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Juan Manuel “Juantxi” Yacomini is a young man from Necochea who studies computation engineering at the National University of La Plata (UNLP).  He also studies and teaches Basque at La Plata Basque Club and coordinates the “Hator Hona” program in Necochea.

Joseba Etxarri.  Juantxi was born 26 years ago in Buenos Aires and his family moved when he was one  and a half to Necochea. At the age of two, he took his first steps as a dantzari at the Euzko Etxea.  He practically grew up there, with the club becoming his second home, and he is clear about what makes Basques, Basques.  It is the human interaction and emotional ties, a sense of belonging and commitment, and the willingness to preserver in it. Our interviewee is part and one of the organizers of the Hator Hona program, an initiative that began more than a decade ago in Necochea to support the exchange and relationships between young Basques in the Basque Country and in Argentina, organized and carried out independently by the Basque club youth.

Your ties to Basque almost began at birth.

-I have been a member of the Euzko Etxea in Necochea since I was a child with my parents.  In reality, my father’s mother, is Argentinian, Beatriz Municoy, and taught Argentine folklore at the club, and so that’s where my father grew up. He met and married my mother, Susana Berestain, who coincidently had a Basque last name and some Basque origin, but my father was the one that was really involve in the club.  So I grew up there.  I was a dantzari, played pelota paleta and basketball on the club’s team….Regarding family, the Basque connection was long time ago, so we never met the family, or we lost touch with the family in the Basque Country; it seems that one of our last names is Mancisidor and other one  Azpiazu that came from the area of Azpeitia and Deba, although we don’t know many details for sure.  But yes, I have been a member of the club forever, In fact I was a dantzari there until I came to study in La Plata.

You live in La Plata and study at the UNLP and you also collaborate with the local Basque club there.  

-I study at the Basque Language and Culture Lectureship at the University, and I also collaborate in teaching Basque at the Basque club, where i am also a member of the dance group, not at the beginning but now I am . La Plata is a university town where many youth from different cities gather, including some Basques who have left their respective towns and Basque clubs, and have joined the club in La Plata while studying there.  Right now we are five from Necochea and there are also dantzaris from Tandil, Puerto Madryn, Bariloche, Tres Arroyos…

Nechochea will host Semana Nacional Vasca 2016 on November 11-13.

- (smile) obviously I’m not impartial, but of all the places where Semana Vasca is held in Argentina, Necochea is the one I like the best.  It is going to be a memorable event.  To someone who has never attended, I would say that there they would see how we live the Basque culture and and show the strength of the Diaspora.  Semana Vasca usually comes to Necochea once every five years, more or less, and although last year Eusko Alkartasuna in Machachin left the bar very high, I’m sure that this year we will keep it there.  There are many youth all over the country and in the Basque Country that are planning on attending.

What is Hator Hona?

-It is a program that was originally meant to be an exchange program between Necochea and the Basque Country. It begun in 2004 and we hold it every year in July and August.  We invite youth from the Basque Country, between the ages of 18 and 30, who want to come here and share their knowledge with us in the areas of Euskera, Sports, Music, Dance, Instruments, Gastronomy….We don’t require degrees, just desire and predisposition to share what they know.  Participants pay for their trip and we provide room and board in the homes of families during their three-week stay.  To date nearly 75 youth have come here and nearly 1,000 local Basque youth took part in the program.  It has been a complete success at all levels.  I am also going to tell you, that it was at Hator Hona where i met my wife, who is from Egia in Donostia.  

Is there anything you’d like to add?

-I would like to emphasize that Basque clubs are formed today not only by people with Basque last names, but also by people, that with or without Basque origin, have a Basque commitment, desire to participate and who bring along excitement regarding our culture.  I would like to send an open invitation to everyone in the Basque Country, to come to Semana Vasca in November.  Also remember that the deadline to apply for Hator Hona, and come spend the summer with us, is at the end of April.  You can find us online and on Facebook!