With a heart for his people and town

Tierra del Fuego and its southernmost town of the world - Ushuaia - is a place surrounded by stormy seas, dramatic mountains and ancient forests. It not only attracts people with its nature and wilderness, but also with the many work opportunities, since Tierra Del Fuego is one of the economically most developed provinces of Argentina.

Javier (41) arrived in Ushuaia as a backpacker at the age of 19. He left his hometown Rio Quarto near Cordoba to follow his ideals and passion for nature and wilderness. For the first 8 months he did not have a permanent residence and stayed in a tent in a forest. He remembers that time with a smile in his face: “During those months I grew a lot, matured as an individual, formed a perspective for my life and learned to value family and comfort,” he says. Ushuaia became his home.

Origins of Ushuaia are found in a Christian mission that was started in the area around the Beagle Channel in 1850s. Early missionaries came with their faith and ideals. They were first foreigners to settle down in this area, back then populated by yaganes, an indigenous tribe. The town started as a community formed on basis of the Christian values. 30 years later government of Argentina founded Ushuaia as a city, bringing all the blessings and curses of the contemporary lifestyle that only quickened the extinction of yaganes as a separate ethnic group.

Right now Javier works for the provincial government of Tierra del Fuego. He has two responsibilities - youth and religious organizations. He is respected at his work and society as a man who lives according to his words. There have been times when the governor himself calls Javier to ask for his opinion on different matters. Javier wants to keep working in the government not only in a local, but later also in a national level: “At some point I would like to work for the state government. I think it is very important that people with principles and values are in places where decisions for the whole society are made. It is not an easy work, but it is a needed one.”

Once Ushuaia was a small town, with people who love the place and feel that they belong. During the past 30 years town has grown incredibly, and the economic developed has attracted thousands of people from all over the Argentina. People come with different mentality, thoughts and attitudes, some of them - just to stay for a while to earn some money and then return back home. “Short term thinking has brought crisis of values in Ushuaia and it affects everybody,” says Javier. “The biggest crisis is the not the one of economics but the one of values, and it is happening right now. I want to spend my energy on making the society aware of the values that have been neglected – family, friendship, companionship.”

Javier knows what he is doing and why. He dreams of a social transformation and a change in how people see and treat each other. He would like to involve more people in decision making process in Ushuaia so the provincial government would become more people oriented; he would also like to see people working together more, including everyone in the process. There are many more ideas Javier would like to carry out for his city and his people. This is just the smallest part.

Stories from the End of The World

There are people who create history. There are people who write it down later. And then there are those who manage to do both - like Julio Rodrigez, a historian from Ushuaia, the very southernmost city not only in Argentina, but in the world as well. Though Ushuaia may seem like the very end of the world, for some it is a beginning of an exciting and adventurous life.

Julio live in the studio in his weekly radioshow, on Radio Nacional.

„I came to Ushuaia from Cordoba when I was 18. There were only 4000 people living here, and the city had only one paved street,” says Julio (63), who has not only been a history teacher for almost all his life, but is also an author of many books and a host of his own program on the national radio - an hour long show about culture and folklore. When we are invited to speak on his show, the hour spent in the studio passes by full of laughter and fun – it is easy to talk to Julio, and his curiosity and positive attitude are almost contagious. Julio’s dynamic energy and optimism are really needed in the place which is located on an island, separated from the rest of Argentina. “Yes, many people feel lonely here. They come from all of Argentina to work here and have a better life, but end up being alone, without friends and family. I see that almost every day,” points out Julio, who maybe better than anyone else knows what is going on in the not-so-little-anymore community of Ushuaia.

Julio has lived in Ushuaia for more than 45 years now, witnessing all the changes the city has gone through. After retiring, he decided not to keep his knowledge and observations about Ushuaia to himself, and started to write books on the history, events and people of the city. Once the ball got rolling, he couldn’t stop – there are just too much to tell! “In 1999 I published my first book, called "Stories about life in Ushuaia". The next one came seven years later. That one talks about the history of Ushuaia and how the gospel was brought here by missionaries from England,” Julio keeps telling, while showing us his books. “Now I am working on a book about the biggest family in Ushuaia. It has more than one thousand members!”

Julio showing us one of the 5 books he has written.

We listen to Julio, and can’t stop wondering how it is possible for one man to go through so many different things in one lifetime! He has been a teacher, administrator, press secretary for the local government, policeman, leader of the hospital of Ushuaia – the list goes on. A light smile appears in his face, when he talks about music – in his twenties, after winning the main prize in the biggest folklore festival in Argentina, Julio and his band played for Argentina’s president Arturo Umbert, bringing tears in his eyes. Julio seems to have a story about every job he has done and every person he has met. When asked what he has enjoyed the most out of everything he has done, he replies without hesitation: “Being a dad. I love my three children, and the thing about being a father is that there is no manual on how to do it. You just have to learn on the way.”

“He has a great gift of speaking with people about anything – life and God, and in between,” says pastor Claudio, one of Julio’s closest friends. “He loves people, and he has got a great patience with them. When his radio show is on, people always want to call and participate. He has a great impact on the community here”. And it is not hard to see, because everywhere Julio appears, people come to greet him and have a little chat. He always finds a minute to talk to them, and maybe that’s how Julio will find the next story to tell. Or the story will find him.