visit to the barrio

today, we went to moreno which is just outside of the provincia of buenos aires. it took us about two hours in the train and would take you about 40 minutes by car to get there from the microcentro. this was my second time in the barrio, but the contrast between downtown buenos aires and moreno struck me just as hard this time around as it did during my first visit. its a bit crazy to think that in palermo, recoleta, belgrano, and the microcentro, people more or less have all of the amenities we have in the united states and europe. in moreno, they lack things like running water, paved roads, and natural gas connections. the purpose of today's visit was to help prepare for and attend a ceremony to celebrate the signing of the contract between the inter-american development bank and the foundation for which i work for the loan needed to go forward with the natural gas project. for me, it was inspirational and sad at the same time. the majority of the people in attendance were from the barrio with there also being representatives from the foundation, the inter-american development bank, the natural gas company that has been working in conjunction with the foundation to get the project going, and (i believe) the president of a well-known bank in buenos aires that will be making a loan to the foundation that will complement funds donated/lent by the idb. on one side, you had people in suits looking at blackberries and on the other side, the vecinos. the difference between the two parties was impossible to ignore. i think it's amazing that businesses and ngos like the idb are coming forward to help carry out projects of this nature, but to me its quite sad that we're in this situation at all. i hope and i pray that i can do something to change things or at least make a contribution to the movement for change, but as someone said to me today, businesses are businesses, the world bank and other like-minded ngos are businesses, and at times, governments are businesses. everything's a business.