My pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

During our work with the project, our Spanish partners have made several etappas oft the famous walk towards the beautiful town of Santiago de Compostela with a group of inmates. The last etappa was made during the days 26. and 27.th of May, and I was lucky to join the group.

Victor took me to the prison of Monterroso (where we had our very first meeting) where we met the rest of the group. Together with Pedro, Ali, Manuel an some other men you would not know, we went by car to the startpoint for the 2-days walk. The weather was perfect for walking; about 12 degrees, cloudy but no rain. We set off in a pretty high tempo, all happy to be out in this beautiful green nature.

Manuel and Victor made most of the walk by car (lazy guys!) - they said that it was to bring the food and our equipment to the hostel for the night (well, they did...). The other guys, Pedro in front with his famous camera, trottled on taking hundreds of photos along the pahts. I'm sure Pedro will write allot about this trip on the blog too, showing his beautiful photos, so I'll be short: IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. Not only the nature, the small villages on the road (and the beer we had in several bars along the route), but most of all: the 8 inmates that has been walking kilometres for our very project Without Barriers! They were all fantastic, intelligent, warm and including men with allot of humor and energy. It is their experience with the walk, their thoughts along the road which will (hopefully) lead to a book for the Spanish part of our project. Thoughts along the most known European pilgrim-walk written by inmates (most of them foreigners).

One of the men had problems with blisters on his heals after walking several hours the first day. He got professional attention from Vicente, who is a functionaire from the prison, and he also changed his shoes. Soon he felt better, and he told me that he was so happy because he now could continue the walk with the rest of the group. And he made the most beautiful comparison about his experience with this problem: It is like beeing put in prison. You feel bad and it hurts allot. You know that you need some kind of cure to obtain a better life, to be free. You must cure and change, he said. And I think that is what we all should consider in our work with immigrants; people who - many times in great pain – has to change to make a better life. But they need help from professionals (natives) to get it as the inmate was helped by Vincente.

Reaching Santiago de Compostela the second day was impressive! Not only the cathedral itself (some of us have already seen it), but the whole setting which Pedro had arranged with the media. TV, radio and newspapers interviewed several inmates as well as Pedro about the project. Even I made my first interview - in Spanish f- or a local newspaper :-) We also were met by the Principal from the University of Santiago and some other (I'm sure important) men. All together this made the walk very important for the inmates, because they could see for themselves that people care about who they are and what they doto change – to break down the barriers.

All in all: It was a fantastic personal experience, and I wouldn't miss it for the world! Thank you for inviting me (and the rest of our partners) and giving me memorable moments in the most beautiful part of Spain. Thanks to our always beautiful and caring partners; Manuel, Ali, Pedro and Victor for your gentlemen-behavior with me. Thanks to all the inmates for including me as «one of the family», for taking care of me and for sharing many of your experiences from your lives. Best to all of you – you captured my heart. Yours forever,

Bente

(I am sure Pedro will provide us with his splendid photos in his next blog :-)