Examples of selfless giving on the Camino

November 1, 2004, after crossing the long medieval bridge over the river Orbigo I entered the town of Hospital de Órbigo. Attempting to photograph the parish church I lost my footing and fell head first onto the irregular pavement! My pack crashed into my right shoulder. Flat on the ground my forehead and shoulder hurt like hell! Gently two pilgrims helped me up. An egg was quickly swelling on my forehead (by day’s end I resembled Cyclopes). After exiting the Día de todos los Santos mass a kind Spanish couple appproached and the man said “Don’t worry, madam, I am a Chevalier de Santiago and will help”. They quickly took me to the regional hospital, where I was told to rest, and see a doctor again the following day.

The couple graciously invited me to lunch at their house. My host explained that the Chevaliers de Santiago are a group of Catholic men, who have been nominated to become members and who pledge to foster the Camino and help all pilgrims. In the Spanish custom lunch lasted at least four hours! Two charming adult sons cut my food while I alternately held ice to my head and tryied to eat with my left hand since the right shoulder and arm were extremely painful. Nevertheless, how, lucky I was to be able to move and to have met a family of guardian angels.

Early next morning the Chevalier and the local priest walked into the albergue dorm to see how I was doing! The priest, the Chevalier and his wife accompanied me to the local doctor's office adjacent to the church. When we four entered the examination room, the Chevalier said to the doctor “Another one has fallen!” It seemed that earlier other pilgrims had also stumbled on that same paving where I tripped. Again I ate with the Chevalier and his family. ..Now after almost ten years I still fondly remember their kindnesses and spontaneous gracious hospitality. It was heartfelt camino caritas.

Margaret Meredith

On a dusty portion of the Meseta one late afternoon I was trudging along. It had been a rough day. My body was more sore than usual and I was really in bad shape mentally. As I approached a farm house I noticed an older woman working in her garden. For some reason she looked up from her garden as I passed. She called out to me in Spanish. Embarrassed, I meekly replied, "No hablo Español." She then placed her fingers and thumb together and gestured toward her mouth--the international gesture for food. She was asking me if I was hungry. I was floored. I told her, "Gracias, but no" and patted my belly to let her know that I wasn't hungry. She then asked, "Agua?" You bet. I stopped and allowed her to give me some cold water from her house. We smiled at each other as I enjoyed one of the best glasses of water I have ever drank in my life. She then wished me a hearty Buen Camino as I resumed my slow methodical walk westward.

I have often thought about this woman who sees 200,000 pilgrims walk past her home every year. Does she offer food and water often? Or was I such a pathetic sight to see that she felt it necessary to intervene before the buzzards got to me? Her kindness filled my soul that afternoon. What was otherwise a dismal day turned into one of my best days on the Camino. Her simple gesture of offering me food and water lives with me every day. I can honestly say I will never forget her or her kindness.

I experienced ( what later became obvious ) a heatstroke in Siguiero on the Camino Ingles. The hotel manageress of Hostal Miras insisted I went to the hospital at 11 at night on a saturday. She sent one of the local taxidrivers with me who spent the whole three hours waiting for me in the waiting room. For that amount of time he asked a ridiculous amount of money... . When I got the green light and was sent back " home " to the hostal I found a note on my door where the manageress asked the cleaninglady to let me have a good sleep-in.
Next time when in Compostela I'm going back by bus to these lovely people and again give my thanks!

RobertS26 said:

On a dusty portion of the Meseta one late afternoon I was trudging along. It had been a rough day. My body was more sore than usual and I was really in bad shape mentally. As I approached a farm house I noticed an older woman working in her garden. For some reason she looked up from her garden as I passed. She called out to me in Spanish. Embarrassed, I meekly replied, "No hablo Español." She then placed her fingers and thumb together and gestured toward her to her mouth--the international gesture for food. She was asking me if I was hungry. I was floored. I told her, "Gracias, but no" and patted my belly to let her know that I wasn't hungry. She then asked, "Agua?" You bet. I stopped and allowed her to give me some cold water from her house. We smiled at each other as I enjoyed one of the best glasses of water I have ever drank in my life. She then wished me a hearty Buen Camino as I resumed my slow methodical walk westward.

I have often thought about this woman who sees 200,000 pilgrims walk past her home every year. Does she offer food and water often? Or was I such a pathetic sight to see that she felt it necessary to intervene before the buzzards got to me? Her kindness filled my soul that afternoon. What was otherwise a dismal day turned into one of my best days on the Camino. Her simple gesture of offering me food and water lives with me every day. I can honestly say I will never forget her or her kindness.

