YAIZA PERERA Madrid
Madrid
Updated Saturday, February 3, 2024-00:07
In Madrid's Plaza de
Manuel Becerra the new life of
Ángel Custodio
began to beat
. Indebted by a series of business failures, exhausted by family support and abandoned by his partner, he felt that he had lost everything, including hope, and attempted suicide at the age of 43. He survived and that "miracle" filled him with strength to "move forward." For just over a year he has been trying to rebuild himself at street level. Without housing or money, he has turned a corner next to the central Alcalá street into his kilometer zero. There he began to beg in such a peculiar way that he won the hearts of the neighbors and ended up transforming that corner into a showcase for the successful sale of his own book
Get Out of the Street
, a story of personal growth.
"First I was a director of a publishing house, then I entered the business world with a real estate company, then in a financial company and finally I got into the world of construction, that is, in something much bigger. There comes a time when everything explodes because I subcontract many services. I ask friends and family for help to revive the company and it doesn't work. I find myself in a homeless situation because my wife leaves me and I had already spent the family's wild card," he says. That's when he tries to take his own life. The gratitude he feels for not having lost her leads him to draw strength to reinvent himself using creativity, self-confidence and
a suitcase with few clothes, a box of chocolates and more than a thousand books
that he had been accumulating in his house. These will be his lifeline.
If you give me help I'll give you a book, if you give me a smile I'll give you a chocolate
He arrived at the square on a rainy day in November 2022 and was surprised to see so many homeless people in the area. Maybe they had always been there but he didn't see them. They were as 'invisible' as he felt now. He noticed that he was "annoying" and that people responded to his "good morning" with "displeasure and indifference." He had to find a "different strategy that was not just surviving" and true to his life motto, 'give to receive', he thought of a message that "would reach the heart without causing pain or bother" and he wrote it on a huge poster:
"If you give me help I'll give you a book, if you give me a smile I'll give you a chocolate."
That particular way of asking for money caught the attention of passers-by and brought many smiles. "It's the most original thing I've read in a long time", "you're going to do well in life, you're an artist", "the world needs more people like you, what a good vibe brother"... I was listening. excited under that roof. He stayed there for "marathon days from eight in the morning until ten at night" in order to obtain enough money to rent a room where he could sleep and wash. Meanwhile, he faced nights with barely a wink of sleep at an interchange where a security guard turned a blind eye or in a park dealing with low temperatures.
Two neighbors pose with the author after excitedly buying him a copy: "You have to get off the street" SERGIO ENRÍQUEZ-NISTAL
Of course, in that time there have been
'book hunters'
(they buy cheap without empathizing), the
'charitable' ones
(they give a donation), the
'magical' ones
(they give help to the 'letter' so that it can get off the street as quickly as possible). as soon as possible like Luis, Almudena, Pilar, Nuria, Isabel...) and the '
nice ones
' (they talk to him out of curiosity or to tell him about their experiences).
Time and again the neighbors asked why someone like him, who "had a very easy life", was in good physical health (he was a "professional athlete") and mentally, and who had received adequate academic training, had ended up on the street. and professional and decided to tell his own story in a book to satisfy people's curiosity and at the same time could bring some "optimism and faith" to others. He saw how many people found strength in his experience to overcome their own adversities. He had become a "kind of coach."
Sitting in that square he spent a lot of time reflecting and when he thought something was "really cool" he would write it on a "cardboard or piece of paper" and put it in a bag. When he was full he transferred those thoughts and experiences to a notebook and from there to a computer that was lent to him. The employee of a stationery store offered to print the pages and the cover of the book and he glued them together one by one.
He started selling them four months ago and has already exceeded a thousand. He has another 400 waiting to find a reader, some even contact him by WhatsApp or Instagram from outside Spain. The neighbors, in whom one perceives a sincere appreciation for him, say that small queues form to chat and buy him a copy, of which he donates 10% to the 'Seforis' association for homeless people with which he has collaborated since he became one of them.
Those relaxed moments around the stall cannot be repeated, at least under those same conditions because it had to be dismantled last Tuesday by police order as it was considered unauthorized 'street vending'.
"If I, who do not have addiction problems, are having a hard time getting help, imagine a person who suffers from schizophrenia or drug addiction"
Ángel Custodio does not receive any social benefits and his main support network has been his neighbors. In these months he has not lacked food (he has received up to 10 hamburgers a day), basic necessities and they have even offered him a place to sleep and a job opportunity:
"Human beings are in top shape
, there are very good people, super empathetic and who lend a hand to a person who is like you and who is suffering. I have been tremendously lucky. 80% of people give love, which is much stronger than hate."
SERGIO ENRÍQUEZ-NISTAL
He assures that the public protection system for homeless people (28,500 throughout Spain, 2,235 people in the city of Madrid) is "pachucho." It is very "tedious", you have to "gather papers to be able to get help" and if you are not registered or do not have an address, the difficulties multiply. "One day I was freezing to death at three in the morning and they couldn't help me at the social Samur because I am registered 50 kilometers from the Central district," he remembers. If I, who do not have addiction problems, are having a hard time, then imagine a person who suffers from schizophrenia or alcoholism, drug addiction. "People are condemned to be on the streets."
"It's where I've received the most love in my life."
He asks anyone who really wants to help a beggar to ask "what does he need
?
"
It is not always food or a euro that would be good but, for example, "cleaning products, a blanket, wipes, socks... because
hygiene is the hardest thing to carry when you are on the street."
. And above all, they need to be seen, not made to feel invisible. He has not perceived rejection, but he has received insults and very harmful judgments from people who assume that he has drug problems, that he is "lazy" or that he has been in prison. Others, in order to "spend a euro" believe that you have to give them explanations about why "he hasn't gone to get help from his parents", "why he doesn't get to work"... and that is something "very painful". ".
"I am living a very beautiful time in my life, I am fine, super happy"
"Angel, what about the books?" a woman asks him, surprised to see that he has not yet set up his stall like every day. She comes with the hope of buying him a copy. "She has to get off the street," she assures him as she looks at him lovingly.
"There are people who give it to people who are going through a difficult process as if it were a tranquilizer. Here, read the book, it will be entertaining and it will draw you in," he says with a laugh. His experience involves accepting pain, being able to "enjoy all the processes along the way" and trusting that with the means you have, even if they are few, you can carve out your own existence.
Ángel Custodio, next to his promotional poster the day before having to remove them by police order. SERGIO ENRIQUEZ-NISTAL
"We are all much stronger than we think
. We have brutal physical and mental endurance. What happens is that we put the limitations on ourselves that we have seen in our environment, in our family, in our friends, like I did." , he says after having seen on two occasions how all his life projects completely collapsed. He knows what it's like to have to pull yourself together and that's why he always extends a smile to those who are also going through intense suffering. Juan José Escudero lost his son to suicide and the two have shared deep conversations. They offer mutual support. Ángel Custodio struggles to get off the street and he, he explains, has to do it to "get out on the street" and not get trapped in the pain of losing him.
After eight months without a roof, this "life entrepreneur", as 'Juanjo' lovingly defines him, has managed to save some money, lives safely but in a place without optimal living conditions and goes to the gym daily to clean himself and do some exercise to keep you in shape. He also continues to build dreams, such as creating his own entity to help homeless people to offer them a place to sleep, clean themselves and find guidance and support. "
"I am living a very beautiful time in my life, I am fine, super happy. In the morning I get up and say thank you very much to God for giving me another day to learn, suffer, laugh, rejoice and give." Manuel Becerra has become his "square of hope": "It is where I have received the most love in my life."