A couple of weeks ago, I made a trip to Madrid to visit my aunt and spent a few days in the beautiful capital of my country. The last afternoon before returning home, I was walking through Plaza de España and Gran Via, and enjoying the incessant bustle of the crowd, the beautiful surrounding buildings, as well as its varied shops and stores.

The "Gran Via" avenue, is one of the busiest avenues in Madrid and is the epicenter of the capital's socio-cultural activity, full of Theaters, Musicals, bars, restaurants and many more ... My walk was really pleasant, but unfortunately, my stay in Madrid coincided with one of the biggest cold waves in Spain in recent years, so at the end of the afternoon, as the sun was going away, the thermal sensation was so low, that I decided to enter a famous cafe in the Plaza de Callao to seek refuge, drink something hot and put my cell phone to charge that was running out of battery.

The truth is that after a good time walking with such cold in the street, to go into a room with heating, sit in a comfortable padded chair, drink something warm and spend time on the internet entertaining with any triviality while charging my mobile, was without a doubt repairing and comforting. In that warm atmosphere with a nice background music and a delicious aroma of freshly ground coffee, the hours went by and the time progressed really quickly almost imperceptibly. Before I could realize it, the sky gradually darkened until it became completely dark outside the cafe. Immersed in my lethargy, I did not know what time it was, but the roars of my belly were an unequivocal sign that it was late and it was time for dinner: the time had come to arm myself with courage, cover me with my leather jacket and my scarf, and go home.

By opening the door of the cafe and going outside, the impact of the thermal change felt like a real slap in the face. It was so cold, that a place as touristy and busy as the Plaza de Callao was practically deserted, which ended up being even a bit sinister and creepy. I looked at the thermometer and it was -4º, now everything made sense: it was one of the coldest nights in many years.

I left Plaza de Callao, and began to descend the Gran Via at a brisk pace with the intention of reaching the warm house of my aunt (located in Plaza de España, at the end of Gran Vía) as soon as possible. But the cold was so intense that it almost hurt, and the most unprotected parts of my body as my fingers and ears became authentic ice cubes desensitized, so I decided to enter one of the many tourist shops open on the road (much more empty than usual because of the cold) and spend around € 20 on a pair of gloves and a hat.

And it was when I finally left the tent totally warm thinking about hugging the radiator of my aunt's house, when I found something totally unexpected that radically changed my plans to return home and delayed my return around 3 hours to pass them in the middle of the street, at -4º degrees, without having dinner and totally voluntarily.

Upon leaving the store, I found a mysterious group of young people dressed in striking orange vests, carrying bags and other belongings and positioned in a somewhat peculiar way forming a semicircle, as if they were surrounding or protecting something really important in the center. The street was so empty, that these uniformed individuals strongly attracted my attention, and aroused my curiosity to approach them and discover firsthand what all this was about.

As I got closer to these guys, I managed to identify in their vests the Cáritas logo, an organization that for its immense social work during the most difficult years of the recent economic crisis of 2008 in my country, has all my respect and admiration. Undoubtedly, those people were doing something valuable, and I had to find out what it was: to my surprise, when I got close enough to them to see what was in the center of the semicircle, I discovered that it was a "homeless", a needy person lying on the floor between cartons, accompanied by his dog and enduring the freezing cold -4 º of that night.

The shock of witnessing that scene was huge. That group of young people was dedicating their Thursday night to walk the streets of Madrid to assist homeless people, bringing them blankets, clothes, food, hot broth and above all and most importantly, conversation and human contact. And the best thing is that they did it every Thursday, in a totally disinterested and altruistic way. Witnessing that, it really shocked me, and spontaneously, the feeling of wanting to be part of that arised, so I asked one of the group members if I could join them the rest of the night, which they accepted of good pleasure with a broad smile.

Although there was something cold (covered with my leather jacket, my scarf and my new hat and gloves) and some hunger (I had not eaten yet but had copiously eaten in a restaurant with my aunt at noon), the contrast With the harsh reality of those people made me reflect and realize that, in reality, I had neither cold nor hunger. Actually, I had not been really cold and hungry in all my life. I was privileged, like every person with a roof and food, and until that moment I was not aware of it.

Over the course of the night, we talked to numerous homeless people. The procedure was always the same: to approach quietly respecting their space, offer clothes, equipment and food (which accepted willingly) and above all, and certainly the most important thing, offer them conversation, ask about their history, their life, for their dreams and interact with them from equals to equals, in the most human possible plane.

In the three hours that I was with these guys walking the streets, I heard stories of all kinds. Real human dramas that gave me goosebumps: diseases, lack of opportunities, unemployment, deaths of loved ones or love breakups were the common denominator behind all of them. No doubt talking and sharing with someone their stories was therapeutic for these people, and beyond the huge lack of food or money, the real lack was human: communication, contact with people who would give them importance even for a while.

Most of the people we spoke with confessed to us that they felt "invisible" to society, that people treated them with absolute indifference and contempt, and that the government's help to obtain a shelter was becoming increasingly scarce. Talking with them, made them feel "visible" again, put a smile on their face, and sometimes, also on us. I remember fondly the amusing story of Dimitri, a Russian woodcutter who lost his job in Portugal and decided to try his luck in Spain, who claimed that -4º was "Summer" for him compared to the usual -30º temperatures of his native Siberia.

Without a doubt, this was a very intense experience that marked me deeply and made me reflect a lot during the following days. It is evident that something is missing in the values of an increasingly selfish, inhuman and arrogant navel-gazing society. Participating in something like this in a totally spontaneous way, made me realize that small gestures can mean a lot to many people. In one way or another, we can all do our bit to get a better world, however small this bit may be.

In my case, after meeting these guys, we exchanged numbers to maintain telephone contact and I expressed my interest to participate in something similar in the city where I live. They oriented me, and I am currently looking for associations that perform some similar work. I even consider doing some kind of volunteering for Caritas or other associations. And I would do it for pure "selfishness", because after three hours feeling that I was helping someone, I felt so incredibly well and so full, that I even forgot to eat dinner. That's when I understood that "delivering, you get double".

If you liked my post and you also consider participating in something similar or you already do it now, I would love to know your comments below. I also encourage you to visit the volunteer page of Caritas, which is quite interesting and there are many areas in which to collaborate: https://www.caritas.org/ (International)

No more, I say goodbye and I hope you liked my story! A hug to all friends! See you in the next post! :)

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