On August 7, the Poppers and six other Jewish immigrant families from Argentina had a joyous reunion here.
A plane arrived that Saturday, carrying four sets of parents and three mothers travelling alone - all the way from Buenos Aires.
"We had so much excitement,"Popper said last week, recalling the happy meeting of dozens of Argentine Jews at Winnipeg International Airport.
His parents", Roberto and Daniela"s biggest joy was seeing their three-and-a-half year-old grandson, Martin, who was less than two when Hernan and Andrea moved here with him.
"We were so happy,"Popper added."A half hour later, we felt like we"d never been apart."
Most of the 11 parents are here for about three weeks; they"re spending time with their Winnipeg children and grandchildren, and doing some sightseeing.
"After we came home from the airport, we spent several hours just chatting - about all the time we weren"t together,"recalled Popper, a telecommunications business development manager. That night, they went to The Forks, just to look around.
Roberto and Daniela are part of a new organization that Daniela has a leading role in - the"Winnipapas". It's made up of Buenos Aires-based parents of some of the dozens of Argentine Jews who've settled in Winnipeg over the past few years.
Evelyn Hecht, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg/Combined Jewish Appeal's immigration officer, saw the need for such a group during discussions with Argentine Jews living here.
"I had a number of parents whose children were very concerned about the impact of leaving them behind," Hecht said last week."We talked about the benefit of getting a group of parents together in a support group, and some of the parents acted on it."
Popper credited Paulo Steinberg, one of the Argentine Jewish immigrants here, with coming up with the idea for the group.
The Winnipeg Argentinians were already in regular contact, through the Internet, with their families and other Argentine Jews interested in living here. They used that e-mail network to help organize the group.
Several dozen parents have been meeting monthly at the Hebraica - a Buenos Aires Jewish community club since February, 2003.
"Most of them didn't know each other at first," Hecht noted. They hired a psychologist to meet with them on a regular basis, and discuss common concerns, like"having your children leave."
Hecht and Faye Rosenberg-Cohen, Federation's director of planning, met with the group last year, during one of their regular visits to Buenos Aires to meet prospective new immigrants.
"The parents were so happy to be part of this group," Hecht said."Some expressed great reservations about their (Winnipeg) children's futures, like jobs, and schools for the kids. Many were just moved to tears, and we began crying with them."
Members of Winnipapas, which now has more than a dozen sets of parents, have become friends. When they travel to Winnipeg, they often bring gifts for other Winnipapas members' children and grandchildren.
The group that arrived August 7 are all parents of immigrants who arrived here last year.
The Winnipeg families and the visiting parents are paying for the trips, like those of other parents who've been visiting their Argentine Jewish children here.
"We've been here a little more than a year,"Hernan Popper said. "We've almost all moved into houses. It's a good time to show our parents how we live."
His mother, Daniela, who speaks English fluently, said it felt "very strange" to see her grandson again, especially"such a small kid - you'll never know how they'll react."
But grandson Martin has already warmed to her, and to her husband Roberto. They also feel reassured, after seeing the quality of life here, compared to Argentina, where unemployment is over 20 per cent, and many people are desperately poor.
"You're living so well here, so peacefully,"Daniela said."It's nice to see our children having a better future."
Despite that positive feeling, she isn't sure whether she'd ever be willing to move here from Buenos Aires.
"I still have a son there with two children and a daughter who's single. If they stay in Argentina, I will stay. If we can convince them to move here, then we can all move here.
Whatever glowing reports they bring back to Argentina, this month's unusually cool weather here won't be one of them.
"Next time," Hernan quotes one of his parents as joking, "we'll have to come in summer."
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