Erhtygl gan Jeremy Wood
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​Mae Patagonia gyfan wedi bod dan glo ers rhai misoedd bellach a, gyda nifer o achosion yn digwydd yng nghymdogaethau tlotaf Buenos Aires, roeddem yn poeni mai dim ond mater o amser fyddai hi cyn i'r firws Covid-19 wneud ei ffordd tua’r de. Ond mae popeth i lawr yma yn iasol dawel ar hyn o bryd. Does dim marwolaethau o'r firws wedi bod yn unman ym Mhatagonia, a dim ond llond llaw o achosion sydd wedi bod.  Gyda lwc, mae pob un ohonynt bellach wedi gwella. Yma yn nhrefi Cymreig yr Andes, nid oes yr un achos wedi bod hyd yn hyn.

System lywodraeth ffederal sydd gan yr Ariannin, ac roedd y pwysigion yn Buenos Aires, sydd bron i 2,000 cilomedr i'r gogledd, wedi cau’r ffiniau a chyhoeddi clo caled a chynnar yn sgil y firws. Ond yma yn y Wladfa, yn nhalaith Chubut, mae gennym ni ein llywodraeth ein hunain ac fe wnaethon nhw ein cloi i lawr hyd yn oed yn dynnach. Tan y penwythnos diwethaf, doedden ni ddim yn cael teithio mwy na 500 metr o'n cartrefi am unrhyw reswm heblaw am siopa a dibenion meddygol, ac ni chaniatawyd unrhyw fath o ymgynnull teuluol. Doeddwn i ddim hyd yn oed yn cael gyrru'r pellter byr (25 cilomedr) o Esquel i Drevelin, ble treuliaf y rhan fwyaf o fy amser yn codi arian ar gyfer ein hysgol Gymraeg, Ysgol y Cwm.

Mae'n ymddangos bod y strategaeth hon, am y tro, wedi gweithio'n dda iawn. Mae gan y Wladfa un fantais fawr dros lawer o leoliadau eraill yn y byd - mae'n fawr iawn, gyda ‘chydig iawn o drefi a phentrefi, a rheiny wedi'u gwasgaru. Dych chi ddim yn dod yn agos at lawer o bobl yn y rhannau hyn. Pe baech yn lledaenu poblogaeth Patagonia, mae'n debygol y gallem gadw pellter o ryw filltir rhwng pob unigolyn! Mae’r Wladfa tua 10 gwaith maint Cymru, neu bron i hanner maint California, ond gyda dim ond un wythfed o'r boblogaeth. Pe bai gan Manhattan yr un dwysedd poblogaeth ac sydd gennym ni fan hyn, byddai llai na hanner cant o bobl yn byw yma. Oni bai bod y defaid yn dechrau cludo’r firws, gallwn gysgu'n dawel am y tro.

Rydym ar drothwy’r gaeaf yma ym mynyddoedd hardd yr Andes, ac rydyn ni fwy na 600 cilomedr i ffwrdd o dref o unrhyw faint. Mae diwrnodau byr a’r ffyrdd rhewllyd, gwael yn cadw hyd yn oed y twristiaid mwyaf ymroddedig i ffwrdd. Mae'n debyg na fydd ein tymor sgïo, sydd fel arfer yn dechrau ym mis Gorffennaf, yn digwydd eleni, felly prin iawn fydd y nifer o ymwelwyr yma dros y gaeaf. Ond mae'r diffyg twristiaeth ym Mhatagonia, ardal sy'n dibynnu cymaint ar ymwelwyr, yn dalcen caled i lawer o deuluoedd . Mae canran helaeth o economi’r Ariannin yn anffurfiol ac felly mae llai o deuluoedd mewn sefyllfa i hawlio cymorth ariannol i leddfu’r caledi.

Yn Buenos Aires, ble mae llwgrwobrwyo a llygredd gwleidyddol yn gyffredin, mae’r rhai sydd mewn grym wedi dod yn arbenigwyr ar berswadio sefydliadau a llywodraethau rhyngwladol i roi benthyg symiau enfawr o arian iddynt, ac yna methu ar y taliadau hynny. Dyma’n union ddigwyddodd yr wythnos diwethaf, gyda’r llywodraeth bresennol. O ganlyniad, mae hi’n yn ddrud iawn i’r Ariannin fenthyg arian ac mae hyn yn golygu nad yw arian yr Ariannin, y Peso, o unrhyw werth y tu allan i’r wlad, yn enwedig o ystyried y symiau enfawr sy’n cael eu hargraffu gan y llywodraeth ar hyn o bryd.

