Fernando . .can you hear him?

I made a friend the other day walking the streets of Medellin. I had been walking all day and was feeling a little agitated by what I had seen as well as with not really talking to anyone about it when I saw a man in the park. He was sitting under a tree, dirty protecting himself from the wind by some cardboard. He was quite obviously someone who lives in the street. It´s not something I usually do but I was curious to know his story. How did he get to live on the street and how is his life there? So I approached him and said hello.

He was immediately very friendly although difficult to understand because his Spanish was rapid and my ear for it has not yet developed well enough to get as much as I would like from people´s stories, he was soon telling me his life story without me even really asking for it. He had respect for me and asked if it bothered me for him to smoke his crack with me there. He told his friends not to bother me and we chatted away for an hour and a half.

What did I gain from this conversation? He was a nice guy. He has a drug problem but he does not want to cause any harm to anyone else. He wants to get himself into a better life and likes to try to change the image of street people by not robbing polluting and trying to be productive with recycling garbage. He has had problems with his family and become isolated from them which he regrets. The life as a drug addict is not a good one according to him with the threat of violence from security officers and other street dwellers. He sleeps every five days and occasionally ventures out of the city to sleep in peace.

He gave me a small torch lacking a battery as a gift to remember him and we parted ways as friends. I hope some day he gets off the street, until then I hope he remains a good guy willing to spend some time to enlighten the world about his life.