NGO The Hope (1994-2024). Augustinian Recollect Family..

[Part 2] The NGO La Esperanza is part of the solidarity history of the Augustinian-Recollect Family and of Navarra. After the last flea market and the sale of its goods, its work is definitively closed. In this tribute they recount their work, their faith and their history.

Any special moments to remember?

We have thousands of stories. When we visited the Hope Centers in the Brazilian Amazon, the Santa Monica Home in Fortaleza or the schools in Sierra Leone, we saw all the children as a mother sees them.

I remember a little boy of about 5 years old with chafed feet from his shoes, not because they were small, but quite the opposite, because they were too big. We went to a fountain, I washed him and put some band-aids on him. I will never forget his grateful eyes. It is incredible how a band-aid applied with love can change great pain into a huge smile.

There was also another time when I took a baby out of a hammock and saw that he was malnourished. However, his mother had milk in her breast, so I approached her and said:

— “Go on, he has a right to his milk.”

I had to help her. It is the maternal instinct. Later they sent me photos of the little boy when he was 3 or 4 years old.

Other very hard experiences left a deep mark on us and made us more motivated and eager to help.

Who has supported you, collaborated with you, do you remember with gratitude?

Giving specific names is very risky, because if you forget someone, you do more harm than good; and we do not want to forget anyone, but to thank everyone. Let’s hope that our minds do not fail us, because our hearts are full of gratitude.

The first thing is to thank all those who have passed through the NGO itself as members of the group. We were a good number, some have already passed away: Corpus, Corona, Divi, Fita, Chuchín, Pili, Marci, Gloria, Mamen, Mari Carmen, Alicia (may she rest in peace), Rafael, Mari… Each one always contributed everything they could.

Lucía, from Valladolid, read in the magazine Canta y Camina that there was a small group in Lodosa that worked for the missions and decided to go see them. The Recollect friar Francisco Javier Jiménez arranged the meeting. Lucía and her friends were like little ants at work, we are not exaggerating when we say that they sent more than 500 boxes to the markets for more than 20 years.

Once, thousands of balls of wool were donated to us in Corella (Navarra). The Augustinian Recollect Alfonso Lázaro took them to Marcilla and, from there, they were taken to Valladolid. Lucía dedicated a room in her house just for the wool. The group knitted hats, booties and, above all, blankets, no less than 500.

Those hands, already tired of work, continued knitting at more than ninety years old. They must have made some 600 or 700 needlepoint dolls, with such pleasure. There were even two dressmaker sisters who made beautiful dresses. We don’t even know the names of all of them. Isn’t it wonderful? It is a miracle of solidarity.

We remember Benito and Maruja, a married couple from Los Arcos, who saw us on Navarra Television and began to send handmade baby shawls. They also facilitated the flea markets in the Parish of Saint Vicenta María in Pamplona.

Tito, Marci‘s husband, took over from Chuchín and Brother Alfonso with the task of maintaining the van and taking us to all the places and flea markets.

The Augustinian Recollect Secular Fraternity of Marcilla, Aurora who lives in Irurzun and sent handicrafts, the Secular Augustinian-Recoleta Fraternity of Valladolid, Isabel Altuna with the collection of used mobile phones in her pharmacy, Esperanza from Tafalla, Trini, the City Council of Lodosa and its mayors, who always financed a project with €3,000…

Many times donations arrived and many of those who sent them did not even know us personally. There have been many people who have collaborated.

And we must also remember the Augustinian Recollects: Joaquín Pertíñez, Plácido Rodrigo, Pablo Panedas, Jesús Vera, Santiago Sánchez, Santi García, Rafa Mediavilla, Alfonso Lázaro, Félix Echarri, Miguel Ángel Peralta, Jesús Moraza, Manuel Lipardo (may he rest in peace), Juan Cruz Vicario… and everyone in general.

What difficulties have you had to overcome?

They say that we talk a lot, but we keep quiet more. Those difficulties and problems that we have gone through will be forgotten by everyone, at most in our private memory. We have nothing to reproach or complain about.

How would you summarize the life and work of the NGO La Esperanza?

We have always been motivated to raise awareness and make people aware so that they can find the power button of their soul, that inner key to be good, as creatures of God that we are. It doesn’t take much to help: opening the closet and seeing what’s left over is enough. We often said in our meetings:

— “We cleanse our consciences and clean out our closets.”

Generosity, selflessness, fraternity… These are words that could sum up something of our life, but what we can say is that there is one idea that we have made our own:

— “We are preparing for the final exam of life, and it will be about love. We have experienced setbacks and difficulties, but if there is love, there is forgiveness, reconciliation, forgetfulness.”

We don’t know much about theology or nice phrases. Once, father Rafael Mediavilla came to visit us and, talking about everything a bit, one of us said that, after more than 70 years, she still fondly kept her first theology book, which she had read as a child.

He asked to be shown it and what was his surprise and his look of disbelief when he saw a story: “Mariuca the chestnut seller.” It was the story of an orphan girl who was taken in by Mrs. Paca; but “if she wanted to eat, she had to sell chestnuts.”

Until one day she started giving chestnuts to the poor and came home without chestnuts and without money. Paca got very angry: “Remember that business comes first.” Mariuca didn’t pay attention, her heart was soft, she continued helping the poor until one day she didn’t dare to go home and fell asleep under an umbrella.

Paca found her shivering from the cold and couldn’t deny her. Mariuca’s kindness touched Paca’s hard heart. But she realized that the more chestnuts the little girl gave, the fuller her basket became.

This was the first book of theology: only those who give can become saints.

What would be your farewell message?

It has filled our lives to know that we have collaborated to make the world a little better; to discover that we are capable, not only us, but everyone, of doing more than we imagine, doing small things, but wonderful things.

Many times we were called to bear witness. Corpus spoke without a cheat sheet, with her heart in her hand. Once, at the Parish of Saint Rita in Madrid, a man approached at the end and, while placing a folded 500 euro note in her hand, said:

— “I have never been so moved by a sermon.”

“I carry that in my heart,” says Corpus. “I am not a missionary, I am a woman from a small town with limitations who has gotten ahead with four children and a husband who is often sick, and the Lord has told me: ‘Come out of yourself, I have given you talents.’ I go out because of the goodness of the missions and of Saint Augustine. I have little education, but I leave the book in Saint Augustine’s hand and I keep his heart.

Three years ago, at the Lodosa High School, they organized a charity raffle and they called me to give testimony. I was exhausted, because my husband, Pepe, was very ill. I went because it is not my work, it is God’s.

I had not prepared myself, so exhausted that I did not even know what I was going to say. I saw that all the teenagers had computers and it occurred to me to say:

‘No matter how much information and possibilities the computer has, if you don’t turn it on, it’s useless. Well, you have to look for that key inside yourself and you will do wonders: alleviating a little of the world’s misery is our job, we can’t be so selfish and egocentric. We have the capacity to do something for others. I have always considered myself rich, although I have never had more than just enough, never anything to spare.’

I hope that no one gets tired of looking for their inner key. Young people are showing this now in Valencia, helping as volunteers. Let’s not let ourselves be trapped by technology taking away God’s space.

The charity markets were born because we didn’t have money but our houses were full of things. Everything they have given us we have sent to the missions, always trusting in the Lord. There are many good people to add to the task, the greatness of the rose is that it doesn’t know how beautiful it is.