Children of all ages, from 4 to 19, toured the offices on Tecpetrol’s Children’s Day, sharing burgers and enjoying all the fun of finding out what their parents really do when they’re at work in the field. A long-awaited account of this unforgettable experience, sealed with the planting of a tree.

"Mom, it's true that you can see cows from your office!" Sofía (15) and León (9) were able to confirm first-hand what their mother Gilda Muñoz, HRBP Lead Analyst, had always told them about the view from her office. In fact, all the employees at El Tordillo received visitors on the highly anticipated Tecpetrol Children's Day held at the end of February, just before the start of the school year, when some 40 children aged between 4 and 19 took part in the excitement of finding out what their parents do all day when they’re at work.

"They were able to put a face to the people I often talk about, they realized how long it takes us to get to work every day, and they were amazed to discover that I have colleagues from Ecuador and Colombia," said Gilda, in her double role as mother and event organizer, as she chatted to Tecpetrol Hoy. This unforgettable event, which fostered such great expectations, was designed by a professional team following an employee survey, and began with the transfer in minibuses of children from three meeting points in the cities of Comodoro Rivadavia and Rada Tilly.

Once everyone was onboard, the group took the road to El Tordillo where their parents were waiting for them. Once on the esplanade of the parking lot, they were welcomed by the field director Ande Haile, and specialists Ángel Giménez and Santiago Rubio entertained their young audience with a lively explanation of how oil is extracted. This was followed by the tour of the offices, where the children greeted company employees, and were even able to pick out their own artwork in frames on people’s desks. They also checked out the dining room and the control rooms where the company’s oil production activities are monitored.

Then they were met with a big surprise in the parking lot. The gigantic firefighter truck from the Emergency Brigade, whose function is to fight fires at the site, but also to help deal with any incidents in the area, showed up, to everyone's amazement. Split into two groups, the children were treated to a talk and demonstration by the Brigade about how to fight a fire, inevitably followed by a cascade of questions: how long does it take to put on all those clothes, how long does it take to put a fire out, among many others. The icing on the cake was the water test with the hoses, an impressive display of their power and reach.

After sharing a hamburger lunch with their parents around a long table set outdoors, the adults returned to work while their children participated in a program of recreational activities, featuring a fun treasure hunt. The children had to solve clues in order to find words forming specific sentences to tell them exactly where candy bags had been hidden, later to be shared among all the participants.

To wind up the day, and to leave a mark of their first visit, everybody came together for a ceremony to plant a tree on the site’s access roundabout. Armed with information kits, the children got back into the minibuses and returned home, with a much clearer idea of what their parents do all day—and what the company that they hear about so much does too: Tecpetrol.