“I am 87 years old and I will continue to collaborate with Cáritas in any way possible”

This woman from Tenerife who has just turned 87 has arrived at the Parish Caritas of San Bartolomé de Tejina in the 1950s when he was 17. “Since I was a child I went to church, my mother inculcated me to go to mass and catechism, otherwise there was no cinema”, she recalls.

Matilde began her relationship with the Social action earlier in the so-called Catholic Action and then with the distribution of milk and “American Aid” clothes together with “Doña Úrsula”, one of the first people to have started with Cáritas in her parish. “My bond with Cáritas was due to my commitment to the parish, the desire to serve in whatever was necessary,” says Matilde.

During all this time, Matilde has worked in the field of hospitality and assistance. This program is dedicated to responding to the primary and most urgent needs of the people who knock on the doors of the parish Caritas.

“For me, Cáritas is very special because it’s about accompanying people who really need it. And the best thing was the welcome. Many times I have been moved because people tell you their pains. They need to express what is happening to them and the important thing is to know how to listen to them,” she says.

Many of the people Matilde has accompanied over the years are young people with drug addiction problems. In this sense, you fondly remember a little boy who, a few years ago, after spending time in Tenerife, returned to your homeland, Seville. “He stopped by the parish to say hello to me and he said: ‘I’m not here to ask for anything, just to give you a kiss and a hug, as a sign of gratitude for everything you’ve done for me'”. For her, that kiss and that hug were as if they had been given to her by “Jesus Christ himself”.

70 years of volunteering has come a long way. Matilde has gone through many moments of crisis where the request for help has increased. However, the turning point was experienced by the pandemic. “The pandemic has changed the action of Cáritas, because in many moments we have not been able to be close to the people; And it was difficult, because for me the most important thing in Cáritas is the welcome, being able to talk, smile and hug people ”, she underlines.

At 87, and despite having had to step aside in recent months, Matilde says she will continue to collaborate with Cáritas “in whatever way she can”, bringing her experience and her love.

“Due to my age and the situation in which the pandemic has left us, I will no longer be able to continue doing the same volunteer work as before, but I will continue to help as much as possible, because everything I do I do for my dedication to the church to which I belong.

The work of welcoming and accompanying that Matilde has been carrying out for more than 70 years has meant that on March 27 the parish community also paid homage to her, in recognition of all these years of dedication to the parish, as a catechist and as a volunteer Diocesan Caritas of Tenerife.

“Being a volunteer is a calling. You have to like yourself and have a lot of welcoming spirit to be able to understand people. Caritas is one of the most beautiful tasks of the Church”.