The best stories, those that impact you and make you see the world in a different way, are not always found on the pages of a best seller or in a movie theater. Sometimes, the most revealing stories are hidden, as in the case that concerns us today, behind the door of a very old building, lost among the dozens of narrow streets that draw the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. And it is that all the women who have passed through the Casa de Recés have a story to tell: how they arrived with nothing and left with everything, how they helped each other to get ahead. But the most important thing is that all of them leave knowing that their story still has many, many chapters left.
It has been five years since the Fundación de la Esperanza was born along with its flagship, the Casa de Recés. Created by Obra Social "la Caixa", since 2013 this foundation has served some 6,000 people and more than 1,600 families, either by helping adults to find work or the youngest with their homework and their talents. But the history of the Casa de Recés dates back much earlier: as a plaque in its courtyard recalls, it was launched in 1744, with the aim of fighting against the sexual slavery to which, at the time, many of the women who arrived in Barcelona from small towns were subjected.
Since then, girls with all kinds of stories behind them (gender violence, family abuse, prostitution networks, addictions) have passed through this house —now constituted as a reception center for women between 18 and 35 years old—, but always with a common thread: "the desire to give themselves a chance in life and to allow themselves to be accompanied in it," says Llum Delàs, director of the foundation.
Here the girls have a team of reference women, willing to help them in everything. "We draw up a work plan with each one, which we review every six months or when necessary," says Gemma, one of the educators. "The girls' goals range from quitting smoking to getting their ESO," she adds, "although, in this last case, the ideal is that they can combine studies with a job."
Furthermore, for these girls, the Casa de Recés is the closest thing to a home. A home composed, of course, of all their companions, of a living room full of photos taken by themselves, of the passion with which Llum talks about them, of the breakfasts every morning with Gemma while they review the newspaper headlines, and of the laughs they share with Araceli —in charge of the kitchen for 23 years— on the nights they watch Gran Hermano or football matches together.
It should not be forgotten, however, that this is a temporary resource where they can take time to rebuild themselves, catch their breath, and prepare to fly solo. That's why the director is not worried if the girls make mistakes along the way: the important thing is not that they do it well, but that they do it on their own. "You have to let them make mistakes, but looking at them in a way that they know you are expecting one more step, that you expect them to get out of the quagmire and put all their strength into it."
And it turns out that many, when they leave, decide to do for others what was once done for them. "Many end up working in the social field, as if they wanted to return the help they received," says Gemma. This is the case of Paula who, now working as a composer, returns to give guitar lessons to the girls living in the house. Or Andrea, who lives in a rented apartment while studying a social integration course. "It's beautiful. It's education by mimesis and contagion. You —says Llum referring to the educators— reveal the best in themselves. Because they watch you very carefully. And you look at them with so much love, that they end up realizing that this is what they want and deserve."
These words remind Gemma of a girl who passed through there: "She was totally hermetic, she would run out of all the rooms and couldn't even get to the door of the training courses she was taking." This, added to a 33% disability that she never wanted to accept, made the team of educators almost throw in the towel. "The good thing is that, by not accepting our help, in the end she managed it alone: she has been living in a rented room for a year now and works as a cleaning staff member at a hotel."
"What I like about this place is seeing that, if you're given an opportunity, you can achieve many things," explains Araceli, recalling another one of the girls, who arrived without any education and is now a judge. Because when these girls cross the threshold of the Casa de Recés, they do so laden with stories, many of them terrible. But, when they cross that door again years later, they do so aware that their story has only just begun.
*To protect their privacy, false names have been used in the testimonies in this article.
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