From July 26 to August 2, a group of young people from Nazareth Innovative Schools (Spain) toured the The English Way from Ferrol to Santiago de Compostela, Living an experience that went far beyond simply completing the kilometers of a pilgrimage. The Camino de Santiago became, during those days, a space for encounter, friendship, effort, solidarity, and personal growth.
Accompanied by nuns from the Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, The young people discovered, step by step, the value of walking together and facing difficulties by supporting each other.
Each day began early. Packing up the sleeping bag, preparing the backpack, and setting off again was part of a routine that also involved learning to cope with fatigue, blisters, long distances, and the discomfort of sleeping on the ground.
But it was precisely in those difficulties that an important part of the learning lay. The Camino allowed them to discover that we are capable of so much more when we move forward together.
During the different stages of English Way, Between Ferrol and Santiago de Compostela, conversations, laughter, silences and numerous gestures of help arose.
Waiting for those who walked more slowly, accompanying those who were tired, or encouraging them when their strength began to wane allowed new friendships to be born and for young people to get to know each other in a different way.
At the end of each stage there were also moments to share what we had experienced, express our difficulties and joys, and put words to what each person was discovering within themselves.
This coexistence outside the classroom allowed for a special way of experiencing Nazareth family spirit, creating spaces of closeness, accompaniment and mutual understanding between the young people and the nuns who made the pilgrimage with them.
Each young person walked past a sick person at the Cottolengo.
The experience also had a profound charitable component. Each young person walked the Camino de Santiago for a sick person. Cottolengo whom he had previously sponsored.
Throughout the entire pilgrimage, that person's name was present, giving special meaning to the effort of each day and every kilometer traveled.
Upon their return, the group went back to the Cottolengo to hand in their credentials. Each stamp collected along the Camino represented a stage completed and many kilometers traveled, thinking of the people who had symbolically accompanied their pilgrimage.
It was a simple and meaningful way of expressing to them that that path had also been theirs.
The Missionary Sisters of Nazareth would like to express their special gratitude to the nuns of Cottolengo for opening their doors, welcoming the group with affection, and allowing them to experience an encounter that gave even more meaning to the pilgrimage.
Throughout the days, the young people and nuns also encountered the generosity of numerous people who made the experience possible.
The people in charge of the different towns the group passed through provided places to sleep and offered their support and availability.
Among those gestures, the one that stood out was the mayor of Neda, who opened the doors of his own home so the group could spend the night. At a particularly difficult time for the town, his hospitality became a testament to how generosity can transcend circumstances.
The group also thanks M. Anna Vilaró, who prepared this Camino with dedication and affection.
Santiago de Compostela: a goal that goes beyond just arriving
The arrival at Plaza del Obradoiro, in Santiago de Compostela, It allowed us to understand that reaching Santiago was only part of the goal.
The truly important things had happened during the Camino: in the people met, the new friendships, the shared effort, the solidarity, the conversations and all those small gestures that made it possible to keep moving forward.
For the nuns who accompanied the group, these days were also a gift and an opportunity to get to know the young people from a different perspective than in the classroom, to share their concerns and to be surprised by each other.
The experience of the Camino de Santiago thus became a concrete way of living the family spirit of the Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth: walking together, accompanying each other and discovering that each encounter can transform the journey.
As Antonio Machado wrote, "Traveler, there is no path, the path is made by walking.".
And that is precisely what the young people of Nazareth experienced: a path built step by step and, above all, a path made together and with others.