Tan yn weddol ddiweddar, y papur gyda’r gwerth uchaf oedd y papur 100 peso, ond ymhen ychydig o amser bydd papur pum mil peso yn mynd i gylchrediad cyhoeddus. Mae'r llywodraeth ganolog wedi bod yn gwario ei chronfeydd wrth-gefn o ddoleri trwy gryfhau'r peso ac, o ganlyniad, wedi atal pobl yma rhag prynu doleri. Mae’r llywodraeth hyd yn oed wedi mynd cyn belled â gosod treth o 30% ar unrhyw bryniannau cardiau credyd y tu allan i'r Ariannin.

Canlyniad yr holl jyglo ariannol hyn yw bod pawb eisiau prynu doleri i guddio o dan y gwely (does neb yn ymddiried mewn banciau yma). Mewn tri mis yn unig, mae'r gyfradd gyfnewid swyddogol wedi aros fwy neu lai yn llonydd ar 60 peso i'r ddoler, tra bod y gyfradd answyddogol wedi saethu fyny i dros 130. Mae’r  gwahaniaeth hwnnw yn fendith i dwristiaid. Mae’r prisiau lleol am nwyddau a gwasanaethau Archentaidd wedi aros fwy neu lai’r un fath, tra bod eu pris i rywun sy'n prynu gyda doleri wedi haneru. Gallaf brynu ffiled o stecen Hereford am $5, potel dda iawn o Malbec am $2, tanwydd am 50c y litr ac, wrth edrych ar ochr arall y geiniog, unrhyw gynnyrch cyfrifiadurol Apple am o leiaf ddwywaith ei bris yn yr UD.
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Hefyd, ynghyd â'r ffaith nad oes gennym unrhyw fosgitos, dengue na zika yma yn Andes y Wladfa, mae gennym rai o'r golygfeydd mwyaf syfrdanol yn y byd, mewn lleoliadau anial a phellennig.  O ganlyniad, gallwn fod yn reit hyderus y bydd twristiaeth a buddsoddiad yn dychwelyd gyda chlec, cyn gynted ag y bydd yr hediadau'n ailgychwyn.
A phan fydd hynny’n digwydd, gallwn ailagor ein hysgol Gymraeg, dod â'r athrawon Cymraeg yn ôl o Gymru, a dychwelyd at groesawu twristiaid Cymreig o bob cwr o'r byd unwaith eto.

 ​We have been in lockdown throughout Patagonia for some months now and, with plenty of cases occurring in the ghettoes of Buenos Aires, we were worried that it would only be a question of time before the Covid-19 virus made its way south. But everything down here is eerily quiet. No deaths from the virus anywhere in Patagonia and only a handful of cases, all of whom, touch wood, have recovered. Here in the Welsh towns in the Andes, we have had none.
 
Argentina has a federal system of government and the big cheeses in Buenos Aires, almost 2,000 kilometres to the north, closed borders and announced a tough lockdown. But here in Welsh Patagonia, the Argentine province of Chubut, we have our own government and they locked us down even tighter. Until last weekend, we couldn’t travel more than 500 metres from our homes for any reason other than for shopping and medical purposes, and we couldn’t have any sort of family gathering. I couldn’t even drive the short distance (25 kilometres) to our neighbouring village of Trevelin, where I spend most of my time raising funds for our Welsh school, Ysgol y Cwm.
 
This strategy seems, for the time being, to have worked very well. Welsh Patagonia has one major advantage over many other locations in the world – it is very large and with very few towns and villages, and those are spread far and wide. You don’t come close to many people in these parts. If you spread out our population, we could probably manage social distancing of a mile or more. It is around 10 times the size of Wales, or almost half the size of California, but with only one eightieth of the population. If Manhattan had the same population density as we do down here, fewer than fifty people would live there. Unless the sheep become carriers of the virus, we can sleep soundly for the time being.
 
Here in the beautiful Andes Mountains, our winter is about to kick in, but we are more than 600 kilometres from a town of any size. Short days and bad, icy roads discourage even the most committed tourists. Our ski season, which normally starts in July, will probably not happen this year, which removes most of the reasons for anyone visiting us in the winter. But the lack of tourism in Patagonia, an area that so heavily depends on visitors, is hitting families very hard. Much of the economy in Argentina is black and so fewer families are in a position to claim financial assistance to relieve hardship. But things will soon change and will become even better than pre-Virus days
 
In Buenos Aires, one of the world’s capitals of cronyism and corruption, governments have developed a speciality in persuading international institutions and governments to lend them vast amounts of money, and they then default on the payments. The current government has just last week scored it latest default. This means that it becomes very expensive for Argentina to borrow money and, in turn, the Argentine currency, the Peso, is of no value outside Argentina, especially considering the vast quantities of the currency being printed by the government at the moment. Not long ago, the highest value banknote was 100 pesos. A new five thousand peso note is about to enter circulation. The central government has been expending its reserves of dollars by bolstering the peso and, as a consequence, preventing as much as possible the purchase of dollars by Argentineans. It has even gone as far as implementing a 30% tax on any purchases made by Argentineans using credit cards outside Argentina.
 