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If we would act in her stead to someone every day, on the Camino or not, the world would be a much better place.

http://charitywalking.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/14-may-cizur-menor/

And there was the Korean guy who gave up his bottom bunk and took the only remaining top bunk so that two of us could top-n-tail without falling out of bed.
And there was the Dutch gentleman, who stayed up until everyone came back from the bar so that he could lock the front door so that my daughter who was sleeping on a mattress in the entrance-way would be safe - he also covered her with a blanket when it got unexpectedly cooler.
And there was the French lady who stopped her car in the middle of nowhere and asked us where we were meant to be - Espelette and we'd already walked 30km and because some other fine French citizens had sent us on the wrong path, we still had another too far to go - we did not hesitate to jump into the car when this lady offered to turn around and go out of her way to take us there.
And the French man who was taking his three children somewhere by car - we flagged him down to ask directions and he spent a full quarter of an hour trying to work out where we were on the map and send us off in the right direction.
And the barman in this post: http://charitywalking.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/11-june-pola-de-lena-to-oviedo/
And Alberto, who walked fast and could have left us for dead, but chose to slow his pace to walk with kids day after day, giving them Spanish lessons as they walked, teaching them songs, engaging with them.
The lady who bought us all icecreams from the icecream truck on the meseta, Ginny who bought us Callipos at Ponte Olviera, Veronika who bought the kids treats on the day they reached 1,000km.....
And all the people who pressed coins or notes, some of them big ones, into our hands and trusted us to get the money to charity:water.
And Jesus, a man we met on our first camino in 2012. He showed us round Madrid, took us out for dinner after a visit to the Prado together, gave us all sorts of little challenges to complete at each place he sent us to, and then cooked us a fine Spanish lunch.

And that's not all!

indyinmaine said:

If we would act in her stead to someone every day, on the Camino or not, the world would be a much better place.

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what a difference a simple and often free gesture of kindness can make, its an equally good feeling to give and receive,no matter what your position in life,we may not have money ,most people know what I mean when I say I have nothing,[no money]but a smile ,shared seat or insisting someone else needs that bottom bunk lets me feel like I can still do something that might have a ripple effect ,

I was greeted with kindness even before my camino Portuguese started when forum member Aurelio and his wife spent the afternoon of the mayday holiday giving us a guided tour around Lisbon.

Several times local Portuguese people spent considerable time showing us the route through a town, going out of their way to direct us.

On discovering that the albergue was not yet open, one lovely guy and his wife drove us around Grijó for half an hour when we mistook him for a hospitalero and even when we all realised what had happend, he just laughed and insisted on taking us to our destination at the priest's house where pilgrims were being looked after while the albergue was being renovated.

And fellow pilgrim James from Australia who within minutes of meeting gave me the screen saver from his phone after I smashed my phone screen to smithereens on the granite cobbles.

The guy who pulled over and explained to me about the wars of the arrows around Porriño, where he had spent the morning repainting yellow arrows that had been covered over by traders wanting pilgrims to walk through the industrial areas rather than along the beautiful river walk.

Just a few examples of the selfless kindness that made this walk so special.

from an email i sent to friends while on the caminho portuguese:

"Lesson learned today: one can't be furious when wearing a backpack during midday heat and when still not at destination. Somehow nature/ body wisdom won't allow it.
But if i had not been wearing a backpack and i had not been sweating bullets, i probably would have been hopping mad today earlier.

Usually this walk, eh pilgrimage, is a bit like "painting- by-numbers"...just it's walking by arrows, yellow ones in our case.
I had arrived in B., the destination for the day. Really pretty place & i was looking for the albergue, and probably missed something...because i was almost out of the town and i still did not notice the albergue Hmmm... - Blast...walking back it must be. NOT my favorite activity.
when in center of town again, i Rested in a park, asked the locals, got directions, trotted on, followed the yellow arrows...
Now, it was past my ETA...was low on liquids, still had food...but i mainly wanted to be THERE...just, that THERE did not manifest...no matter how many yellow arrows i followed and how many corners i turned..
It was getting more bizarre by the minute..because i WAS following the yellow arrows but i was getting way out of " that feels right" territory. it was across the rail tracks, then over the autostrada, then past some factories, then i was in farmland again, then residences, then then then...

That is something i know about myself: If i do bother to follow proper order and procedure and still don't get desired or promised results, i feel terminally wronged, treated unjust, etcetc. - Ok, when i muck- up and end up in a mess, i am quiet, don't complain...because....i caused the mess myself.
But if i AM obedient (in this case: follow those bloody yellow arrows) and still end up who knows where, way past meal time, low on liquids, blistering heat, and having walked already way past my kilometers intended for the day...and only deserted habitations abound...
Whoa....i could be ready and prepared to strangle Bambi.
It is this universal bargain: i do my part.... god/universe delivers... But of course this is an illusion...there is no such contract! sigh ...
And all this violates an innate sense of justice... BUT...this time i could NOT be strongly upset or be furious...lest i'd risk some sort of collapse.
I had to deal with this situation very economically. Any energy spent in a "fit" i would then lack to get me out out of this mess.
I had NO clue where i was.
I might have wandered into some Portuguese fairyland where time as we know it, did not exist. Where one thinks one spends a day and a night only, but in the other world years have passed. Was expecting to meet the fairy queen any minute now...

