Pedro, 28 years old, became an unexpected hero on Tuesday afternoon, rescuing about twenty sheep that descended, without control, dragged by the current of rough water from the Riera de les Arenes, after the storm that flooded Terrassa in just over an hour. The animals were calmly grazing on the bed, on the border of the Matadepera term and the north of Terrassa, when the intense storm surprised them. It was a herd of about 180 goats and sheep from the Turó de les Nou Cabres de Matadepera family project. Pau, the shepherd, saved as many as he could, although many were lost downstream. Until they ran into Pedro.
Who is he and why does he have an interesting story? Pedro José Garrido is a young man from Jaén who, due to unfair and bizarre situations in life, has been living under a bridge for five months, in the Can Petit area of ??Terrassa. Despite his hard life, he is surprised by his good looks, always smiling and in a very good mood.
His house is out in the open and consists of an old mattress, some blankets and a backpack with clothes. Nothing else. “I can’t have a gas campsite to heat up some food because there is a risk of fire with the drought of these months.” And, of course, he doesn’t have a fridge, a cell phone, or any kind of comfort. He makes a living collecting scrap metal – “between 10 and 20 euros a day and the day I got 30, I won the lottery!” -, he explains, laughing. He eats sandwiches and lattes. Hardly any hot dish, vegetable or fruit. He has a vocational training degree and experience as an electrician, electromechanic, formworker and, even, he was a cook in Ibiza “in a five-star hotel restaurant. I would love to repeat the experience, ”he announces, despite envisioning a dark future.
He explains that he has looked for work in around twenty construction sites, in several junkyards and has only found “staff, without a contract or security measures, who charge 25 euros a day. It is full-blown exploitation and it is not right, ”he laments. He has also applied for social assistance, but has only been entitled to two showers a week and some clothes. Not even food stamps. “From the Social Services of the City Council they tell me that since I work in the junkyard they can’t give me any benefits and since I don’t have a house, they can’t give me batches of food because I have nowhere to store it,” she laments. He acknowledges that “once I explained that I had a trial in Barcelona and since I didn’t want to get on the train, a social worker paid me for the return ticket. I appreciate that.”
Pedro does not give in to so much emotional and physical weather. “What I want is to work and contribute something good, feel useful. In Andalusia, at the age of 12, he was already in the fields, helping the family. I have always kept to myself and I am very compliant, but now I feel like a plant, time goes by without having anything to do”.
He has had a rough life. His parents and his sister passed away. “I am alone in the world, but it is very difficult for me to ask for help because I do not like to feel sorry. And I’ve always been helpful, if I can. That’s why I didn’t think twice yesterday when I saw the sheep down the river. I was very sorry: And the shepherd must have had a very bad time because he has lost many animals, I know it is a family business and living in the countryside, in the city it is very hard, ”he says with empathy.
Pedro’s life turned upside down on the high seas. “He was a fisherman on a boat and we went seasonally: cuttlefish in Vinaroz, sardines in Catalonia, but the owners did illegal fishing, small fish, which is a serious crime. The workers did not know. They were arrested and are in jail. We had a trial, but, luckily, they exonerated us, ”he explains. He was left without pay and over time, the few savings he had left evaporated. “I slept in ATMs in Barcelona, ??but everything was very hostile. So I took a train and the first station that sounded good to me, Terrassa Est, I got off. I went back to sleep in ATMs, but they attacked a beggar, I got scared and decided to take refuge here below. Even if there are no walls, I feel safer and I don’t bother anyone, ”he details with integrity.
On Tuesday at three in the afternoon, he was taking a nap on his old mattress when the hail rain fell so hard that it woke him up. “In a few minutes I found a beastly flood of the stream, which I have always seen dry.” And after a while, he saw “heads of sheep floating, in the middle of the mud. The animals, very scared, struggled to get out, but it was very difficult”. Luckily, he found a glazier with his van crossing the bridge. “When he saw the panorama, I asked him for help and he gave me an elastic rope and we took the sheep out, one by one, up to their waists in the water. After a while, the firefighters came to help ”, he admits. Now it remains for his help to arrive in the form of a job offer and to see the light beyond the bridge.
