Today they have a crafts workshop and a room decoration workshop. With the help of some of the mothers, Marisol organizes the tables, chairs, and materials for the activity: wooden letters with the children's initials, boxes as jewelry boxes that can be personalized, paint, glue, glitter, scissors… While they do the workshop, two educators are in charge of taking care of their children. As it's hot this afternoon, it's time for a water fight in the garden.
Marisol worked as a deputy director in one of CaixaBank's offices in Salamanca. One day Chari appeared there, they got along well, she told her about the center she directed, and soon after, Marisol was already collaborating as one of them. "Volunteering had always caught my attention and, when I met Chari, I started helping with some things. But it was when I took early retirement that I had time to come much more often." Here, Marisol does everything, from taking care of babies to attending the used clothing market they regularly organize, as well as cooking workshops or cultural visits.
The stories of the girls who live in Ave María are very tough. Some spend more time there than others, but the idea is that all of them leave prepared to continue with their lives in a better situation than they had when they entered. It's difficult not to get involved with them. Marisol remembers with special affection her relationship with Babita, who arrived pregnant years ago and also had her second child there. Marisol has seen them born and grow, and to this day, now that Babita lives outside the center, she continues to maintain a close relationship with the whole family.
That is, perhaps, one of the great satisfactions of her work as a volunteer: seeing how, little by little, mothers manage to get ahead with their little ones. Begoña is a good example of this. "I arrived here on Christmas Eve 2015 and, since then, my life has completely changed." When she entered, Begoña had been on the street for three days, five months pregnant, after suffering a situation of abuse by her partner. Her daughter Indara, who is now two years old, was born at the center. Before arriving there, she was very scared, because she didn't know what she was going to find, but as soon as she saw the colorful hallways, with toys around and children running from one side to another, she realized that she was in the right place. "The people here have rebuilt my heart, they have polished it and made it shine. They have made me rise from the ashes." Thanks to their work, Begoña has not only been able to raise Indara, but has also been able to study, get a job and, soon, also a house, which she will share with Ana, another of the mothers. "There are people who need this place, and I, now, feel capable of moving forward. And it's thanks to the people who work here and also to the volunteers. That's why, when you leave, you take them all with you."
That's exactly what happens to Marisol, who is now part of the family of many of the mothers who have passed through here. For her, this volunteering is also part of her life. "When you leave, you do so feeling fuller, you feel more useful and more satisfied with yourself. What you receive is more than what you give, there is no doubt about that."
Text: María Arranz Photography: Miriam Herrera
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