During the first week of August, I participated in the I Intergenerational Sustainable Camp of Manos Unidas “Caring Hands”, which took place in a village in the mountains of Madrid, in Villa Santa Monica. During these days, we have worked and carried out numerous activities based on the idea of three types of care: caring for the earth, caring for people and caring for oneself. In this way, we have reflected and analyzed these concepts through various workshops and activities, which helped us to deepen and stop in our meditation, allowing us to be more aware of how this type of care affects human beings in general and, particularly, us.
Thus, we collected leaves inside the farm where we were staying, with which the owners of the Villa then made compost, as a way to glimpse and discuss how we can take care of the earth, and how the earth takes care of us and is an example of care. We also learned about some of the projects that Manos Unidas carries out in Africa, Asia and Latin America in order to get closer to this way of caring for people, and we had spaces for internal reflection, with an interesting creative touch, to try to express how we considered ourselves and appreciate how we take care of ourselves; all this, culminated with a corresponding debate and sharing where we proposed measures to carry out these types of care in a personal way, voting and choosing on each occasion those that seemed most attractive and feasible.
The Camp took place in an ideal place, surrounded by nature, which allowed us to be in constant contact with the environment and to do other types of activities, as a way of disconnecting, such as hiking through the fields surrounding the farm. And, most importantly, it has been full of beautiful people, who unlike the last camps and sustainable meetings, which were for “young people”, were on this occasion of all ages, which has allowed us to inspire each other, seeing us united and with the same concerns to commit and fight for the most vulnerable people and for the care of the Common Home, regardless of whether we were 20 or 70 years old.
On a personal level, this Camp has been a continuation of the path I took in 2018 when I went to the I Manos Unidas Sustainable Youth Camp at Mas de Noguera, being one more step in all the learning received since then related to the care of the planet and the fight for climate justice. As always happens to me when I go to one of these meetings, it has meant for me a reaffirmation of my commitment to the struggle for a world and a more just and sustainable society, filling me with energy to meet again, or have the good fortune to meet people with the same concerns and values as mine. The next step will be to translate into our way of life the commitments we have acquired for the care of the earth, of people and of ourselves, as well as, as far as possible, to think about a future meeting that will allow us to continue this transcendent and beautiful path.
Text by Pedro Pablo Angosto – Manos Unidas (Murcia)
"Change for the Planet - Care for the People" 
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