After last week’s message on generosity, I was inspired to share my experience with Recoridas Nocturnas, which took place during a one-month stay in Buenos Aires, Argentina (part of a post-sale of the business trip ten years ago).
Recorridas occurs every night, but there is no membership list or volunteer schedule. From the 20-40 assembled on any given evening, groups of 3-4, equipped only with hot water, Styrofoam cups, dry soup packets, and instant coffee, venture out to interact with those living on the street.
In a remarkable “coincidence,” I was reading a book about Mother Teresa during this time, and came across this passage:
- You see, we have a wrong idea that only hunger for bread is hunger. There is much greater hunger and much more painful hunger: hunger for love, for the feeling of being wanted, to be somebody to somebody. A feeling of being unwanted, unloved, rejected. I think that’s a very great hunger and very great poverty.
The caring souls of Recorridas greet those on the street with a warm embrace and kiss, regardless of the odor, sweat, or scratchy stubble. They hug and kiss the HIV-infected, recovering alcoholic without apprehension. To enhance their connection, Lucia sits on the ground so she is at eye level with her friend.
- I (Mother Teresa) saw a man in a truly terrible condition sitting there so sad and alone. So I walked up to him and took him by the hand and asked him how he was. When I did this, he looked up at me and said, “Oh, after such a long time, I feel the warmth of a human hand. After such a long time, someone is touching me.”
Many volunteers go to the same neighborhood and visit the same people week after week. The recipients of this attention know the meeting times and who comes on a particular day, and eagerly anticipate their arrival.
- Rosita, the “Paloma Lady,” excitedly pulls one of the pigeons she cares for out of a box to show her visitors.
- Eva inquires about the tortured love life of one of her regular visitors and is happy to hear he ended the relationship with his girlfriend.
- Miriam, who had lived in the United States for 40 years, rose from her severely hunched-over state to greet her visitors. She eagerly discusses the similarities and dissimilarities between Argentine and US politics.
- The “happy family” lives in a significant cardboard structure protected from the elements by an overhanging building. The four young children cheerfully greet their visitors with hugs, handshakes, and fist pumps. The father politely declined the soup offer as he was about to turn on his propane stove to cook dinner.
- Raul, excited by the presence of a new volunteer, treats him to a hearty rendition of a lovely tango song, almost worthy of Teatro Colón!
- Tito, a gregarious young man who flirts with his female visitors, is alone in the big city. His visitors support and encourage his aspiration to finish high school and find employment.
- With the firm but gentle prodding of his visitors, Ariel, who battles alcohol addiction, is beginning a course to become a waiter.
- The “Artist” is so delighted by a foreigner’s visit that he gifts him a bowl fashioned by fanning out the sides of a tin can and a small bird carving that defies gravity by sticking to the wall without any means of support.
- When a volunteer and a homeless person meet by chance on the street during the day, they exchange enthusiastic greetings.
There is a magic in these interactions. You see souls nourished by care, concern, and affection without a shekel changing hands or provision to fill an empty stomach. As for the volunteers, I did not see an incredible wave of self-satisfaction in performing a good deed (i.e., better to give than receive). They simply enjoyed what they were doing, and that was satisfaction enough.
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Usually, I like to have a moral to my stories, but I am going to let this post go without one. I trust you will take what you need.
