The International Aid System, and Contemporary Political History.  For the next 8 weeks we will be focused on Management of the International System, Research Methods (thesis development), and we are involved in an International Crisis simulation in conjunction with the Argentine Naval War College. 

BUENOS AIRES

Of all the cities I have visited in my life, Buenos Aires is certainly one of the most beautiful.  It is home to nearly 40% of the country’s population, and as a city and suburban area is roughly the size of Los Angeles, but it has a nice sized city center with most attractions within walking distance from my apartment, including the University. 

Rio de la Plata

The La Boca Neighborhood

People in Buenos Aires love Soccer!

Street corner in my neighborhood

Buenos Aires in the spring

ACTIVITIES

Aside from studying, I volunteer with a women’s group that helps poor women develop skills for employment, and I am interning at a non-profit organization that has projects all over Argentina. There is not much time to travel with all of our school work, but I did visit Patagonia for a week in August, and went through the great expanse of the Pampa to the Sierra last weekend to do some hiking. I will be staying in Argentina over the holidays to see more of the countryside.  Argentina is an amazingly beautiful country, but it is also the eighth largest country in the world so sightseeing requires covering a lot of distance!

Volunteer group knitting

Volunteer group serving meals

My horse won’t go!

Trying out the Gaucho lifestyle in Argentina

MOTHERS OF THE PLAZA DEL MAYO

The Rotary World Peace Scholars in Argentina had the chance to get to know the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo recently. We marched with them and then met with them afterwards. It was an incredibly powerful experience. Dressed in black, they have been demonstrating for years each Thursday at 3:30 in the afternoon, in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, with demands of finding out the fate of their loved ones who were disappeared during the “dirty war”.

This war began in a coup on March 24, 1976, when a military junta seized power in Argentina and went on a campaign to wipe out left-wing terrorism with terror far worse than the one they were combating. Between 1976 and 1983 - under military rule - thousands of people, most of them dissidents and innocent civilians unconnected with terrorism, were arrested and then vanished without a trace.

The Mothers of the Plaza del Mayo march around the statue of liberty, in front of the presidential palace, with white handkerchiefs imprinted with names of disappeared sons and daughters on their heads, and they carry signs with photographs of their missing family members. They began their demonstrations while the junta was still in power. Several of them, including their founder, Azucena Villaflor de Vicenti, were disappeared themselves as a result of their actions.

Rotary World Peace Scholars in Argentina meeting with Mothers of the Plaza del Mayo.

Rotary World Peace Scholars marching with the Mothers

FUTURE ROTARY WORLD PEACE SCHOLARS

Please do not hesitate to put prospective Rotary World Peace scholars in touch with me.

Erin Corrigan
Las Heras 2669, Departamento 9D
1425 Buenos Aires
Argentina
Email: ekfc@yahoo.com

Best wishes,

Erin

A little about me…