Disabled make the Camino de Santiago: “I liked going to Mass every day”

Year after year, the number of people who travel the roads towards the tomb of the Santiago apostle is growing and, among them, a few pilgrims have some type of disability, which undoubtedly makes adventure a little more complicated.

The Gil Gayarre Foundation has its origin in the dedication of a mother, Carmen Gayarreby his son Luis, who had Down syndrome. In the 50s of the last century he opened a school for people with disabilities. Over time, the institution grew and has developed many projects with the objective of “attending and supporting the life project of each person with intellectual disabilities and their family, and defending their rights and obligations as citizens to achieve the greatest degree of social inclusion as possible”.

But in almost 75 years they had not launched the realization of the Camino de Santiago, until this month of July. A team of 25 people, including 9 with intellectual disabilities, toured on foot the 100 kilometers that separate the town of Sarria from Santiago de Compostela for the first time.

Guillermo, one of the beneficiaries of the Foundation, has underlined experience The possibility of approaching the Sacrament of the Eucharist every day, thanks to the presence of the parish priest of the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), P. José Gregorio (Goyo) Belandria: “I liked going to Mass every day and now I have taken advantage and I go to Mass every day.”

“What I didn’t like very much was to get up early,” says Guillermo, who however would like to repeat, “but this time from Santiago to Sarria, to try to do it the other way around. And maybe my parents are encouraged next year!”

Elsa, another of the special pilgrims, recognizes that the experience, for the novelty, cost him a little at the beginning. But, as the days passed, “I was understanding and encouraging me more” and reconfiguring their way of facing life.

“Before, in addition, I lived a lot in the future and never in the present. Now, thanks to the way, I feel that I am more in the present, more leisurely, more empathic with myself and with my environment. I think I have a more mature attitude,” he describes.

This pilgrimage has also been special for another reasons. For the Núñez family, “every bird song, the soft whisper of the wind between the trees and the crunch of the leaves under our feet transformed the trip into something truly supernatural and indescribable.”

This is described by Manuel, who joined the expedition with his son Manolo and his star sister, after his wife died: “From the first step, an immense emotion invaded me, with the certainty that Begoña walked by our side, on each path and under every sky. His presence, although intangible, was as real as the sun in our faces.”

“This path has been a testimony of resilience, love and unwavering strength of the human spirit,” summarizes Manuel.

For Mari Carmen, Irene’s mother, another beneficiary of the Gil Gayarre Foundation, this experience should be repeated: “The happiness face of all members was even greater as the days went by. Everyone has been made short and fantasize about doing it again next year.”

This mother is grateful to the Foundation “for believing in our children and family and providing them with this opportunity to demonstrate everything they are able to do.”

Irume, Luis’s mother, values in a special way to having overcome the doubts and insecurities that the project could initially present. However, he says, “it was worth taking the risk” despite having lived complicated situations, such as when his son gave a lipotimia.

In the end, in the Plaza del Obradoiro, in front of the imposing facade of the cathedral, there were “hugs, tears of emotion and photos to keep in the memory”, before living the Mass, where they could also observe how the Botafumeiro, the colossal censer hung from the ceiling of the temple and that is “fly” in front of the main altar.

At the exit, like a climax, they were able to sports with several bishops that were in place. For her part, Alisva, Elsa’s mother, values the experience “as the best therapy of silence” and appreciate those who call “minutes without hurry”, in which he walks “to the rhythm of whom he accompanied.”

The workers of the Gil Gayarre Foundation have also lived as something special this expedition. Carmen ended the experience “physically married, yes, but happy” and feeling “renewed, recharged by everything that had given me the path on a personal level. What began as a volunteer more within my work, became something much more special.”

“The 9 people with disabilities who have participated have been incredible. Each one has contributed their originality, they have worked, they have taken care of the rest of the pilgrims, they have adapted to the circumstances … they have really been exemplary,” says Jesus, another worker of the foundation.

“I hope that next year we walk again and enjoy this school of life that is the Camino de Santiago,” he concludes.