‘Football and volunteering’
{mb_sdlf_jugador_SDLF-jugador_frase-destacada}Carlos Murillo takes advantage of his stay in Barcelona to collaborate with a care centre for people with disabilities.
When he arrived in Barcelona to train for a year, his priorities did not include only football and studies. Carlos Murillo, a 16-year-old Panamanian midfielder, landed at El Prat airport with a personal project in his suitcase. “I wanted to do social work, an activity that would help the community. I told Professor Herminia and she helped me find what I was looking for.”
Carlos’s tutor suggested that he go to Cottolengo, a care center for people with disabilities. The Marcet Foundation encourages students to carry out formative activities with this centre in order to help promote their own personal development, as well as helping people in need. The footballer loved the possibility of collaborating with this institution located in Barcelona, which he began to visit at least twice a week to carry out volunteer work.
“THIS is teaching me so much. Above all, it is an experience that I will always have with me”
“I started doing the basics, like peeling potatoes or washing dishes, but I’ve also seen the physiotherapy part, I’ve fed the elderly and I’ve played with the children”, explains Carlos, who will give an account of this experience for a project he is doing for his school in Panama. “It’s an option for 10th grade students, but it’s not a compulsory job, nor will it help my career. It’s something that has to come from within, from the heart, something that fulfils you up as a person.”
“In my case I will write about the work I am doing in Cottolengo del Padre Alegre, as well as what this center is all about, the activities it does and how it helps those who need it the most. I feel it is something very beautiful and is teaching me so much. Above all, it is an experience that I will always have with me.”