In 2006, when Catalina Hornos was 20 years old, she decided to go on a volunteer trip from Buenos Aires to Santiago del Estero, a province in northern Argentina. When he arrived in the city of Añatuya, he found a very difficult reality. “I was in a school and saw the needs first hand. I knew what it was like to live without water or go to a hospital and not find a doctor. In that moment, I felt like I didn’t deserve the opportunities I had if I couldn’t fight for others to have them too,” says the 38-year-old psychologist and educational psychologist.
Hornos stayed in town to support the school and to visit families who no longer sent their children to school. “I noticed that he had a replacement in Buenos Aires. There, no. She was the only psychologist in the area and she was able to make a difference,” emphasizes the speaker, who later also studied psychology.
From that moment Hornos started to found Haciendo Camino to fight against child malnutrition. The organization works to improve the quality of life of families in vulnerable situations, with a focus on children aged zero to five and their mothers. They have twelve dedicated care places in different locations in Santiago del Estero and Chaco, with a team of 150 professionals supporting more than 12,000 families in northern Argentina.
We found the one and a half year old girl malnourished and told the mother that she needed to be hospitalized. She didn’t want to know. We explained to him that he was in a very critical situation. His answer was that when he died he would still have one
The conditions in which the thousands of families that the NGO cares for every day live are critical. 40% of minors suffer from malnutrition, 54% live in overcrowded conditions, 43% of households do not use drinking water, 67% of households have precarious materials, 32% do not have a water saving system for food, 62% of families do not have current medical examinations and According to their socio-ecological reports, 29% suffer from food insecurity.
“We have a working model that consists of accompanying the family and making the decision to switch in order to achieve a different gift for the children in terms of food. We work a lot with stimulation manuals that mothers can take home and do activities with their children. They are their most important health agents,” explains Hornos.
Recalling a story that shaped her, Hornos recalls a 17-year-old mother from the town of Monte Quemado, also in Santiago del Estero, who had a daughter of one and a half who weighed about five kilos. “We found her malnourished and told her mother that she needed to be hospitalized. She didn’t want to know. We explained to him that he was in a very critical situation. His answer was that when he died he would still have one. At that moment I thought that there is no solution, that there is nothing we can do if the mother doesn’t take care of it. Anyway, we decided to visit her every day. This is how we learned about her story, which was marked by abandonment and abuse. Feeling accompanied and supported, the young woman decided to take her daughter to the hospital and she recovered,” she says. Later the young woman gave birth to two more daughters who were not malnourished.
How good it would be if poverty and young child policies did not change when there was a change of government
Catalina says families are often plunged into despair, feeling like nothing is going to change. “We have evidence that what we are doing works. This allowed us to grow and awakened people’s trust in us. The time we do that gives us credibility in the community,” says the organization’s director general.
On his journey as a social reference, Hornos learned that to tackle problems as big as poverty or malnutrition, it was necessary to develop complex interventions. “It is necessary to develop interdisciplinary solutions. Education and accompaniment over time are essential,” he stresses. And he adds: “Another important lesson is that help or a solution cannot be imposed from outside. What we do is get involved and be part of the community to understand exactly where the needs and problems are. Finally, we learned that everything can be changed. We faced super complex cases of families in very critical situations and we could see how they improved with the support.”
In November 2012 they asked her if she could temporarily host four brothers who had to leave their homes because of violent situations in one of the homes for women victims of gender-based violence that Haciendo Camino had. “We receive them. They would stay a few days, but they would stay. Within a month they brought us two more little sisters. And that’s when we realized that we had to open a children’s home. Another was added the following year. I took care of her and became her reference. She was the one who went to the school event, sewed their costumes and helped them with their homework. When I decided to return to Buenos Aires, I asked the court for guardianship and they gave it to me. I didn’t want to adopt, but I felt connected to the boys and decided to adopt. We create a family bond,” recalls Hornos.
Catalina Hornos poses with Jorge, his partner and their children. Image courtesy
Together with Jorge, her partner, she formed a large assembled family. When she decided to return to Buenos Aires, the boys went with her. They also later had three biological children with Jorge. And he has a daughter from a previous marriage.
Today the psychologist commutes between Buenos Aires and Santiago del Estero. Once a month he travels to the Haciendo Camino centers to visit the families and the rest of the time he works in Buenos Aires on communication issues, fundraising, donation logistics and administration.
Hornos tries to focus on his work while his kids are at school. He takes a break at midday to have lunch with them and then picks them up in the afternoon. “I like to take them to the activities they do because it’s the individual moment I have with each one. I try to take advantage of these small moments,” he says.
Hornos’ children often travel with her to Santiago del Estero. Those who are not from Santiago travel from the age of three months. “Sometimes the older ones come along as volunteers. They enjoy going there because they know the people and also have a family member there. When the little ones come along, I try that instead of focusing on what is lacking, they see everything the centers have to teach. I take them to see how a family lives in the rural area. So they can appreciate another reality. Other boys teach them to shoot the rubber. They will play and learn,” he explains.
The most pressing problem to solve is hunger, he says. “Now the situation is very serious. The crisis does not end and inflation means that there is not enough money. Today we see more hunger and more malnutrition. If children don’t reach their potential in their early years, the damage is irreversible. The debt we as a society owe to our country’s children is alarming. Protecting children should be a priority for all Argentine adults. We are a country that produces and exports food all over the world. It should be unacceptable that the country is malnourished in this century. What is missing to solve this problem is the logistical organization and the political will,” he says.
When she thinks of a dream she wants to fulfill, the director of Haciendo Camino advocates a policy of continuity. “How good it would be if the strategy on poverty or early childhood didn’t change with a change of government,” says Hornos. As for the NGOs, they want to be able to work with the state to expand the methodology. In the long term it is desired that the organization does not exist because the problem is solved and its work is no longer necessary, ditch.
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