But instead i chanced on a gentleman in his sundays finest, walking alone on that dusty road.... probably just got back from church.
I told him the dilemma the best i knew how in my pretend-portuguese, then placed my mobile into his hands and asked him to pleaseee call a taxi, because i had no idea where i was and therefore could NOT call a taxi. (Nevermind that i had no taxi phone number either....)
I was not in tears, but near tears because i knew my strength was about to go south.
He explained something, i did not understand... and he then started to walk with me...without any ceremony or question ...
Can you believe it??!!
He was an angel in sunday's outfit...
He walked ALL the way back to me out of fairyland into B. - delivered me to the front door of the albergue... made sure there was still space for me (was late afternoon by that time)!!
Whoa!!
Thank you Santiago!!!! And thank you - who ever this sunday-suit angel was...
We barely talked... We just trotted next to each other..a grey haired gentlemen who certainly hadn't envisioned his sunday past noon time quite like this!!!
It was sooo unreal...i can not properly describe it..."
===
this was just one of the many encounters of grace and mercy - in so many varied forms ....
(and pardon me if it's too lengthy - or not answers D's request ... can easily delete it then)

Ivar and the Forum are perfect examples of selfless giving on the camino. Thanks again to Ivar.

falcon269 said:

Ivar and the Forum are perfect examples of selfless giving on the camino. Thanks again to Ivar.

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And Your Good self falcon 269 ! Thank you too

Without a doubt the finest examples of unexpected selfless giving occurred after the completion of our Camino. Many of you have probably read the story of our stolen backpacks (http://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/lost-and-found.21768/), and the selfless giving by Johnnie Walker and the volunteers of the Amigos in Santiago who recovered them is topped only by the Portugese pilgrim at the railway station who insisted that we take his credential to replace the ones that were lost with our backpacks.

Jim

For me it was not a a 'material' giving – but nevertheless equally good.

On a very hot afternoon, a Spanish elderly pilgrim might have observed me having problems with negotiating some steep steps down (sight and balance problems). Then for several kilometers over a difficult stretch – hot and no shadow (and damn those Romans roads!) – he kept walking a bit behind me.

Afterwards I felt he was kind of making sure how this elderly, somewhat unfit and overheated woman was doing (he could have outwalked me in no time). I never got to thank him though – it was only on afterthought I realized that he might have been keeping a watch on me.
annelise

Daxzentzu said:

We all give to others, whether it is through our time, our talents, or our resources, but I am most interested to understand what it's like as the receiver of such a gift.
I seek insights from peregrinos who have been the beneficiary a gift, of an act of unexpected love from a total stranger, who gave them something so apposite, so precious, so empathetic, at a time they were most in need, on the way of Saint James.


Dax
In Pune, (a work in progress)

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Having just returned from the Camino I though I would share this experience that touched my heart and even as I write this continues to touch me deeply.

My first day I got very very lost walking over 10km over hills and down valleys.....eventually I had to admit I had no idea where I was, nothing else to do but back track.
Having back tracked to a main road I was faced with either walking 3km back to a town I had previously walked through or 5km into Molinesca, by this time it was 4pm (I'd been walking since 5am, feet covered in blisters , 36 degrees). I succumbed to the 'taxi of shame' . Arriving at "The Way Hostel" I was greeted by the manager a lovely older man, who was just so caring and thoughtful. The following morning over breakfast I discussed with him how getting lost had really undermined my confidence, he sat with me and talked me through the next three days of walking , explaining where to rest and take a break. Just before I left he wrote his phone number on a piece of paper and put it in my pocket telling me if I got lost to just call him and he'd talk me through it and/or call a taxi for me. I never did have to call him but having his number in my pocket gave me a great feeling of security. Bless you Mati Elizalde. If you are in Molinaseca do pop in and please mention this post.

My darling Camino friend Jan from Germany who, when he found out my injuries had me unable to complete the Camino and in a wheelchair...caught a bus to Leon from Burgos to make sure I had someone with me for the first few days going to hospital and to push me around. Leon is not wheelchair friendly so this was a life send. He booked into the same hotel so as to be on hand and when he felt that I was getting the hang of it, he caught the bus back to recommence his Camino.

A true Camino soul xo

Daxzentzu said:

We all give to others, whether it is through our time, our talents, or our resources, but I am most interested to understand what it's like as the receiver of such a gift.
I seek insights from peregrinos who have been the beneficiary a gift, of an act of unexpected love from a total stranger, who gave them something so apposite, so precious, so empathetic, at a time they were most in need, on the way of Saint James.

Dax
In Pune, (a work in progress)

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All of those people who invited and welcomed me into their company.
All of those people who gave me their trust.
All of those people who shared physically and mentally expecting nothing in return.
All of those people who, when I rested, stopped to ask if I was ok.
All of those people who sought me out, or waited for me when I was behind them.
All of those people who pointed the way and smiled the words "Buen Camino".
All of those people who gave their service as volunteers in albergues.
All of those people who share their knowledge and experience on this forum.

All of those people, everyone of them, and many more give me my Camino and a good reason to answer your question Dax.

Buen Camino.