The result of all this financial jiggery pokery is that everyone wants to buy dollars to stash under the bed (nobody trusts banks here). In just three months, the official exchange rate has remained more or less stationary at 60 pesos to the dollar, while the unofficial rate has ballooned to more than 130. That difference is the boom for tourists. Local prices of Argentine-sourced goods and services have remained more or less the same, while their price to someone buying with dollars has halved. I can buy the entire fillet of a Hereford cow for $5, a very good Malbec for $2, fuel for 50c a litre and, looking at the other side of the coin, any Apple computer product for at least twice its price in the US.
 
Coupled with the fact that, down here in the Andes in Welsh Patagonia, we have no mosquitos, dengue or zika, and some of the most stunning scenery in the world in some of the world’s emptiest places, tourism and property investment will return here with a boom as soon as the flights restart.
 
And, when they do, we can reopen our Welsh school, bring back the Welsh teachers who have all been sent back to Wales, and get back to welcoming Welsh tourists from across the world.

Tua diwedd 2019, cafodd Jeremy Wood, prif godwr arian Ysgol y Cwm, ei wahodd i siarad am yr ysgol yng Ngŵyl Cymru Gogledd America, a gynhaliwyd  yn Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mae’r ŵyl yn ddigwyddiad blynyddol sy’n rhoi cyfle i Gymdeithasau Cymreig  yr Unol Daleithiau a Chanada i ddod at ei gilydd am ychydig ddyddiau i gael cyflenwad swmpus o iaith, diwylliant ac, wrth gwrs, hwyl!
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Roedd Jeremy ar ei ffordd i Efrog Newydd er mwyn hedfan yn ôl i Esquel, pan gafodd wahoddiad gan Tim Mark, hen ffrind i Batagonia, i roi'r un sgwrs i Gymdeithas Cymry Ottawa yng Nghanada. Rhoddodd Jeremy sgwrs yn Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Westminster, gan redeg fwy nag awr dros ei amser penodedig! Ond, fe arhosodd pawb, gan ofyn llawer o gwestiynau ar y diwedd. Roedd rhywun hyd yn oed wedi dianc o ddosbarth dawnsio llinell yn y gampfa drws nesaf, er mwyn gwylio'r cyflwyniad!

Mae'r profiad ym Milwaukee ac Ottawa, a'r adborth a gafwyd, yn dangos bod y Wladfa, a'r ffaith fod yr iaith Gymraeg yn parhau yno hyd heddiw, yn dal i fod o ddiddordeb sylweddol mewn cymunedau Cymreig ledled y Byd.

Roedd yno ambell i syrpréis diddorol iawn yn y cyfarfod yn Ottawa. Cafodd Jeremy ei gyfarch gan Chris Smart, oedd yn gwisgo het wlân drwsiadus a deniadol iawn, wedi'i gwau'n hyfryd mewn coch, gwyrdd a gwyn ac yn gyforiog o ddreigiau cochion. Nid het wlanog gyffredin mohoni, fel y rhai y gwelwch mewn siopau swfenîr ledled Cymru, ond dyluniad newydd – tebyg iawn i orchudd wy wedi’i ferwi, neu het ‘beanie’ fach.

Roedd gan Chris lun yr oedd Jeremy yn gyfarwydd iawn ag ef, sef llun a dynnwyd yn 1890 o'r 48 o deithwyr y Mimosa a oedd yn dal ym Mhatagonia 25 mlynedd yn ddiweddarach. Tynnodd sylw at y ffaith ei fod yn perthyn i ddau ddyn ifanc yn y llun, y brodyr Austin, a ddaeth i Batagonia o wyrcws ym Merthyr Tudful. Trwy gyd-ddigwyddiad, roedd Jeremy eisoes wedi bod yn gohebu â ffrind o Gymru am yr Austins ac roedd cefnder i wraig Jeremy, sydd wedi’i lleoli yn Nhrelew, yn ymchwilio i’r teulu wrth ymchwilio ar gyfer llyfr yr oedd yn ei ysgrifennu. Mae'r tri ohonynt bellach yn trafod ac yn cyfnewid gwybodaeth.

