Volunteering motivates an elderly Englishman to leave isolation – 02/16/2023 – É Logo Ali
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Today we are going to tell a slightly different story on this blog. The story of Mato Grosso do Campo Grande Kami Queiroz, 33, who one day decided to study English in England. It was March 2022, the world was crawling out of the most tragic moment of the Covid-19 pandemic. With a few years of trails, she wanted to know the highest mountain in the United Kingdom, Ben Nevis, with its modest 1,344 meters. But it wasn’t enough to get there — it was walking the 150 kilometers from the capital Glasgow to Fort William, yes, that very same, the city of Harry Potter, from where we got to talk about, of course, its journey.
Upon finishing the trail, however, and to avoid inertial coexistence with other Brazilians that would compromise his language training, Kami signed up for a volunteer program, the Workaway Volunteer, which serves the growing elderly population in the United Kingdom. And so he ended up in the city of Margate, in the southwest of England, where he met Keith Mackrill, 68, and where another story begins, much more exciting than his adventure through the green Scottish countryside, which the blog did not want to stop showing.
A retired accountant with no close family, Keith had been very weak during the pandemic isolation. He needed help with everything and it was up to Kami to do the cleaning, prepare his breakfast, clean up the mess of someone whose only hobby is buying junk online. “I thought he was very peculiar”, she says, “quiet, shy, said almost nothing, always very alone”. Bringing up the subject and telling jokes, “with that Brazilian way that we have”, friendship ended up being installed between the two.
“One day I asked him what he would like to see in his country and he said it was Oxford”, continues the audiovisual post-production assistant, who prepared an accessible itinerary for the visit with her new friend, his wheelchair and cane that sustains you for, at most, a few minutes standing. “We went for a boat ride and he cried a lot,” she recalls with emotion. From the good experience that brought Keith out of isolation, came the idea of taking him to Cyprus, where they would spend Christmas and New Year.
“I had left England, but kept in touch with him and knew the story of his last Christmas, when the volunteer coach had made a dinner reservation with a nephew who never showed up, and it was very disappointing,” he continues. At Kami’s invitation, they went to Cyprus and from there he said he didn’t want to go back to the UK because of the winter. “He doesn’t like the cold,” he explains.
To escape the cold with which he lived alone for years, the duo went straight from Cyprus to Egypt, where they realized that it is not easy to ensure accessibility and transport for people with disabilities or dietary restrictions, as Keith has, who lost several teeth during isolation. and only eats pasty foods. From there, they headed to Turkey, where Kami spoke to the blog. “He liked it so much that now he wants to see the seven wonders of the world”, she says, laughing. And the schedule continues until May, passing through Israel, Jordan and returning to England because he wants to know Liverpool, “the land of the Beatles”, which he dreamed of visiting but never allowed himself, “his life was just working, he didn’t get married he didn’t even have children, he didn’t take advantage of anything and he only collected money”.
For the next winter in the northern hemisphere, the duo has bigger plans: they are going to spend six months in Brazil, and Christmas will be with Kami’s family. “This was one of the requests he put on the New Year’s list that he made for the first time in his life: to meet my family in Brazil”, she is proud. Not bad for someone who a year ago was in an accelerated process of depression, suffering from hoarding syndrome, drinking liters of amarula liqueur left on a bed and losing muscle mass due to immobility. “He wants to live now, after being rescued by the volunteer program”, Kami points out.
She, who describes herself as a “world traveler”, is keen to say that all her trips include volunteering. “I already did before leaving Brazil, and everywhere in the world I go, I do volunteer work”, she points out. And, although the many tasks involved in the day-to-day care of his English friend have not yet allowed him to film the script of his travels, Kami is studying to make Keith’s most ambitious dream come true: discovering the seven wonders of the modern world (namely: Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichén Itzá in Mexico, Coliseum in Italy, the ruins of Petra in Jordan, the Taj Mahal in India and the Great Wall of China). “It’s a huge challenge to take a person with so many restrictions to these places”, she ponders, but she’s already involved in planning the undertaking.
As a volunteer, all travel, lodging and food expenses are covered by Keith. “I only spend on my personal expenses”, she explains, recalling that today she works remotely in the post-production of a reality show that should debut soon on a Brazilian broadcaster.
“For me, as a Brazilian, with all this cultural and age difference between us, I see that there is a lot of judgment from people who do not understand volunteering, think that it can be of interest, do not see that the reality of the future is that there will more seniors in need of support around the world, and that they are increasingly abandoned, even though they have so much to teach us”, says Kami.
“I came to Keith at a time when he still manages to do a lot, there will be a time when it will not work anymore, so he has to take advantage of it while he doesn’t reach that stage, because life changes for him, traveling, brought a lot of energy and vitality to your body, so it is possible to conclude that the most important thing is to live in the now, in each moment”, he elaborates. And does anyone doubt that she is covered in reason?
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