With Sacyrian accent
Lucía Cecilia Mercado
When you tell people that you’re going to Mauritania—“Where is that?”—to volunteer in a cooperation project, you get all kinds of reactions: disbelief, admiration, confusion. You take all these reactions, mix them with your own feelings, and create your own cocktail of emotions.
And so, I find myself wondering: What drove me to take part in this project that made the collaboration between the Sacyr Foundation, HumanCoop, and UPlanet in Mauritania possible?
In the photo, from left to right: Lucía, Matías, Natalia, Rodrigo and Iván.
It’s a mix of many things, and here, I’ll try to explain the most important ones for me.
Curiosity. Everything I do in my daily life is guided by a desire to discover what lies beyond my own experiences, knowledge, and immediate surroundings. Exploring different ways of life, other countries, and new cultures has always motivated me to step outside my comfort zone, study philosophies far from the Western perspective, and try to understand other approaches to life.
Empathy for those in need. I try to put myself in the shoes of people who lack the things we take for granted—running water at home, hot water from the tap, a variety of food, a mobile connection, a bed to sleep in. So many things—never mind going to the movies, having a beer, or dining out—that we take for granted about until we travel to places where they are not guaranteed.
A desire to help create a better world. Life feels empty if we don’t contribute, even in small ways, to improving the lives of others. Taking part in projects like this by HumanCoop and UPlanet gives me purpose, fulfillment, and the chance to become a better person.
Love. Love for others, love for myself by honoring the values that drive my actions, love for different cultures, love for other landscapes like the desert that captivate me.
Admiration.
For people who make projects like HumanCoop a reality. From the first moment I heard Ignacio speak, I admired him. We have so much to learn from people like him, who dedicate their time to helping others—it would take a lifetime to put their lessons into practice. Ignacio’s commitment to the Sahrawi people is contagious to everyone around him. The same goes for his collaborators: Gema, Esteban, and Oscar, whom I deeply respect and admire.
The same admiration extends to José Matías, a former Sacyr colleague through whom I first learned about this project and the NGO he founded, UPlanet. His drive, hard work, and determination to support social and humanitarian causes inspire everyone lucky enough to work alongside him.
And admiration for my engineer colleagues who shared this experience with me, as well as for the healthcare workers of the mission. Their dedication, working late into the night until their lanterns could no longer pierce the darkness, was truly inspiring. I deeply respect the healthcare workers who spent long hours performing surgeries and providing medical care, asking for nothing in return but the satisfaction of helping others. Seeing their exhaustion at the end of the day filled me with respect and admiration. Standing beside them, sharing this experience, is what makes you grow as a person.
Experiences like this don’t just inspire—you become hooked. They make you a better person, help you appreciate what you have, and allow you to contribute, even in a small way, to a humanitarian cause.
When I think of Bir Mogrein, the village in northern Mauritania where five Sacyr volunteers (Rodrigo, Matías, Iván, Natalia, and I, along with my dear Eli from UPlanet) , I feel a constant pull to return. Despite the two days it takes to get there, cold-water showers, sleeping on the floor, in the end it's very minor
To keep working with incredible people like Belali, Fátima, Abba, M. Salem, the supervisors of the desalination plant, the community garden, the health center, the cooks, the drivers, the women of the village, the children…
I want to give a special mention to Belali, who paid really close attention to all our needs while we were working, no matter what. Thank you for being so attentive!
Lardi, Belali, Lucía, Rodrigo, Iván, Matías y Natalia.
I think of them, and my heart fills with admiration, love, and respect.
I want to see them again.