Y syrpreis nesaf oedd cael cwrdd ag Anthony Kellett, a oedd yn awyddus i noddi ystafell ddosbarth yn Ysgol y Cwm er cof am ei rieni, y Fonesig Elaine Kellett-Bowman a Charles Norman Kellett. Ar ôl trafodaethau gyda llywodraethwyr yr ysgol, fe benderfynwyd y byddai rhieni Anthony yn ymgeiswyr teilwng iawn ar gyfer prosiect coffa i blant yr ysgol. Dyluniwyd plac arbennig a, chyn gynted ag y bydd yr ysgol yn ailagor wedi’r clo mawr, bydd disgyblion y dosbarth noddedig yn cychwyn ar eu prosiect arbennig.

Ond roedd yna ambell i syrpreis ar ôl. Cafodd yr ‘Het Gymreig’ ei gwerthu mewn arwerthiant yn un o gyfarfodydd Cymdeithas Cymry Ottawa a chyflwynwyd yr arian a godwyd i Ysgol y Cwm. Fe wnaeth y gymdeithas gyfateb y swm a godwyd yn yr ocsiwn gyda rhodd arall. Wrth gwrs, daeth yr het yn eitem i’w thrysori. Cafodd ei gwau yn yr arddull mosäig gan Georgina Smart ar gyfer ei gwr Chris, pan oedd hi'n cystadlu mewn cystadleuaeth Urdd Gwau Ottawa.  Mae hi bellach wedi creu a gwerthu rhagor o hetiau, ac wedi codi mwy fyth o arian i Ysgol y Cwm. Mae'r gronfa hetiau bellach wedi cyrraedd dros 600 o ddoleri ac mae pawb yn Ysgol y Cwm yn ddiolchgar dros ben i holl aelodau Cymdeithas Cymry Ottawa am eu haelioni.

Os hoffech chi wneud cynnig ar un o'r hetiau hyn yna cysylltwch â'r ysgol, cynigwch bris a byddwn yn ceisio perswadio Gina i greu un arall!

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​Late in 2019, Jeremy Wood, the chief fundraiser for Ysgol y Cwm, was invited to talk about the school at the North American Festival of Wales, held in 2019 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This is the annual event where the numerous Welsh Societies in the United States and Canada get together for a few days for a heavy injection of Welsh language, culture and fun. 
 
On his way to New York to fly back to Esquel, Jeremy was invited by Tim Mark, an old friend of Patagonia, to give the same talk to the Welsh Society of Ottawa in Canada (Cymdeithas Cymry Ottawa). They duly gathered at the Westminster Presbyterian Church and Jeremy gave his talk, overrunning his allotted time by at least an hour! But, everybody stayed and asked many questions at the end. They even had someone escape from the line-dancing class being held in the gymnasium next door to watch the presentation!
 
The experience in, and feedback from, both Milwaukee and Ottawa show that both Patagonia, and the continued use of the Welsh language in Patagonia, are still of considerable interest and fascination to Welsh communities around the World.
 
The meeting in Ottawa had some interesting surprises. Jeremy was greeted by Chris Smart wearing a very natty woollen hat, beautifully knitted in red, green and white and replete with Welsh dragons. It wasn’t the normal, run of the mill Welsh woolly hat you see in souvenir shops throughout Wales, but a new design, reminiscent of both a boiled egg cover and a mini-beanie. Chris was carrying a photo with which Jeremy was very familiar, the 1890 photo of the 48 passengers from the Mimosa who were still in Patagonia after 25 years. He pointed out that he was related to two young men in the photo, the Austin brothers, who came to Patagonia from a workhouse in Merthyr Tydfil. Interestingly, Jeremy had already been corresponding with a friend from Wales about the Austins and a cousin of Jeremy’s wife, based in Trelew, was researching the family for a book. All three parties are now exchanging valuable information.
 
The next surprise was meeting Anthony Kellett, who wanted to explore possibilities of sponsoring a classroom in Ysgol y Cwm in memory of his parents, Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman and Charles Norman Kellett. After discussions with the board of the school, it was felt that Anthony’s parents would be most suitable candidates for a remembrance project at the school. A special plaque has been designed and, as soon as the school reopens from its lockdown, the sponsored class pupils will embark on their special project.
 
But there were still a couple of surprises left in store. The aforementioned hat, now known as “Yr Het Gymreig”, was auctioned at a subsequent meeting of Cymdeithas Cymry Ottawa and the funds raised presented to Ysgol y Cwm. The society generously matched the sum raised in the auction with a further donation. Of course, the hat became a collector’s piece. It was the creation of Georgina Smart, who made it for her husband, Chris, when she was competing in an Ottawa Knitting Guild competition featuring a skill called Mosaic Knitting. She has now created and sold a couple more, raising even more funds for Ysgol y Cwm. The hat fund now stands at over 600 dollars and all at Ysgol y Cwm are enormously grateful to all the members of Cymdeithas Cymry Ottawa for their generosity.
 
If you would like to bid on one of these hats, please send your proposed bid to us here at the school and we will try and persuade Gina to create another!


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