Hi folks, I hope you are well, this week we are meeting at new venue to try it out… The Dolphin Pub, on King Edward Road, NE30 2SN. Hope to see you there from 8.00pm. This weeks blog is written by Sue.
Maria Eva Duarte was born in 1919, the youngest of five children. Her father was a wealthy man and it was not uncommon at that time for such men to have more than one family. When Eva was one year old her father returned to his legal family, leaving Eva and her family in extreme poverty and forcing them to move to a desolate place of abject poverty. At 15, She left home to arrive in Buenos Aires to become a stage, radio and film actress.
She met Colonel Juan Peron at a charity event in benefit for the victims of an earthquake in 1944. They married in 1945 and in 1946 Juan Peron was elected as President of Argentina. Over the next six years Eva Peron become powerful within the pro-Peronist trade unions, speaking and working on behalf of the labour rights and leading the Ministries of Labour and Health. She founded and ran the charity Eva Peron Foundation, championed women’s suffrage in Argentina and developed and ran the nation’s first large scale female political party, the Women’s Peronist Party.
1951 saw Eva announce her candidacy for the Peronist nomination for the office of Vice President of Argentina. With support from the Peronist political base, low-income and working-class Argentines, known as Descamisados or ‘shirtless ones’ she faced opposition from the military and Bourgeois. It was due to Eva’s declining health that she withdrew her candidacy. This is beautifully captured by the music and words of Weber and Rice in Waltz for Eva and Che from the musical Evita, echoing Eva’s quote “Time is my greatest enemy: Oh what I give for a hundred years, But the physical interferes, every day more, oh my Creator. What is the good of the strongest heart in a body that’s falling apart, A serious flaw I hope you know that”.
In 1952 she was awarded the title of ‘Spiritual Leader of the Nation’ by the Argentine Congress. Eva died shortly afterwards from ovarian cancer aged 33. She was given a state funeral generally reserved for heads of state. For some Eva was a saint but to others she was a sinner. Again, the genius of Weber and Rice capture this within the same song Waltz for Eva and Che “What are the chances of honest advances, I say low, better to win by admitting my sin than to lose with a halo”.
During her European tour King George VI sent word that he would not receive her regardless of advice from the Foreign Office. Eva saw this as a snub and cancelled the trip to the UK giving her reason as exhaustion.
Two years after Eva died a military coup saw her husband exiled and corpse stolen. After being moved around a deal was finally reached between her husband and the military which saw Eva’s body returned to him. He then returned to Argentina and become President once again. Two years later he died, and Eva was moved from her resting place back to Argentina to be laid to rest with her husband. Another military coup erupted and both Eva and her husband’s bodies were taken again. It was not until 1971 Eva was finally laid to rest in her family’s mausoleum within a heavy structured fortress never to be disrupted again. So even in death Eva was powerful to influence.
Eva is quoted to have said “my biggest fear in life is to be forgotten”. This fear may have come from feelings of abandonment from her father as a child. But Eva took her childhood experiences and understanding of abandonment and abject poverty, thoughts, feelings and pain to ignite her work and fight for those she knew needed the help. She used her position and power to achieve freedom for those she grew up watching struggle. Eva did this in ways she believed to be necessary although she was accused of doing so for selfish gain. Regardless of the significant opposition Eva faced from childhood to adulthood she fought to survive and bring freedom to those she could understand and connect with, the low-income, poor and women of Argentina. She is quoted as saying “I have one thing that counts, and that’s my heart, it burns in my soul, it aches in my flesh and it ignites my nerves; that is my love for the people and Peron.”
Questions:
Do you like musicals? What is your favoured musical and why? If not, why not?
Having read about Eva what inspires you? What concerns you?
Does Eva remind you of anyone else or someone in the bible?
Are there elements of your past that can be used for the good of others?
What fears do you have? Are they holding you back from life or stepping into your purpose?
How can others help and support you?
Like Eva, what one thing counts to you? What is burning in your heart, soul and flesh?
Pray for each other, specifically regarding accepting who we are past, present and future, finding our
unique place in life and having the confidence, like Eva to stand for what we believe and help those
people or causes our hearts are calling to support.
Peace.
This post is written by one of our many friends. At BeachcomberFX we love to hear what others have to say and are always on the lookout for people who want to share their thoughts or stories with us.