(ANS – Puerto Deseado) – The Foundation "Knowing our House" (FCNF) is an NGO headed by a Salesian past pupil and his wife, who for 30 years have been running a social, educational-environmental and sports programme for children and older youth. The geography, history, flora and fauna of Patagonia, along with sports such as canoeing, kayaking and sailing, make the FCNF a programme for formation to values. Now, thanks to its new premises, it has a place where its educational mission can continue.

In 1983, in Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz, in Argentina, Marcos Oliva Day, an Attorney, former District Attorney and kayakist, along with his wife Maria Laura Gaona, started the FCNF: it was an original scheme of informal education to teach children to love the place in which they live, starting to get to know it. So the Foundation protects the natural and cultural heritage of Puerto Deseado through a programme that is now recognized and copied worldwide, and has trained over 12,000 children, many of whom are now instructors.

The Oliva Day couple decided to teach love, respect and care for the Earth starting from teaching canoeing and made this commitment the aim of their lives. "I met Marcos when he came here; he asked me what he could do to this place and I pointed to the sea", says Bro. Andrés Randisi, a Salesian missionary who in the 70s  lived in Patagonia and spent 25 years working in Angola. He is one of the sponsors of the Foundation; as well as the Irish pacifist, Prof. Robin Ruddock, history and biology teacher at Stranmillis University College, Queen's University, Belfast, who has replicated this experience in his country, while retaining the name: "Knowing your home". Other replicas of FCNC are those of kayakist José Jaramillo, project developer at Río Gallegos, Chile, and Marcos's sister, Emma Olive Day, who has continued it in 26 Schools in San Isidoro.

The children who take part in courses can communicate with sailors, writers, biologists, conservationists, artists and travellers arriving in Puerto Deseado, and also cultivate their imagination and learn to appreciate different cultures in a respectful way, an experience without equal, priceless. Through planned activities very clear objectives are pursued: prevention, restraint, education and total development.

The foundation courses are:

• "Training as Monitors", for teenage volunteers who study outside school hours and with the support of the teachers of the "Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral" and "Universidad de La Plata";
• "Canoe in the family", a programme that takes place on the weekend with the support of the "Club Náutico Capitán Oneto" and of local municipalities, offering free lessons in sailing and canoeing, and also allowing someone to perform these tasks cheerfully with parents, children and grandchildren.
• "Organic gardening", where young people learn to prepare the land, fertilize the ground, plant, irrigate and treat crops and harvesting potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach and other vegetables.
• "Work experience for foreign volunteers", currently available to young people from Japan, France, England and Switzerland.

The new headquarters of FCNC is named Enrique Götz, a key figure in the early years of the Foundation. Inside the structure offers a wide living room, classrooms and spaces to accommodate various delegations. During the inauguration ceremony, Mayor Luis Ampuero has recognized the Foundation's work and the contribution made over many years to the community.

Published 07/01/2013