Norma Rosa Banegas, Argentinian Schoolteacher, Impacts Locals by Sharing Teachings of True Parents

October 17, 2011

Gerardo Alcaraz and wife Norma at home in Argentina.

The following testimony from Norma Rosa Banegas, a schoolteacher since 1989, describes her heavenly inspiration in the course of teaching in the mountainous province of Tucumàn, Argentina. Ms. Banegas joined the Unification Church in 1983, was Blessed to Gerardo Alcaraz in 1997, and now, at the age of 51, has seven children and one grand-daughter. She is the director of the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP) organization in Tucumàn, and prides herself on being an educator of values.

I first started working as a substitute teacher in 1989, in school No. 340, 240 kilometers from San Miguel de Tucumàn, on top of the Tafi Hills and in a small village called Yasyamayo, which means "bare river" in the Quechua language. In order to reach this school, I had to cross a long, mountainous path, ride five hours on a mule, and cross two rivers – the Santa Maria, a very sandy river that is almost impossible to cross without a 4x4 truck – and the Yasyamayo, which flows into the Santa Maria and swells up to such levels that it drags big boulders along with it. Thus, the way to the school sometimes was quite dangerous.

Serving as a schoolteacher makes us do things we normally wouldn't do, such as walk 25 kilometers alongside a horse or mule and up and down a mountain, and live in a school in freezing temperatures during the winter, when there is snow in the yard. It is a difficult job, but someone has to do it, and this was my challenge. I wanted to bring the same knowledge and opportunities to my students as enjoyed by the students in the city. The students I taught had to walk about three kilometers every day in order to learn the national anthem, Argentine history, the geographical layout of where they live, and how to read and write and to have values so that they feel like citizens of their country, Argentina. For this I prepared myself, not only as a school teacher, but also as a member of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC).

I could share so many things about this school. So many precious emotions and memories are welling up in me, just as the white snowy wind rushes against the hills in winter. In the loneliness of the night, when the stars were shining in the night sky, I felt that I could touch them and I felt the spirit of my guide, True Mother, accompanying me.

In one of these nights, I was stricken with melancholy, as is typical when one lives with loneliness, and thinking of my first son, Gaston Lucas, I reflected profoundly about love, commitment and sacrifice. Thoughts of him, mixed with many tears, swamped my mind and my heart so that the need to pray was very strong.

I connected myself with True Parents, but especially with True Mother. She had to leave her children without being able to see them during many days and I understood how much she must be suffering to fulfill the Will of Heaven. That was when I felt an intense warm feeling envelop me, which made me cry even stronger, but with a feeling of peace and tranquility. In that particular night I dreamt that True Mother smiled at me sweetly and took me by the hand.

There are some impressions I will never forget, like seeing the children having to cross the hills to come to school, which was the only place for reunions in that community. Some lived so far away that instead of going back home, they simply stayed in the school, which meant that the school teacher also had to act as a mother, nurse, friend, messenger and delivery boy. But one felt very good about it. Even under those difficult circumstances, one could fulfill an important spiritual activity by serving others. Some would comment that the hills in Tucumàn are very similar to the mountains of Korea, so that I felt as if I were in the chosen country, close to True Parents.

There were many opportunities for me to talk with the parents and some children about God's ideal for this time, but with the heavy reality of things always in sight, it is difficult to tell the people that the world will change, that social equality will be achievable for everyone, and that the Kingdom of Heaven is closer now than it ever was before. Also, the fairly low cultural level in Tucumàn is a fertile ground for beliefs in witchcraft, different forms of evil and spiritual spells. Under these circumstances I could only talk about Satan and his form of doing things, about his real existence. Some people understood, and when I left this school, many of these people said that they were going to miss me. I still keep their faces in my heart. Some aren't with us anymore; some moved away, and unfortunately I lost contact with many people in this area.

In the afternoon the "charitos," the local name for the ñandú [Rhea] fledglings, were running around in the school yard like children. Many times they were my only company.

At the time I was teaching in the school, we had 13 children. Today there are 15, and the school teacher's name is Sandra Villoldo. I will never forget this school and will keep in contact with all of my successors. The school has a new building now – unfortunately I don't have any photos of the time I was there, when it was a very simple house made of adobe with a straw roof. Whenever I can, I send donations of clothes, toys, medicine, general school items and letters to my "children" from that time, who nowadays are all grown and parents in their own right.